Turkish ambitions in Syria
The Turkish ambitions in Syria and Iraq is clear, and Erdogan recently stated that he wanted to get rid of the Lausanne agreement, which means, that he aspires to occupy new areas in Syria and Iraq, but that is not possible
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By Abdalla Ahmad
Turkish-Syrian relations had witnessed a remarkable development in the years preceding the current crisis, and most of the experts thought that the past chapter, which was marked by tension, caution and mistrust – as tension had reached the brink of direct military confrontation at the end of ,the last century – had been closed.
However, these new relations did not last long as Turkey sought to penetrate Syria economically and socially in order to prepare the environment for the implementation of its Greater Middle East project.
Meanwhile, Turkish President Recip Tayip Erdogan did not hide the fact that he was one of the Greater Middle East Project leaders, having stated clearly several times about it, after his AKP party came to power (which embraces the Muslim Brotherhood ideology).
With the beginning of the war on Syria, the real Turkish position began to emerge, as Turkey financed extremist groups, practiced a media and economic war against Syria, and opened Turkish its borders and created a safe corridor for extremists from all over the world, who came to fight the Syrian state, with the aim of changing the regime and installing a regime led by the Muslim Brotherhood organization.However, the steadfastness of the Syrian state and people failed these destructive projects, including the that of the Greater Middle East, federalization, and division projects.
At the end, the Syrian army, with the help of its Russian and Iranian allies, was able to liberate most of the areas, and finally launched a military campaign to liberate the Idlib province.
However, Turkey is part of the US-led Western alliance to destabilize the region, and is now seeking to create a new reality, that of safe zones, under the pretext of confronting the Kurdish threat, as Turkey and the US exchange roles, with the United States supporting the Kurds and hindering the Syrian government’s efforts to restore stability to the Syrian east. It gives the justification to Turkey to occupy new areas in Syria under the pretext of removing the presumed Kurdish danger on the border.
On the other hand, Turkey has not fulfilled its obligations towards the Russians, regarding the Sochi Agreement, whereby it is obligated to force the armed groups to withdraw from the countryside of Idlib and Hama. Instead, Turkey still continues to provide support and protection to groups classified by the United Nations as terrorist groups, such as the Jabhat al-Nusra.
The Turkish strategy is based on methods of deception, misinformation, media war and direct intervention in order to achieve the geopolitical goals in cooperation and direct coordination with the United States, which amongst other things include: i) achieving its outdated Ottoman expansionist ambitions, including control of new areas in Syria and Iraq; ii) leading the Islamic world based on the extremist ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood; iii) continue to riot in the Caucasus to prevent Russia and China from expanding into Central Asia; iv)Continue the drawn role by the United States in the region, including spreading chaos and wars in the Middle East
In fact, there is no shift or change in the Turkish position, but there is a US-Turkish attempt to impose a settlement on Syria before the elimination of terrorists, Therefore, we see that the Turkey and the United States seek to extend the crisis and obstruct the military campaigns carried out by the Syrian army to eliminate terrorists.In any case, Erdogan is losing popularity even inside Turkey, it has been evident during the recent municipal elections.
The Turkish ambitions in Syria and Iraq is clear, and Erdogan recently stated that he wanted to get rid of the Lausanne agreement, which means, that he aspires to occupy new areas in Syria and Iraq, but that is not possible at all, because Turkey does not have the strategic tools to achieve such ambitions .
The Syrians are determined to thwart all these Western projects, the Syrian army has gained considerable experience and accumulated achievements, and Syria has strong allies as well.
Syria is well on the way to close this chapter of the war, towards victory. Of course, it is true that a settlement needs a Russian-American consensus, but the world only cares about the strong players, and the Syrian army has reversed the balance in the region.
The oldest capital in history cannot fall; Damascus is a message of peace and will remain a radiant center for peace, tolerance, and love.
(The author is a Damascus-based Senior Researcher and Advisor in Geopolitical Affairs.)
