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Dare to criticize FSA in Turkey? Erdogan’s militias in Afrin

February 17, 2018 by administrator

Dare to criticize FSA

Turkish public divided over military’s alliance with FSA
By Pinar Tremblay

On Feb. 4, most Turkish newspaper headlines blared deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag’s statement that “US soldiers wearing People’s Protection Units [YPG] insignia are also targets” in Turkey’s offensive against Kurds in Afrin, Syria.

The United States has supported the Kurdish YPG in the battle against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, but Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group. Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) hasn’t forgotten the images of US soldiers sporting YPG patches, which date back to June 2016.

But pictures of patches aren’t that important to the Turkish public, which is more baffled by recent images of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a group of Turkish military-backed rebels opposed to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) fought alongside the FSA during Operation Euphrates Shield against IS in Syria. The public didn’t pay much attention to the FSA then. Now, however, with Turkey’s offensive on Syrian Kurds in Afrin, the FSA’s significance is rising. The change began Jan. 19, the day before Turkey launched the Afrin operation, with images broadcast of 20 buses carrying FSA fighters across the border into Syria. Most Turks were surprised to see that so many fighters could be mobilized so promptly.

The public’s confusion was reinforced by comments from significant opposition figures — for example, Ozturk Yilmaz, Turkey’s former consul general to Mosul, Iraq, who was held captive by IS for 101 days. Yilmaz is now the deputy chairman of the main group that opposes the current AKP government, the Republican People’s Party (CHP). Yilmaz said Jan. 25 that one should look at the origin of these groups Turkey supports that oppose the Syrian regime, including the FSA, which was indeed al-Qaeda. This comment touched a raw nerve within the AKP and generated waves of angry outbursts against the CHP, so much so that anyone who dares to criticize the Afrin operation or the FSA could now face legal action.

“While you are sleeping in your warm bed, FSA fighters along with my soldiers are killing the terrorists you support,” Erdogan said, referring to Yilmaz and the YPG.

CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglu also voiced concerns Jan. 29 about the army’s alliance with the FSA. He asked why the brave Turkish soldiers were placed behind the FSA and why their accomplishments were in a sense attributed to the FSA.

That same day, pro-AKP daily Sabah columnist Hilal Kaplan wrote a column with the headline “We will defend the FSA” and declared the FSA to be Syria’s true national forces.

Erdogan echoed Kaplan’s statement a day later, saying, “The FSA, just like the national forces during our Independence War, is a civilian establishment. The FSA fighting along with our brave troops is a fact to be proud of.” Erdogan’s praise of the FSA and the AKP’s obsession with insignia continued when Erdogan said Feb. 3, “Look who the FSA is next to now. They are shoulder to shoulder with the Turkish Armed Forces. And what patch do they [FSA members] have on their arms? It is the Turkish flag. And what does the YPG [wear]? It is the American flag.”

The AKP’s collective efforts to brand the FSA as a multiethnic force fighting next to the Turkish army against the US-backed YPG makes an attractive appetizer for domestic consumption. But it was just in December when Erdogan said, “Hey, US — didn’t we establish the FSA together with you?”

A retired Turkish colonel told Al-Monitor, “Yes, both the Pentagon and the CIA had helped train Syrian rebels in Turkey. But the training and arming were limited compared with what they had done for the YPG. Once the US gave up on the FSA, Turkey struggled to keep them in check and utilized them for Operation Euphrates Shield. But it’s always difficult for regular armies to keep militia under control. If Afrin is a long-term engagement, in time the relationship inevitably will generate higher costs [than returns] for the Turkish Armed Forces.” The colonel added that the AKP’s relatively newfound love of the FSA and constant praise of the militia are dangerous because of the FSA’s unpredictability.

Indeed, the news about the FSA perplexes the public. While Erdogan is determined to argue they are Syrian forces defending their own land, the daily Yeni Safak shared a video of an FSA fighter from Rize, a Turkish city on the Black Sea coast. A senior AKP member told Al-Monitor, “There are Turkmen brigades within the FSA, and a handful of Turks have joined them.” Facing strong reactions, Yeni Safak deleted the tweet about the FSA fighter from Rize.

Still, AKP members make potent public statements praising the FSA. For example, outspoken AKP parliamentarian Burhan Kuzu commented, “The FSA is a local and national militia.” So what does the Turkish public make of the FSA after all?

Musa Ozugurlu, a journalist who has lived in Syria during the civil war, told Al-Monitor, “We can look at three distinct groups’ views on the FSA. First are the Islamists, who view the FSA as holy fighters. Since this group mostly views the [Shiites], Syrian Armed Forces and the YPG as nonbelievers, the FSA is engaged in a holy war in their eyes.” Ozugurlu’s analysis here is crucial in highlighting the hypocrisy in the government’s predominant rhetoric of “local and national” forces versus the Islamist quest for jihadi fighters. The FSA here also represents brewing tension within the AKP among ultranationalists and radical Islamists.

Members of the second group Ozugurlu described are the nationalist forces who view the FSA through pragmatic lenses and believe it uses its power against the YPG. A pro-AKP history professor told Al-Monitor, “Both Iran and the US use foreign militias, or mercenaries — why can’t Turkey?”

Ozugurlu places those who are worried about the FSA-TSK alliance in the third group. Kurds, Alevis, and secular and left-leaning groups belong in this category in Turkey. Ozugurlu said, “I witnessed the FSA employing terrorist methods in Syria. The FSA has no ideological view or any sort of backbone, really. It is an army in name only. They lack a proper command and control system because their commanders are rarely on the ground in Syria. They lack local support and are simply mercenaries willing to work for the highest bidder.” The main concern here is what will happen to FSA forces after Turkish involvement in Syria ends.

Omer Gergerlioglu, a human rights activist and T24 columnist, told Al-Monitor, “There is a correlation between sympathy for the FSA and support for the Afrin operation. Those who support the operation also applaud the FSA. Kurds are relatively divided on this. For supporters of the [pro-Kurdish] Peoples’ Democratic Party, the FSA brings back bitter memories of Kobani. On the other hand, Huda-Par [the Kurdish Islamist Free Cause Party in Turkey] believes the FSA is battling the Americans, so it isn’t critical of an alliance with the FSA.” Gergerlioglu also highlighted a crucial rift between radical Turkish and Kurdish Islamists in Turkey. “The Islamist Felicity Party members are divided. Kurdish members fear that prolonged involvement in Afrin will generate conflict between the Kurds and Turkey inside Turkey.”

Turkey’s engagement with the FSA could deliver certain benefits for national security, yet these benefits are difficult to assess without proper oversight of funding, training and arming of these militias, and accurate accountability of their actions in the war zones. For now, Erdogan and his cronies are taking the easy route of praising the FSA and continuing in their harsh anti-American rhetoric, focusing on patches attached to uniforms.

Pinar Tremblay is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse and a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Donald Trump scraps covert CIA program to arm Syrian rebels

July 20, 2017 by administrator

US President Donald Trump has decided to end a secret CIA operation to support Syrian rebels fighting the regime of Bashar al-Assad, US media reported. The decision is an acknowledgement of the situation on the ground.

US President Donald Trump has decided to end a CIA program to arm and train so-called moderate Syrian rebels, in a seeming acknowledgement that a years-long covert program would fail to dislodge Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or bring the regime to the negotiating table.

The Washington Post and the New York Times reported on the decision, citing US officials.

Trump reportedly made the decision to shut down the training program a month ago after consulting National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. Trump had foreshadowed the decision, repeatedly criticizing US backing of rebels during the 2016 presidential campaign for fueling Islamic extremism.

Obama policy

Former US President Barack Obama started the covert CIA program in 2013, backing so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions in southern and northern-western Syria that the administration deemed to be moderate.

Run in coordination with Jordan, Gulf Arab states and Turkey, the CIA program gave the United States influence on the ground and, importantly, some sway over its regional allies’ policies in Syria.

But the goal of toppling Assad with no apparent successor in place to ensure stability afterwards was always questionable. Backing dozens of fractious rebel factions brought with it the risk that weapons and money would end up in the hands of extremists.

Key rebel backers, Turkey and Gulf Arab states, also poured in money and weapons to their own preferred groups.

A separate $500-million Pentagon train-and-equip program in 2015 to create a 5,000 strong rebel force highlighted the challenges and dangers of assembling fighters to take on the “Islamic State” (IS).

That program ended up with defections and attacks by al Qaeda jihadists on the US-backed force, which lost its weapons before disbanding with less than a dozen fighters in the same year.

US focused on IS

The Syrian conflict, now in its sixth year, has morphed into complex civil war with a dizzying array of armed actors and fronts-within-fronts that has drawn in more than a dozen international and regional powers.

The United States has increasingly focused its attention more on defeating IS in Iraq and Syria than toppling Assad. Ending the CIA program will not impact the US-led fight against IS.

Over the past two years, the US military has found common cause with the Syrian Kurds as its preferred partner on the ground to fight IS in northeastern Syria.

Syria: Turkey’s Erdogan Surrender, Russia’s Putin declares victory accept Ceasefire

December 29, 2016 by administrator

The Syrian government and Turkish Terrorist groups have agreed a nationwide ceasefire from midnight local time (22:00 GMT) on Thursday, followed by peace talks.

The deal was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin and confirmed by the Turkish foreign ministry.

Osama Abu Zaid, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Turkish supported terrorist, a loose alliance of several moderate rebel factions under the HNC, said the deal also did not include the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG).

The YPG, along with other Kurdish militias, controls a large area of northern Syria up the Turkish border. It is regarded by Turkey as a terrorist organisation and an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Turkish Terrorist “FSA” begging Russia to hold talks on Syrian crisis in Cairo – official

October 25, 2015 by administrator

REUTERS/Hosam Katan

Representatives of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel group have sent Russia a proposal to hold talks on Syrian crisis in Cairo, Egypt, one of the founders of the FSA told RIA Novosti, adding that the opposition is ready for the dialogue with Moscow.

“The Free Syrian Army is ready for dialogue with Russia. We need to organize a new meeting, so that we can present our position and discuss our collective actions,” said Fahad Al-Masri, the coordinator of National Salvation Front.

According to the FSA representative, both sides will discuss how exactly Moscow can help the Free Syrian Army during the meeting.

“We have proposed to hold the meeting in Cairo, Egypt, but haven’t received an answer yet. We haven’t proposed any dates but announced our readiness for the meeting. And I believe that it is in the interests of Russia and FSA to hold this meeting as soon as possible,” the FSA representative said.

However, despite calls for negotiations, Masri accused Russia of carrying out airstrikes on “Syrian provinces, in particular the Homs province, where there are many FSA divisions.”

Masri stated that if Russia “continues the bombing,” it will “weaken“ the FSA and will “strengthen” terrorists and Islamists.

Moscow launched airstrikes targeting positions of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants in Syria on September 30 following a formal request from President Bashar Assad. As of October 23, the Russian air force has destroyed 819 IS targets in 934 sorties, according to Defence Ministry.

So called Free Syrian Army commander’s car explodes in southeastern Turkey

August 26, 2015 by administrator

HATAY – Doğan News Agency

HATAY’DA YASAYAN . FOTO: RAMAZAN CELIK/HATAY, (DHA)

A bomb placed in the car of a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander has detonated in southeastern Turkey, while the commander is being treated for heavy injuries.

An FSA commander identified as Cemil Radon was severely wounded when his car exploded at midday on Aug. 26 in Hatay province, on Turkey’s border with Syria.

The bomb detonated when the commander tried to start the car parked in front of his house in Antakya, where Radon had been residing.

Police teams and fire squads were dispatched to the area as security measures were tightened.

Meanwhile, Radon was immediately transferred to the emergency department of Antakya State Hospital via an ambulance. Reports indicated Radon’s condition remains critical.

Daily Hürriyet reported Radon had been targeted by a similar attack in Hatay’s Reyhanlı district, where a bomb placed under his car detonated.

Aleppo Photographer Brings Syrian Reality to the United Nations

January 22, 2015 by administrator

Hagop Vanesian’s exhibition, “My Homeland,” ran at the United Nations Headquarters from January 8-16.

by Eva Bartlett,

Twenty-six distinct photos, in black and white. Scenes of a ravaged city and the human beings within struggling to exist, let alone to find hope for the future. Gravestones of rubble. Homes looted, trashed. Civilians defending their country. Children aged beyond their years by the horrors they’ve lived.

Hagop Vanesian, a 44 year old Syrian-Armenian photographer from Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo (Halab), was meticulous in his choice of photographs for the exhibition, “My Homeland,” which opened at the United Nations Headquarters on January 8 and runs until January 16.

“I chose the photographs showing the destruction, and children. I have many photographs of children, maybe 25-30 percent are of children, these little angels suffering. They are innocent, they don’t understand about politics, they suffer a lot.”

Vanesian, a silversmith by trade, started taking photos twelve years ago, and very early on started documenting his city, building by building.

“Before the war, I was doing documentary photography all over Aleppo. Everyday, I took my camera and photographed people, how they were living,” Vanesian said. “When the war started, I decided to document it. It was very hard at first. For the first couple of days, I couldn’t take a single photograph. This was my birth place, where I grew up. I have memories there, but even my memories were destroyed, especially in Old Aleppo.”

Iman Tahan, from Aleppo, spoke of her feelings after seeing the photos. “These photos, I wish they weren’t real, I wish nothing like this had happened to my country. I remember every street in these photos. I feel so sad, a lot of memories there.”

One of the memories she spoke of was the murder of her father, in his home, by terrorists.

“We have a well in our house, and since there’s no water—because the ‘rebels’ broke the pipes—my father was giving water to neighbours. He was in his house when a sniper entered the garden and shot him, killed him. Those ‘rebels’ don’t represent the Syrian people. Syrian soldiers aren’t fighting against normal people, they’re fighting against people equipped with the most advanced weapons and trained just to come to Syria. They destroy our homes, churches, mosques. But what makes me happy, our people, because they love Syria so much, decided not to leave. Even my dad, he knew he lived in a very dangerous area, but he decided not to leave, and he paid for it with his life.”

Narrating to those around him, Vanesian explained the significance of and story behind each photo. Of one photo, a smiling woman holding a photo of a young man, he said: “When she saw me photographing, she started to cry. She said, ‘please, don’t photograph this, let us remember Aleppo as it was.’ Then she asked me to photograph she and her son. From her purse she took a photograph of her son, with a big, proud smile. Her son was martyred. Brave woman, Syrian woman.”

For Vanesian, the stories behind the photos need to be told. “Some photographers have come and taken photos, stayed one week, two weeks… They photographed the camps, photographed the war from the other side. Maybe they got more powerful photographs than me. But what I got, I got the stories of the people. Because I lived there, I suffered like them. As they were living, I was living. Without water, without electricity.”

Until about eight months ago, Vanesian was living the life of an average Syrian in Aleppo, except that he was also documenting it.

“One day, I was walking in the Old City, drinking sahlab (made of milk, with cinnamon),” he said. “After I finished, I threw my cup on the ground… there was no trash can. I saw a child, maybe four years old, pick up the cup and start licking the remainders of the sahlab. I couldn’t bring myself to photograph him. When I saw this child licking my cup, I thought, ‘where is the humanity?’ I can’t forget him.”

Pointing at his photographs, he noted two “residential graveyard” photos: one, a group of children and women sitting amongst the gravestones, and the second, a young girl standing near a tombstone.

“Residential areas in Aleppo, and children’s playgrounds, have turned into graveyards. The tombstones of these graves are made from stones from collapsed buildings. I asked the girl in the second photo, ‘What are you doing?’ It was a snowy day. She said she wanted to know where they were going to put the body of her aunt, she wanted to see the place.”

Regarding the photo of a sombre-faced boy, dressed in a suit jacket for ‘Eid holiday, he commented: “That boy, his father is kidnapped, his mother killed. He’s living with his aunt, near the front line of the fighting. Did you see his eyes? I didn’t find any children smiling. They’ve lost their smiles.”

Other photographs show the expected bullet-ridden walls and bullet-shredded metal doors, including one photo with two children, likewise sombre-faced, standing next to a warped metal door.

“If you look closely at the children’s eyes, you see the anger. They’re not smiling, they’re like adults. They grew up, they saw what adults see. They’re around 10 and 13 years old. Before, children in Syria were smiling, but these last few years, you don’t see that. They will need psychological treatment in the future. The psychological damage is worse than the physical damage.”

One particularly poignant photograph—a man with one leg missing, on crutches, gun slung over shoulder—shows the determination of the man, reflects the determination of Syria, to fight back and survive.

“He’s defending his neighbourhood in Aleppo, but actually he was displaced from Nubool, the village where he lost his leg during fighting. He is still fighting, even with one leg. He will fight to the end,” said Vanesian.

Two photos of homes looted and destroyed, one Christian, one Muslim, speak of Syria’s multi-religious fabric, that most Syrians I’ve spoken with maintain was never sectarian.

“I intentionally put these photos side-by-side. It’s not only Muslim houses that are looted, Christian homes are too. They don’t differentiate, doesn’t matter whose house, they’re going to loot it.”

Unsurprisingly, the anti-Syrian group, the so-called “National Syrian Coalition” issued a letter accusing the exhibition as being propaganda, and calling for the display to be shut down.

Syrians attending the exhibition felt otherwise.

Rana Nasrallah, a Syrian from the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, now living in New Jersey, was among Syrian expats attending the exhibition.

“Each picture talks, speaks of the different problems in Syria. These photos show the truth exactly as it is in Syria. I was in Syria a month and a half ago, I saw with my eyes. I had a good life there. I feel broken for what has happened to my country.”

Fadi, from Midan, what he describes as a mixed Armenian-Muslim area of Aleppo near the front line of the fighting, agreed that the exhibition was representative of the reality.

“One hundred percent, the photos tell the truth. I’m Muslim. We never had any sectarian problems. We lived together, doesn’t matter what you believe, who you pray to. Now…”

Al-Akhbar and al-Mayadeen correspondent Nizar Abboud attended, reporting on the exhibition but also pointing out the need for such an exhibition. “The world is hearing one point of view on Syria, and this is not by coincidence. I think this is premeditated. Also, there is self-censorship in the media, including my colleagues who work at the United Nations. They like to play the tunes those who pay them would like to hear. “

Earlier, in a private interview, the Syrian Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Bashar al-Ja’afari—who organized and attended the exhibition—told me: “For four years I have been trying very hard to do something inside the UN. Every time we attempted to do something, we were confronted by a huge amount of bureaucracy and excuses.” He, too, said the intent of the exhibition was not political. “It’s about Syria and the Syrian people. It’s about what happened in Aleppo, through undeniable photos. Any honest, objective Syrian who loves his homeland should have a great interest in showing what is going on in Syria. All Syrians should push for organizing more exhibitions, not only at the United Nations but all over the world.”

One of the accusations thrown at Vanesian is that he had photographed only from areas where the Syrian army was present.

“I photograph the front lines, so I need protection, like most photojournalists in areas of war. Transportation is no longer safe in Syria. Some of my friends and relatives have been kidnapped and we haven’t heard about them for over a year.”

That said, Vanesian took risks with many of his photos, including one shot from the side of the terrorists, unbeknownst to their snipers.

“Most front line lanes are covered with fabric, to block the view of snipers and prevent them from shooting the other side. When I took this photo, my back was to the snipers, but I was hiding behind a stone. The other side of the fabric is the safe area, but I came to this side to take the photo. If I had moved my head, I would have gotten shot. If you put your finger up, they’ll shoot right away.”

While the photographs and the issue of Syria under war from the NATO-Gulf-Turkish-Zionist alliance are inherently political, Vanesian maintains that his objective is solely humanitarian.

“I’m not doing this for political reasons, I just take the photos to let people see what is happening. With my photographs, I just want one thing: for people to remember there are people suffering in Syria. Just let them think, for a moment, about the suffering. I can’t bring back Aleppo as it was. I lost it, as I lost friends, relatives… I can’t bring my city back. The market in Aleppo was the longest enclosed market (in the world). It is burned completely. The destruction of Aleppo is a shame for humanity. The heritage has been destroyed; it belongs to all the world.

All those people in my photos, I didn’t just click the shutter, didn’t just take their photographs, I got their stories. I didn’t make money from their photos. I wanted to show these photos for humanitarian reasons, nothing else.”

Hagop Vanesian’s website is: http://www.hagopvanesian.com

Eva Bartlett is a Canadian freelance journalist and activist who has lived in and written from the Gaza Strip, Syria, and Lebanon. Her blog is https://ingaza.wordpress.com/

Turkish (FSA) so called ‘Free Syrian Army’ militants in Kobani to supposedly fight ISIL

October 29, 2014 by administrator

Foreign-backed militants from the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) have crossed from Turkey into the Syrian border city of Kobani to join Kurdish forces in their battle against ISIL Takfiri militants.

In an interview with the CNN, Colonel Abdul Jabbar al-Oqaidi, an FSA commander, said about 200 members of the group entered Kobani, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab, early on Wednesday with munitions that comprised mortars and heavy machine guns.

“Today, 200 is enough,” he said. “But we can send more today if needed.”

However, the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it believed just 50 Free Syrian Army militants have been deployed to Kobani.

The so-called Free Syrian Army comprises militants fighting against the Syrian government. They are enjoying the support of the US and its allies mainly Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

This is while the ISIL militants have emerged from the insurgents fighting the Syrian government forces since 2011. They have been also backed by the US and its allies.

Forces from Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), known as Peshmerga, have not yet crossed into Kobani after the first contingent departed Erbil by air overnight, and landed in Turkey’s southeastern city of Şanlıurfa in the early hours of Wednesday.

On October 22, the KRG decided to send Peshmerga fighters to Kobani, two days after Turkey announced that it would allow Iraqi Kurdish forces to cross into Syria to join fellow fighters defending Kobani against ISIL terrorists.

Kobani and its surroundings have been under attack since mid-September, with the ISIL militants capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages. More than 800 people have been killed on both sides during the battle for the city.

The ISIL advance in the region has forced tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds to flee their homes, mainly into Turkey, which is a stone’s throw from Kobani.