Erdogan pro-rebel policy backfired, Turkish army bombs jihadists

(by Francesco Cerri) (ANSAmed) – ANKARA, 18 OTT – The Syrian civil war is turning into a nightmare for Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a firm supporter of the rebels since the conflict began in spring 2011.

Erdogan was certain the rebels would bring about the rapid demise of his former friend and ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, replacing him with an Islamic regime run by his fellow Sunnis from the Muslim Brotherhood. More than two years and 100,000 fatalities later, things have not gone according to Ankara’s plan: the entry of Lebanon’s Hezbollah Shiite movement into the field at Assad’s side has turned the battle to his advantage.

In spite of Turkey’s efforts, a US-led intervention against Damascus was averted, while Syrian Kurds have seized part of the north. Should they succeed in declaring their independence, they might one day claim Turkish Kurdistan as part of their new entity.

The rebel Free Syrian Army, which is ideologically aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, is losing ground and authority to represent the uprising, as another 60 resistance groups have just dissociated themselves.

The 11 most powerful of these have already allied themselves with al-Qaeda, with the foundation of a caliphate based on sharia or Islamic law as their declared objective.

A good part of the rebel-held areas along the Turkish border are falling into the hands of the two major al-Qaeda linked jihadist formations: the al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Atrocities are being denounced, and the rise of a jihadist zone so close to home is setting off alarms in Ankara.

”Turkey has a new neighbor, the decapitators” said Sozcu opposition daily.

Instead of a Muslim Brotherhood-run Syrian state, Turkey now discovers an Afghanistan of sorts has cropped up just across its border: no matter what the results of the planned Geneva II peace conference, it will be hard to get rid of it in the years ahead.

Opposition leader Kemal Kilicadaroglu has charged Erdogan and his ”sectarian” Syria policy with spawning this disaster.

Along with Syrian Kurds now engaged in battle with the jihadists, Erdogan’s principle of ”any enemy of Assad is my friend” has de facto led to his supporting the jihad, allowing free passage of militias, arms and money through the border.

The brains behind this strategy, which has also caused tensions with the United States, is National Intelligence Organization (MIT) chief Hakan Fidan, according to The New York Times.

Ankara has repeatedly denied it is supporting the jihad, but Human Rights Watch recently charged Turkey could be held responsible for al-Qaeda’s atrocities in Syria.

The Turkish army for the first time announced recently it has raided al-Qaeda positions near the border city of Azaz in response to a mortar shell that fell in Turkish territory.

Erdogan may have ”looked the other way” while al-Qaeda proliferated across the border, ”but now those times are over” wrote Hurriyet daily. Turkey is increasingly in jeopardy, and the danger is no longer Assad, but al-Qaeda.

”The Turkish people are asking themselves what the government – which previously gave logistical support to radical Islamists fighting Assad – is doing to combat this threat”, Hurriyet editorialized.(ANSAmed).