Civilnet
Recently, more than ever, the international media has focused its attention on the events taking place about 600 km southwest in a straight line from Armenia’s borders. Aztag daily Editor-in-chief Shahan Kandaharian, in a Skype interview with CivilNet spoke about Turkey's position on the battle in Kobani, the conflict of interests with the West and the possible emergence of new dividing lines in the region. Here we provide a portion of that interview.
Shahan Kandaharian says that Ankara’s role in funding, arming and providing an unobstructed corridor for the armed gangs of the Islamic State is already evident and the international press has been openly and consistently referring to that reality.
"By reading about the current political situation, it becomes clear why Ankara considers the Islamic State as a guarantor of its security, at least to a certain extent. Kobani or Arabunar has become a point of conflict between Western interests and the interests of Turkey. In comparison to Mosul or Kessab, in this case, when Western interests and the USA’s divisive policies were threatened, their support of the Kurdish factor became more explicit. That is why Islamic State militants were not able to do what they did in Mosul. In fact, they acted much more freely and unobstructed in Mosul, with the silent agreement to respect boundaries, and not cross borders.”
“That is why what took place in Mosul, was perceived with greater calm by the United States and the West. The displacement, massacres of people and taking over of territories took place at lightning speed. Something which we did not see with Kobani. On the contrary, today it is a fact that the Kurdish forces are advancing there.”
“Turkey's interest in all this is obvious. The major reason for proposing to create a no-fly zone is the Kurdish factor, because the strengthening of the Kurdish factor is a serious threat and a nightmare for Turkey.”
Referring to the leader of the Workers’ Party of Turkey (which has strong ties with the state) Dogu Perincek’s statement that Kobani’s fall is in Turkey’s interests, Kandaharian says that this, in reality, honestly and openly highlights Turkish policy towards Kobani and the region.
"The Turks are in this nightmare, because the strategically important area being created by the unification of Syria’s, Iraq’s and Turkey’s Kurds is the proposed Kurdistan, which Ankara is trying to inhibit by interfering with this unification. It is the most serious threat to Turkey's territorial integrity. It is no coincidence that the Secretary General of NATO issued a statement saying that their main goal currently is to preserve the territorial integrity of Turkey. The statement is like an emergency call. This means that the territorial integrity of Turkey is on the table, that is, Turkey's primary issue, is that its territorial integrity is at stake."
“The rest are excuses. Creation of a security zone or humanitarian zone, or no-fly zone etc etc… These are all, in essence, Ankara's attempts to hinder Kurdish unification. This also means that the Kurdish factor has indeed turned to a nightmare for Turkey."
Regarding some observations that the local Kurdish government is the only democratic and tolerant body in the region, Kandaharian says that he regards their rhetoric as ‘banner-driven’ because it is also true that there are many intolerant, clerical tribal leaders in the region, who will most probably become allies and the enforcers of the United States’ and the West’s policies. Core principles such as human rights, democracy, tolerance etc., are simple slogans and are not the main incentives in political processes says Kandaharian.
"There is an issue of implementing the new divisive projects and deciding on new boundaries here, and that process can take up to 20-30 years. The Kurdish factor also has become main hook of the West’s perceptions in this region which shows that the West, to put it mildly, sponsors the creation of Kurdistan.”
Stories
