Turkey support for anti-Syria terrorism to backfire

Turkey, along with the US and Persian Gulf Arab dictatorships, is actively playing a part in fueling the armed crisis in Syria to topple the Syrian government, arming and sponsoring the al-Qaeda terrorists on Syria’s soil.

The US Republican congressman, Ron Paul has warned that Washington is driving Syria into a war by interfering with the ongoing unrest in the Middle Eastern country.

“We are told that ever-harsher sanctions finally will force the targeted nations to bend to our will. Yet, the ineffectiveness of previous sanctions teaches us nothing; in truth sanctions lead to war more than they prevent war,” he has said.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Tahsin al-Halabi, political analyst from Damascus, to further discuss the role of the US-Arab-Turkish triangle in arming and supporting the al-Qaeda armed gangs in Syria.

The video offers the opinions of two additional guests: Don debar, anti-war activist from New York, and Mohammad Marandi, professor at the University of Tehran.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Professor Marandi our guest in Damascus talked about the atrocities that had been committed and that it should be obvious for everyone.

Is it obvious? Let us look at the international community because we know how the mainstream media is projecting this situation and portraying the situation in Syria.

Do you think that the majority of people living in these countries as far as the mainstream media really realize what is going on and I want to look at the role, in general in your perspective, that the media has played in this situation in Syria?

Marandi: Well, obviously the media has been completely one-sided and every massacre that were taking place in Syria before even any evidence being provided, the Western media would immediately blame the [Syrian] government and what was interesting was; after the first massacre that was carried out, which was right before a UN meeting on the country, the Syrian government was immediately condemned and for a long time people were discussing and debating who is behind it and who is responsible.

Not only on the mainstream press, but online and on more investigative websites.

But then a pattern emerged, every time there would be a UN meeting on Syria, there would be a massacre the day before, which worked very well and was very convenient for the so-called rebels. So the fact that the Western media would immediately blame the Syrian government, created this atmosphere where extremists could carryout atrocities and know that the blame would be pinned on the government.

So not only is the Western media completely biased and providing a one sided story but they are also helping atrocities being carried out by blaming the [Syrian] government for things they have no information about and for, basically, keeping silent about atrocities carried out by the opponents of the government.

Press TV: Professor Marandi, talking about these different entities like Qatar, like Saudi Arabia and Turkey, how likely is it, especially Turkey being right there on the Syrian border that is opening a can of worms that may actually backfire on itself.

We have the whole al-Qaeda and the lack of security in general now like instability. How likely is this possibly going to backfire on Turkey itself?

Marandi: Well, upon history, it will most probably backfire. Thirty years ago Pakistan was a country that really did not have such a serious problem of sectarianism that it does today; and in the 1980’s and the 1990’s largely due to American support and money from dictatorships in the Persian Gulf, specially the Saudi regime; sectarianism began to grow in Pakistan for the sake of Afghanistan.

They were supporting the rebels and so on in that country, but gradually this spread inside Pakistan itself and now we see the horrific crimes that are carried out on a very regular basis in the country.

Turkey can not align itself with Saudi Arabia and other sectarian regimes with extreme ideologies such as Wahabis and so on; and not pay the consequences ultimately.

In fact their own population condoning racial, sectarian hatred and religious hatred which is what the Saudis are doing in the other countries.

If one looks at the television stations funded by these Persian Gulf, Arab dictatorships, one can see them clearly…, there are many clips on Youtube, where the so-called clerics in Saudi Arabia say that one third of Syrians can be killed for the other two thirds or where they condone the rape of women and the murder of the children, these are all Youtube clips; these are things that people can see. Or when for example, the grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia says that all Churches in the Arabian peninsula should be destroyed.

This intolerance is something that is spread by petrodollars and Turkey can not remain normal and uninfected when it is involved in perusing such policies in Syria. So Turkey …

Press TV: So, Professor Marandi let me just jump in here, is it something…, you have just talked about that Turkey can not remain normal per se.

Does Ankara understand what they are doing to themselves then? Obviously you have just talked about being allying with the very a extreme Wahhabi government like Saudi Arabia.

Why then would the Turkish government agree to these demands, obviously, that is coming either from the United States or are coming from some regional arab countries or perhaps other countries.

Why then would they risk their own sovereignty in the way that perhaps they are?

Marandi: Well, first of all many people in Turkey, if one looks at the polls, are very worried about the current policies being pursued by the government and even within the ruling party, there are many who are concerned about the way the current prime minister [Erdogan] is pushing things, many believe that he has personalized the issue and that he became emotional early on and that he is a stubborn person and basically it is something between him and Assad.

That is what some people actually believe. On the other hand there are those in Turkey who seem to be pursuing neo-Ottoman policies, they see Syria, Jordan and other countries as their backyard and that is also a problem.

But again according to polls, ordinary Turks are very concerned about the way things are going, I would like also to add one other thing about the rebels, and that is not only is Turkey and other countries violating the international law by funding these groups, but also they should question whether these groups really are that much popular when they took part of Damascus and Aleppo during the past few weeks, there were no popular signs of support by the local population, they went into few neighborhoods in Damascus, people did not celebrate, they did now throw rice, they did not welcome them and the same is true in Aleppo.

There were no signs of mass support for these groups, so it is obvious that there is a lot of discontent in Syria with the current government but many of them are completely opposed to the military and that is basically what the West has done.

They have isolated the internal critics of the government, the internal opposition that is against civil war and the murder of the ordinary people and they have sidelined these people; they are backing an external opposition which is full of extremists in al-Qaeda-like people.

The same sort of people that the Americans are supposedly bombing with drones throughout the world, they are supporting in Syria and this is the ultimate hypocrisy.