The West Remains Silent as NATO Member Supports Islamist Militants in Syria
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - trades with ISIS and hides terrorists on Turkish soil
June 23, 2016 | Darius Shahtahmasebi
(ANTIMEDIA)
Following the recent mass shooting in Orlando, Florida — and other recent attacks seen around the world, including Europe — one might naively assume eliminating support for Islamist militants in the Middle East would be at the top of the list of issues that need to be addressed. According to a recent report by RT’s Lizzie Phelan, however, this is not the case.
Turkey openly supports Islamist militants in Syria — and this has been going on for years. These militants have ties to al-Sham, who have ties to al-Qaeda, who have ties to ISIS. Al-Sham has been documented carrying out atrocities against civilians in Syria as recently as May 2016, but the NATO establishment still refuses to classify them as a terrorist group — despite the fact they have been openly fighting alongside al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s official branch in Syria. As Turkish journalist Fehim Tastekin, who writes for Al-Monitor, told RT, “Al-Nusra uses other groups, such as Ahrar al-Sham, as proxies to distribute weapons ‘coming from Turkey.’”
How can this be?
Turkey has a dark and largely ignored history of providing overt support to militants trying to overthrow the al-Assad regime in Syria. This support goes further than merely offering funding and weaponry; according to the RT report, one fighter detailed how Turkey allowed him to seamlessly cross the border between Turkey and Syria every two weeks.
The full extent of this cooperation between Turkey and Islamist militants — especially those who fight for ISIS — is outlined in a research paper by David L. Phillips, director of the Program on Peace-building and Rights at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. As he explains, the fact that foreign militants refer to the Turkish border as the “gateway to Jihad” should tell us something about the manner in which the border has been controlled — if it has been controlled at all. The paper further explains that “Turkish army soldiers either turn a blind eye and let them pass, or the jihadists pay the border guards as little as $10 to facilitate their crossing.”
This is not something that has happened without the knowledge of the Turkish regime. After the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011, the Libyan armories were looted, and tons of weaponry were transported into Syria through Turkey. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, this transport route was referred to by the CIA as a “rat line.” Funding for this project mainly came from Turkey, which also facilitated the supply line itself. By cutting off this supply line, Turkey alone could be the sole destroyer of ISIS — yet to this day, nothing has been done to stop the smuggling of fighters, weapons and money.
But at least since then, Turkey has been heavily involved in combating ISIS militarily… right?
So far, the only group Turkey has actively bombed is the Kurdish militant group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) – the same militants President Obama has designated the most effective fighting force on the ground for combating ISIS.
Further, one report detailed how ISIS fighters were transported into Turkey to receive costly medical attention. This is to say nothing of Turkey’s illicit oil trade with ISIS, which was only brought to light when Russian warplanes began targeting oil tankers heading into Turkey in order to cut off ISIS’ main financial supply.
How did Turkey respond to this? By shooting down a Russian warplane, because according to them, it had violated Turkish airspace for a mere 17 seconds. They didn’t launch any investigations into the purchasing of ISIS oil, they didn’t start bombarding the tankers – they did nothing but shoot down the very people trying to cut off one of the main sources of ISIS’ financial support. The revenue brought in through the illicit sale of this oil was previously estimated at being $50 million per month.
Turkey is a NATO ally, meaning any further engagement between Turkey and Russia could have required an all out war between Russia and NATO. Turkey was willing to risk this unthinkable scenario to protect their own interests in the region. Considering the evidence cited above, it’s clear Turkey’s main interest in Syria is to provide dedicated and unfaltering support for Islamist militants who are fighting against the Syrian regime. Therefore, Turkey risked a hot war with Russia simply to stop Russia from cutting off their support to Islamist militants, including ISIS. When it became clear the Syrian regime, with Russian and Iranian support, was about to retake Aleppo earlier this year — cutting off one of Turkey’s main supply lines — Turkey’s next response was to threaten to send in ground troops.
This gives an idea of how important Turkey — and the NATO establishment — view support for Islamist militants to be, given that Turkey is willing to risk a global conflict when their support for these militants appears to be in dire threat. At no stage has President Recep Tayyip Erdogan even expressed a desire to fight against ISIS. In fact, fighting alongside ISIS seems to be his main agenda.
The idea that Turkey is governed by a friendly, peaceful, and liberal regime — as many Westerners believe — is simply not tenable. President Erdogan has done more in his fight against the free press — by cracking down on journalists — than he has in the fight against ISIS. In March of this year, Erdogan closed down the most widely-circulated newspaper in the country, Zaman. This aversion to independent reporting, which challenges his quest for regional hegemony, casts doubt on the story of Serena Shim, an American journalist who was killed in a car crash in Turkey just days after claiming she had been threatened by Turkish authorities over her reports in Kobani, Syria. In her reporting, Shim claimed she saw ISIS fighters being smuggled into Turkey and as a result, she may have paid a heavy price.
The Turkish role in the Syrian conflict is purely political. Islamist militants are strategically vital in order for Turkey to carry out its political agenda in the region, and this is why Turkey continues to support them today. The fact that NATO countries stay silent on Turkey’s support for ISIS and its affiliates reveals their actual agenda regarding Syria.
This article (The West Remains Silent as NATO Member Supports Islamist Militants in Syria) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Darius Shahtahmasebi and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article at edits@theantimedia.org.
RELATED POSTS:
Syria: Obama's Worst Mistake?
The real legacy of Obama's administration of course will be in the area of foreign policy, where the utter ineptitude of Obama and his liberal cronies have reduced his promise to usher the world to an era of harmony and prosperity to ridicule as he has stumbles from one disaster to another. A very special kind of incompetence was required to make the messes created by his predecessor George W Bush in Iraq and Afghanistan worse, but Obie managed to pull it off.
The Truth Of What Is Going On In Syria
The Business of War: Defence Sales Keep Economies Of Manufacturing Nations Afloat
Turkey Blames Kurds, Assad For Terrorist Attack, Vows Swift Response
Road To World War III: Turkey Shells Syria For Second Day As Saudi Warplanes Arrive
‘I’m back from Syria. The media are lying to you.’ Eva Bartlett
US Allies Now Fighting CIA-Backed Terror Groups In Syria
Turkey and Sadui Arabia Already Have Troops Fighting In Syria
Obama Launching Massive Military Intervention In Libya And Iraq
Hypocrite David Cameron defends selling arms to outrageous Saudi regime
US Drones Attack Headquarters of Iraqi Popular Forces in Tikrit.
Is The World Turning Against The New World Order Elitists
Captured ISIS fighter says ‘trained in Turkey, ISIS thinks it’s safer than Syria’
In The War On Terror Freedom Is Not Winning - Here You Might Learn Why
Russian Navy Destroyer "Fires Warning Shots" To Avoid Collision With Turkish Ship
Iran-backed Shi'ite militias threaten Turkey over incursion into Iraq
Turkish MP to Reveal Evidence Linking Erdogan To Islamic State Oil
Turkey Planned Shootdown Of Russian Plane Weeks Ahead - Wikileaks
RELATED POSTS:
EU mediterranean crisis
EU refugee quotas
Gadaffi's threat realised
Europe human rights compatible with Turkey's terrorism
Europoe and Turkey
Europe unglues
Immigrant invastion
Immigration omnibus
Immigration crisis is a Soros scam
ISIS backed by Turkey in Syria
Turkey at war with Syria
Evidence of Turkey's illegal trade with ISIS
Turkey ISIS trade links
Is Brexit A Harbinger Of Doom For The 'Experts'
The Brexit vote, the decision by a democratic majority in Britain to leave the European Union has sent shockwaves around the world. Not only does the EU now face a tsunami of departures, the usurpation of democracy by 'experts' ( technocrats ) has been challenged and exposed as a sham.
Turkey Resorts To Blackmail (Again), Will Unleash Refugees On Europe If No Visa-Free Travel
EU Turkey Migrant Deal Set To Fail
Russian Foreign Affairs Dept Accuses Turkey Of Hindering Syrian Peace Talks
Assad Accuses Erdogan Of Putting Combat Troops In Syria
EU-Turkey Refugee Plan Puts Women, Children in Concentration Camps
EU / Tukey Migrant Crisis Deal One Veto Away From Being Wrecked
USA, EU and Turkey are not going to like this Greece /Russia deal
Leaked Transcripts Prove ISIS-Turkey Link
The Truth Of What Is Going On In Syria
Turkey / ISIS Oil Trade? Everyone Knows What's Going On Say Istanbul Residents
NATO’s humanitarian Convoys Delivering Arms And Ammo To ISIS Halted at Syrian Border
Know Your Enemy - Who Of Those We Think Are On Our Side Is Helping ISIS
E U offers Turkey Cash And Membership In Return For Cooperation On Migrant Crisis
Assad Says Europe Is Responsible For Refugee Crisis: "If You're Worried About Them, Stop Supporting Terrorists"
Elsewhere: [ The Original Boggart Blog] ... Daily Stirrer ...[Little Nicky Machiavelli]... [ Ian's Authorsden Pages ]... [Scribd]...[Wikinut] ... [ Boggart Abroad] ... [ Grenteeth Bites ] ... Ian Thorpe at Flickr ] ... [ Tumblr ] ... [Ian at Minds ] ... [ Authorsden blog ] ... [Daily Stirrer News Aggregator]
