Turkey digging own grave in Syria: Analyst

US President Barack Obama (L) and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (file photo)

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/09/255340/turkey-digging-own-grave-in-syria/

A prominent political analyst says Turkey’s attempts aimed at bringing about the collapse of the Syrian government will rebound on Ankara itself.

“Turkey is making a tactical mistake by supporting terrorism in Syria and supplying them with weapons, military training and human resources,” senior Iranian author and Middle East expert Dr. Ismail Salami wrote in an article on Press TV website.

As a member of the “sabotage axis” against Damascus, Ankara is playing “a very treacherous role in snowballing the Syrian crisis,” he pointed out.

“Turkey will certainly fall into the pitfall it has dug for Syria and the insecurity it envisages for Syria will ultimately recoil against the government itself.”

Turkey’s current hostility against Syria smacks of ingratitude, the Iranian author added, stressing that Damascus has retaliatory means at its disposal.

“In fact, Turkey should be grateful to Syria what it has done for it in the past. It is acknowledged by many pundits that it was Bashar's father, Hafiz Assad, who tailored a compromise between Turkey and the Kurds living in both sides of the country, thereby vaccinating Turkey for years against any attacks on the part of the Kurds,” he pointed out.

“The antagonistic policies of Turkey have left President Bashar Assad with no choice but to grant autonomy to the Kurds in Syria who can foment dilemma for the Ankara government and get Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan into hot water.”

Last month, there were reports that the Democratic Union of Kurdistan (PYD), an offshoot of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Syria, had taken over five villages in the north of the country.

Subsequently, Erdogan said such a structure involves “sensitive balances,” which Turkey “cannot just accept.”

"A structure in northern Syria for us means a structure of terror. It is impossible for us to look favorably at such a structure," he said on July 26.

Salami said the US and NATO are “making a selfsame mistake” by throwing their support behind the insurgents inciting terrorism and extremism in Syria.

“They know that a popular uprising in the true sense of the word is not clearly discernible in Syria and that what has been taking place in Syria is a string of militancy and terrorist operations funded by the Saudis and the Qataris and some Western countries who are waiting to reap the benefits of their atrocities in case Bashar Assad’s government collapses. Such a day, if it comes, will open a new chapter of horror in the Middle East with no end in sight,” he added.

“The unfurling reality is that the hostile states and powers antagonizing Bashar Assad are gradually getting caught up in the labyrinthine Orwellian pitfall of their own folly and that they are consciously or unconsciously working in the best interests of the Zionist regime.”