AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – A recently published article by the American magazine Foreign Affairs, entitled Turkey is No Partner for Peace, revealed that Washington and Ankara –despite their common desire to overthrow the rule of Bashar al-Assad –have distinctively different visions of a post-Assad Syria.
According to the article, the U.S. insists on a solution for the Syrian crisis which guarantees religious and ethnic pluralism, whereas Turkey –being ruled by a Sunni government –deals with the struggle in Syria within a sectarian framework.
Turkey has tight relations with the Sunni group the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, and besides its attempts to persecute the Kurdish people in Syria, it also antagonizes the Alawite minority.
The Turkish attitude is said to be contributing to the worsening of sectarian divisions in Syria, and observers say that Turkey will not support democratic change or a multi-ethnic government.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon told Foreign Affairs that “the Syrian opposition needs to be inclusive, needs to give a voice to all the groups in Syria, and that includes Kurds.”
After a meeting with the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton emphasized that a new Syrian government “will need to protect the rights of all Syrians regardless of religion, gender or ethnicity.”
Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) – referred to as a Sunni conservative bloc – and its leader and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan are accused of resisting any possibility of Kurdish autonomy in northeast Syria.
ErdoganÂ’s government even threatened military intervention as one of the actions Turkey might take to prevent the establishment of a Kurdish entity in Syria.
“The Turkish government’s unreserved support to the Sunni opposition is due not only to an ideological affinity with it but also to the fact that the Sunni rebels oppose the aspirations of the Syria Kurds,” Foreign Affairs reported.
Outwardly, the attitude of the Obama administration towards Syria seems to be similar to that of Turkey. Clinton emphasized Washington’s fear of “turning Syria into a sanctuary for ‘Kurdish terrorists,’” adding that the U.S would not support autonomy for the Kurds in Syria, describing it as a slippery slope.
However, Foreign Affairs considers these official statements by the U.S as a consolation to the Turkish government, because multi-ethnic and pluralistic rule in a post-revolution Syria is seen as the best solution by the U.S. They see it as the most appropriate way to put an end to the conflict and guarantee stability in the country, even if it requires a response to the aspirations of the Kurds and acknowledging their right to be distinguished as an autonomous entity in Syria.
Kurdish activists believe that the U.S administration has put pressure on Ankara to change its position on Syria because – despite Turkish worries regarding the Kurdish issue in Turkey – a mutually beneficial relationship with the Syrian Kurds will be absolutely in Turkey’s favor, and similar to its good relations with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.
Rudaw in English....The Happening: Latest News and Multimedia about Kurdistan, Iraq and the World - US Doesn?t Oppose Aspirations of Syrian Kurds
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