Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Turkish special forces in Ankara, May 2016. Photo: AFP
Araz Barwari | Exclusive to Ekurd.net
Turkish government says that the reasons behind its involvement militarily in Syria are legitimate and in compliance with international law. It says national security of Turkey plus protection and humanitarian assistance to people of Syria are the reasons Turkish military forces have gone inside Syrian soil. “We do not aim to face-off with Russia. Our only aim is to stop the Syrian regime’s massacres, radical groups, the displacement of civilians,” Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Sunday.
Turkey generally speaks publicly only about two to three reasons to justify its presence in Syria. It is to drive the Kurdish (YPG) militia away from the border, and to find a place inside Syria where two million Syrian refugees currently hosted by Turkey, can be settled on, and to avoid and save more costs and refugee crisis for Turkey. But in fact there are other more hidden reasons that Erdogan doesn’t tell the public.
First, Erdogan wants to weaken the Kurds of Syria so they don’t think about creating their own autonomous region and so he avoid the transmission of Confederation or independence infection to the Kurds of Turkey, who are more prone to such a scenario. And second, to make demographic change in northern Syria from the Kurdish majority to the pro-Turkish Sunni majority. And third, to form and keep pro-Turkey Syrian militias that Erdogan can rely on and use when and where he wants. And fifth to topple Assad regime because Erdogan does not benefit from Syrian Baath political secular system in Syria and he is helping the Syrian pro Turkish Islamists rebels and Jihadists to take power in Damascus.
Erdogan believes that all these Turkish foreign policies in Syria will be in the interest of Turkey if they’re carried because it will boost Turkey’s security, influence, business, and economics in the region in the future, and yet will make Turkey a stronger and more influential player in decision making at international level. Turkey is basically trying to secure national interests of Turkey in Syria but through militarism, force, invasion and aggression meaning securing its national interests at the expense of hurting national interests of other nations.
Pursuing national interests is something that all nations of the world do for its development or at least for its survival. And nations try to maximize their national interests by cooperation, conflict or alliances with other nations. However, when, the national interests of countries are congruent with each other, they develop close relations, which are mutually beneficial such as European nations. On the contrary, if their interests are defined in such a manner that one’s loss becomes another gain (Zero-Sum-Game), there relations are likely to be conflicting.
There have been many rulers, governments, dictators and policy-makers, such as Hitler, Stalin, Saddam, Ataturk, Erdogan, Assad, Khomeini and many more, who have used the matter of national security and interests as a cover to deny the basic human and democratic rights to other ethnicities and also to invade other nations, to change their government, install puppets and exploit their natural resources and they justify their actions under the name of national interests.
However, when it comes to formulate the goals and objectives of national interest, all the nations must make honest attempts to make these compatible with the international interests of Peace, Security, Democracy, protection of freedoms and human rights, respect for the sovereignty of other nations, environmental protection, sustainable development, peaceful coexistence, peaceful conflict-resolution and purposeful mutual cooperation for development, because all of these matters and values are good and are the common and shared interests of all the nations. All this makes it essential for every nation to formulate its foreign policy and to conduct its relations with other nations on the basis of its national interests, as interpreted and defined in harmony with the common interests of the humankind without the need of using force, military and aggression in securing national interests.
National interest should be pursued for protecting the interest of citizens of the country but not to dominate, invade or exploit other countries to secure them. After all national interest should be subordinate to human interest. Nations must care for the whole world and humanity rather than only national interests. However in a world highly divided by national boundaries, it is difficult to try not to care about our national interests, but there is a difference between working for good and legitimate national interests and bad and illegitimate national interests. I mean, nations must demarcate moderate nationalistic attitudes from jingoism in keeping and securing their national interests outside and inside their borders. This is something that Turkey has been doing it in both Iraq and Syria.
As humanity becomes more civilized and intellectuals prevail day after day, I guess, the impact of nationalism will be less pronounced. In conclusion while nations must be adamant to serve their national interests, this should not be at the expense of others. Intellectuals from various parts of the world should have an intimate contact to fight against jingoistic leaders who sacrifice democracy, minority rights, freedoms and human rights, peace and security for their own national interests. Jingoistic leaders like Erdogan, Assad, Khamenei and so forth, are mostly religious and ultra-nationalistic backward and illiterate people.
Araz Barwari is a law student at the University of Nawroz in Kurdistan of Iraq.
The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Ekurd.net or its editors.
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