Assad, an Excuse for Fantastic Malice!

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s statement, “the U.S. must eventually negotiate with Assad” was meaningful. Even though the White House did its best to fix the situation by stating that “What was implied is not Assad but the Syrian regime,” we all know that the U.S. often uses this kind of practice to get people adapted to new political concepts. In addition to that, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan said, “the U.S. doesn’t want to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government collapse.” This statement was another hint that proves our theory.

I do not agree with my colleagues who interpreted Kerry’s statement as “the U.S. has changed its stance on Syria.” However, in my opinion, the U.S. cannot accept the fact that it hasn’t been able to overthrow Assad for the last four years, even though it wanted to do so. On the contrary, for the USA, after a shattered Iraq, an exhausted Syria is like killing two birds with one stone: It not only comforts Israel, but also batters Turkey, and the cherry on top is the Islamic State.

Also, “negotiating not with Assad but with the regime” is a big deception. And what if Assad is ousted? Don’t we already know that the real problem is the Baas regime, which turned Assad into a killing machine?

Footsteps of the New Game

Assad didn’t waste time to appraise the pass Kerry has provided, and he took a tremendous step in the way of legitimacy with a high-toned response. Judging by the Assad supporters sweeping down on the situation in Turkey, they are expecting considerably high gains from this situation.

However, prior to June 7 (before the general elections in Turkey), it is a great excuse to change the agenda in Turkey, and this shouldn’t be seen as a coincidence. Would there be a better opportunity than legitimizing Assad for this coalition of malice that thinks that “even if the country sinks into oblivion, this government must go away”? It is time to blow the “this government has left Turkey alone” bubblegum, which has been chewed for many years.

Did You Say 'Loneliness?'

What kind of loneliness is this that, throughout our republic’s history, the number of our embassies was only 163 until 2002? This number has increased by 40 percent to 228 since 2002. From 2002 to today, other countries have also been racing with each other to open their own embassies in Turkey. On the other hand, while we were only able to travel to 42 countries without a visa before, today, this number has doubled to 82. What kind of loneliness is this?

On the contrary, the most successful aspect of this government is its consistent foreign policy.

Foreign policy is a silent but merciless war: especially where national interests are tangled, and despite the circle of fire that surrounded us, it is by itself a great success to be able to stay a peaceful land. The ones who claim that the “zero-problems-with-neighbors” strategy has collapsed actually know very well that there is not even much of a neighbor left anymore.

To Be Impartial Is To Side with Cruelty

By leaving the short-term interests aside, adopting a people-oriented foreign policy is the most valuable national heritage that will be passed along to future generations.

While civilized Western countries follow a policy that prioritizes their national interests and neglects human life, Turkey in the internal and external arena has paid the most serious bill and prioritized the “human-life-matters” principle. As recently as yesterday, Mr. Kilicdaroglu, who is leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP), which is the primary opposition party in Turkey, said “find jobs for your own people first, then for Syrians.”

I wonder what the ones who criticize Turkey’s Syria policy would say today if we stood by Assad’s side. They say “we could have been impartial.” Yet, don’t they know that when one side is a cruel despot, to be impartial is to side with cruelty ..