Egypt Turkey

Dr.Mordechai Kedar: Middle East regression…….


 

Middle East regression

Turkey and Egypt are reversing direction, one trying to bring back the Ottoman Empire and the other solidifying a despotic dictatorship.

The renaissance of an empire

A century after the Ottoman Empire’s demise, it has been reincarnated. Once again, Turkey is conquering parts of the Arab World, with Syria serving as its current goal. Using the “war on terror” as its lame excuse, Turkey has managed, in the last two weeks, to take over a strip of Syrian land along the border shared by the two countries, in order to prevent the Kurds from controlling a contiguous region.

 

Turkey intends to extend its “security belt” on Syrian soil to cover the entire length of its 500 mile-long border with Syria, and to widen that strip to a depth of 18 miles inside Syrian territory. If Turkey succeeds in doing this, that “security belt” will be larger than the State of Israel, and span over 9000 square miles. The Turks intend to turn the area into a no-man’s land.

 

The only name that this plan can be given is “ethnic cleansing.” The tens of thousands of villagers and town-dwellers who have lived on this “belt” for hundreds and  even thousands of years will have to uproot themselves and scatter in  all direction, all because Erdogan does not want an independent or non-independent Kurdish entity south of the Turkish border.

 

Calling the Syrian Kurds “terrorists” who must be expelled from their historic living space is exactly the same as calling all the Arabs or all the Jews “terrorists” and treating them all as equally guilty. Erdogan’s racism is simply beyond the pale.

 

What is most shocking about Turkey’s behavior is the world’s total silence. The Security Council has not met to discuss the new takeover and has not uttered a single word of condemnation. There are no demonstrations and the streets of the Arab, European and North America are as silent as the tomb.

For those who have short memories, Turkey conquered 37% of the island of Cyprus in 1974 and established a state there that not one country recognized “de jure” – barring Turkey itself, of course. Its presence there is “occupation” any way you look at it, but who is aware of it?  Who condemns Turkey for occupying more than a third of Cyprus?  Has it crossed anyone’s mind to boycott, sanction or divest of investments in Turkey – BDS – because of its 44 year occupation of Cyprus?

 

Now it is the turn of the Turkish takeover of Kurdish Syria. Is the world going to wake up now and realize what Turkey is doing?  Will it demonstrate? Condemn? Boycott? Do anything at all?

 

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