The Syrian government does not need the permission of any country to deal with its internal political issues. The war in Syria is not about universal human rights or about democratic rule; it is about a regional and international battle. In terms of the regional, the conflict is between Turkey and Iran. Turkey is responsible for the thousands killed by bloodshed in Syria, because Turkey is helping to support many opposition groups fighting against Assad’s government and against the Kurdish minority in Syria to prevent the latter from having autonomous rule.
If Turkey and the international community care about universal or democratic rule in Syria, they should first and foremost recognize the Kurdish minority. Having their identity stripped and their towns leveled, the Kurds have lived under Assad’s oppression for decades. The war in Syria is clearly not about democracy or universal human rights. It is solely about a power struggle and actually about the violation of the sovereignty of other states.
The international battle rages over state sovereignty, not rights. Will the international community or the Security Council authorize armed action in Tibet or Chechnya, where a violation of human rights is actually happening? Not likely. The nature of state sovereignty has been changing with the Arab Spring. States are supposed to be the primary actors in the international system. Sovereignty should be relevant to the relationship between a society and its government. Both the government and society should be subject to international law. International law should recognize a government and grant that its citizens have rights as subjects and have agency as actors in international politics.
The government is the only bearer of sovereignty under international law. But what about the individuals who make up society? They also have rights under international law; the government cannot exercise its sovereignty domestically without constraint. Citizens who create chaos with the help of foreign countries and cause many people to die should also be held accountable to international law. The origin of the concept of sovereignty was to protect a people from external threats, to give a government control of a defined territory and population, and to define a particular relationship between that government and its citizens. International law still upholds and safeguards a government’s power and control over its citizens, including its right to invoke state emergency and to use force to bring peace and security.
The battle between the Persians and the Turks is not something new, but goes back to the sixteenth century when the Persian Safavid dynasty and the Turkish Ottoman Empire clashed. The Persian Safavid dynasty was trying to prevent the Ottoman Empire’s eastward expansion. Now we see the same old historical rivalry again. As the Iraq war, the war in Syria, and the Kurdish issues have raged and as the new greater Middle East projects have intensified, Turkey and Iran have clashed more openly with each side trying to expand its religion influence. Turkey is supporting the opposition to the Assad regime’s forces, militarily, financially, and politically. The war in Syria at some point has become the war of Turkey. On the other hand, Iran still supports the Assad regime militarily, financially and politically, so that both Turkey and Iran are trying to put Syria in their camp. Further, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are also working along side of Turkey trying to influence Syria not to fall under the Shiite influence.
Sooner or latter the Assad regime will go, and there will be a new government that will be divided by ethnic sectarians lines: Kurds, Arabs, and Alawites. Iran will continue to play politics and use these cards against Turkey. If Turkey does not make peace with the Kurdish guerilla PKK, then Iran can use the Kurdish card against regional rivals in Turkey. As of result of that, Turkey has agreed to have a peace process with the PKK.
Iran will continue to support Alawite groups and to determine where Alawites live in order to secure its interest in Syria. The reason Syria is important for Iran is because if Iran looses control of Syria, then Iran will loose its influence over Hezbollah in Lebanon. Therefore, in a post-Assad scenario, Iran will help and train Alawites to continue to maintain its relation with Hezbollah in Lebonan via Alawites in Syria to continue to maintain its strategic interest in the region. As a result, Syria will be divided based on sectarian differences and will not have stability because regional rivalries will support groups that work as proxies to secure their interests in the region. Iran also may continue to use anti-Israel rhetoric to radicalize other groups against Turkey, Israel, and Western interests in the region.
Turkey will do so as well, so it is like the old game--my terrorist is a good terrorist and your terrorist is a bad one. At the same time Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that Turkey would not allow the Kurdish minority in Syria to have autonomy in Syria. Turkey bluntly said that Turkey made a mistake in allowing the Kurds in Iraq to have autonomy and will prevent it from happening in Syria. Before the war in Iraq, Turkey’s position was to recognize the territorial integrity of Iraq but not to recognize the Kurdish minority in Iraq. But once the Shiite majority gained control in Iraq and developed pro-Iranian policies, Turkey changed her position to deal directly with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) without the permission of the Iraqi Central Government. Turkey created problems between the KRG and the Iraq government by using the Sunni and Shiite cards. It is a mistake for Kurdish leaders to believe Turkey because Turkey can easily change its position.
The second Gulf War with the U.S. invasion of Iraq changed the demographic map of Iraq and revealed that the Shiite group constitutes a majority in Iraq. Before the second Gulf War, the West and U.S. government did not consider the Shites sufficiently. Why, then, is the U.S and the West supporting or promoting a Sunni Turkish brand of Islam called the Gulen Movement over the Shiite sects in Iran? Actually the Sunni Jihadist groups, not the Shiite religious sects, have turned the region into a sectarian bloodbath and polarized the region, dividing it along ethnic and sectarian lines. These who bombed the World Trade Center were not Shiite or from Iran; they were Sunnis from Saudi Arabia.
Turkey argues that an autonomous entity in Syria will damage the country’s integrity, but at the same time Turkey is taking sides along the sectarian divide in the Middle East and working hard to promote Sunni interests. Turkey is backing the opposition to the Assad regime by arming all the Sunni opposition groups. It is not just fighting against the Assad regime but also against the Kurds.
When NATO deployed US Patriot missiles to Turkey, Tehran considered it a move against Iran. The Iraqi government was also Shite and accused Turkey of anti-Shite aggression. Specifically, Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki accused Turkey of stirring the sectarian cauldron in Iraq. The Shites, thus, believed Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the U.S., and Qatar were starting an anti Shiite campaign. Even though Turkey is denying that NATO’s Patriotic missiles are against Iran, the U.S does not deny it. At the same time the U.S. has a big military presence in Qatar and Saudi Arabia and has sold $30 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. Arguing that war in Syria is about democracy is essentially lying, because Turkey is not a democratic country, Saudi Arabia is not a democratic country, and Qatar is not a democratic country. Turkey has tried many ways to get rid of the Assad regime in Syria. First, it blamed Syria for bombing Turkish villages; second, it said Syria shot down a Turkish jet, and now Turkey is trying to create a crisis of one million refugees to alarm the international community to help win the war in Syria. The war in Syria is about power politics.
Dr. Aland Mizell is with the University of Mindanao School of Social Science, President of the MCI and a regular contributor to The Kurdistan Tribune, Kurdishaspect.com, Mindanao Times and Kurdish Media.You may email the author at:aland_mizell2@hotmail.com.
