Erdogan's
refugee ploy is morally reprehensible
The Turkish leader is trying to play the
victim, but he is just as responsibile as the Assad regime, together with its
Russian and Iranian backers, for provoking yet another refugee crisis.
Con Coughlin
Mar 5, 2020 — 6.44am
Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan believes he has every right to feel aggrieved at the enormous burden
his country has suffered as a consequence of the long-running
civil war across the border in Syria.
Nine years of bitter fighting have led to an estimated 4
million Syrian refugees seeking sanctuary in southern Turkey, a challenge that
would overwhelm the resources of even the most advanced European states.
Migrants stand behind a fence near
the Kastanies border gate at the Greek-Turkish border. AP
Indeed, the consensus among European leaders – that the
Turks were in danger of being overwhelmed by the volume of refugees fleeing
across their border – was a key consideration in the European Union's decision
in 2016 to grant Ankara €6 billion ($10 billion) in aid to help cover the cost
of providing them with shelter and sustenance.
The other reason for Brussels's generosity was the
well-founded concern that, if it did not provide the necessary assistance, then
Ankara would simply open its borders, flooding Europe with millions of
asylum-seekers, a tactic the Turks had happily employed before to force the
EU's hand.
For, far from being the innocent party in the Syrian
conflict, as Erdogan would like the world to believe, the Turkish leader shares
just as much responsibility as the Assad regime, together with its Russian and
Iranian backers, for provoking yet another refugee crisis by launching the
latest military intervention into northern Syria.
The Turkish offensive conforms with
Erdogan's long-held ambition to control large swathes of territory there, which
is part of his ultimate goal of overthrowing Assad and establishing an Islamist
government in Damascus.
To this end, Ankara is supporting a motley collection of
Islamist militias, many of which have been linked to anti-Western terrorist
organisations such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. Erdogan, by dint of his
attempted land grab, therefore bears a heavy responsibility for helping to fan
the flames of violence.
But that has not stopped him from reverting to his old trick
of holding the EU to ransom by threatening
to flood Europe with a fresh wave of refugees. Only this time, instead of
financial assistance, he is demanding that Europe give its backing to his
military invasion. Given the near-universal contempt in which the regime of
Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is held, Western leaders have little interest
in defending the interests of the Syrian state, especially when it is engaged
in a ferocious assault aimed at reclaiming control of Idlib province, the last
remaining rebel stronghold.
Yet the fact remains that, by acting in support of rebel factions
in Idlib, Ankara is deliberately violating the territorial integrity of another
sovereign state, a clear breach of the UN charter and international law.
The real motivation behind Ankara's military operations is
at odds with Turkey's claim that they are being undertaken primarily to prevent
a further influx of refugees fleeing Idlib.
Erdogan's effrontery
This was certainly the conclusion NATO ambassadors reached
last week when they held an emergency summit to consider Erdogan's outrageous
move to invoke Article Four of the alliance's founding treaty, under which a
member state can seek support when it believes its territorial integrity and
security is at stake.
The sheer effrontery of Erdogan claiming Turkey was the
victim when his troops were busily violating Syria's territorial integrity was
not lost on NATO leaders. While they expressed sympathy for Turkey's
predicament, they were less enthusiastic about supporting Ankara's actions in
Syria, especially as they could provoke a direct confrontation with Russia, a
development other NATO members are keen to avoid at all costs.
The deepening tensions between Turkey and Russia over Idlib
add a fascinating dimension to the Syrian imbroglio, not least because it was
only last year that Ankara put its NATO membership in jeopardy by agreeing to
buy Russia's state-of-the-art S-400 anti-aircraft missile system.
There is no evidence that the Turks used these missiles to
shoot down two Syrian warplanes operating in Idlib earlier this week. But the
fact that the Turkish military is now fighting a Russian-backed regime at the
same time as negotiating arms deals with Moscow suggests Erdogan may have
overreached himself in terms of his ambitions in Syria.
This is undoubtedly a consideration Europe needs to take on
board as it ponders how to deal with the President's latest attempt to
blackmail its leaders by using defenceless refugees as a bargaining chip.
Not only are Turkey's tactics, where thousands of refugees
are actively being encouraged to flee to the West, morally reprehensible. They
represent the desperate actions of a leader who is suffering the consequences
of his ill-judged intervention in Syria.
The Telegraph London
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