Rejoicing failures but for what?
Let me admit that up until very recently, I was viewing the issue from a very narrow angle, from our “local” level and thought the main argument was to be in favor of or against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
But, in time, many other signs have emerged. What we are experiencing here “locally” is actually a part of the regional fight and the more one gets caught up in the fight, the more one loses its connection with the world facts.
What has been going on in Syria for a couple of months is apparent: When the Bashar al-Assad regime was not able to fly its own planes, the Russian air force stepped in and began conducting a military operation under a strategic framework. The spine of the operation consists of destroying the logistic routes connecting the Islamist forces opposing the Syrian regime to Turkey and Jordan.
The victories achieved through these bombardments have brought the al-Assad regime to the point where they could take back Aleppo from the opposition. Some people claim that people are rejoicing in Syria that the regime is winning and the opposition is losing. Well, then, who are the hundreds of thousands who have again hit the road and piled up on the Turkish border? They must have come from outer space.
Let alone the political situation, the humanitarian tragedy, the drama, deaths, the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people apparently do not seem to be hurting anybody’s conscience. There are those who watch the developments with pleasure; they openly write about it anyway.
Do not assume that those who are happy are happy because “The Syrian policies of the AK Party have hit the wall.” They rejoice for that also but their opinion exceeds this local dimension; they are happy that the Russian-Iranian alliance has succeeded, resulting in the loss of hope for Arabs for self-rule in a wider geography.
Russia and Iran are providing the global victory for the Turkish ultra-nationalists.
Not that I have adopted the Syrian and Arab Spring policies of the AK Party government or that I am attracted to the once-desired “Muslim Brotherhood Internationalism;” I am writing all these because I do not see anything to opt for compared to the alternative that is presented to us now.
The same goes for the Kurdish issue. Those who disregard the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) violence, those who accept, without questioning, the illogical violent policies of the PKK as if it were the only method for this organization to survive but who criticize the fight of the state against this violence (Not the method of the fight, the fact that it is fighting… Otherwise, there is a lot to be said about the method of fighting…) are not actually talking about a “local” issue.
For these kinds of people, the equality and self-administration struggle of the Kurds is not strategic; it is a tactical theme. It is the lessening of the mobility of Turkey in a strategically important global fight.
Nowadays, the possibility of a hole in the wall has appeared: There is a closeness experienced between Turkey and the European Union. That gap has to be filled immediately. On one hand, the domestic public is told “Look, they have received the 3 billion and we are stuck with the Syrians;” on the other hand, there is a telltale defense line of telling Europe, “You have kneeled at Turkey’s blackmail.”
People are dying at Syria, Iraq, Cizre, Silopi and Diyarbakır. Is it the global ideological fight that truly matters? When did your consciences dry up so much? I understand you are happy, but at least do not show it.
