Syria Deeply: Understanding Turkey’s Unprecedented Cross-Border Operation into Syria

“Turkey is now realizing that it should update its security policy with the West in regards to the ISIS threat.”

On Sunday, an estimated 600 Turkish troops entered Syria in an unprecedented incursion. Their stated mission was to relocate the historic tomb of Suleyman Shah and evacuate the soldiers guarding the monument after it was surrounded by Islamic State militants.

The action, which involved tanks, drones and reconnaissance planes as well as ground forces, was the first incursion by Turkish troops into Syria since the start of the civil war there nearly four years ago.

The Syrian government denounced the move, describing it as an act of “flagrant aggression” on Syrian territory. It said it would hold Turkey responsible for its repercussions.

Syria has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting insurgent groups that have seized control over large swaths of territory in northern and eastern Syria, by allowing them passage through its porous border. In a significant expansion of its role in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), the U.S. and Turkey signed an agreement last week to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebel groups.

Gokhan Bacik, an analyst and professor of international relations at Ankara’s Ipek University, explained why Turkey has stepped up its cooperation with the international community in the fight against ISIS.

Syria Deeply: ISIS militants have surrounded the tomb of Suleyman Shah for many months. Why did Turkey decide to intervene now?

Bacik: There are several reasons behind this decision. Turkey is approaching its elections, and the government doesn’t want another hostage crisis like last year. There was a concern that if Turkey prolonged its response to rumors that ISIS was surrounding areas around the tomb, it would become a crisis for the government. Ankara was scared of being drawn into the conflict in Syria if ISIS later attacked the tomb.

Syria Deeply: Turkish critics of the move have said that it signals a retreat from the fight against ISIS, if not indeed a defeat. Why do they feel this way?

Bacik: Technically, it was a successful operation, but symbolically, it was a failure. It’s a piece of Turkish land with a lot of symbolic significance. The Turkish government tried to protect its public image by relocating the tomb inside Syria, to symbolize that Turkey isn’t retreating completely. It could have been relocated to Turkey, but the problem is the public would have criticized the government for failing to protect what is considered to be Turkish territory.

Syria Deeply: Turkey is creating a new tomb site in the Kurdish-controlled town of Ashme in Syria. There are also suggestions that the military operation to relocate the tomb could not have been done without assistance from Kurds on the ground. Does this signal a new page of cooperation between Ankara and the Syrian Kurds?

Bacik: The Turkish government needed a piece of land that was secure for a period of time and the only alternative was found in a Kurdish area inside Syria.

Turkey is facing a dilemma where, on the one hand, Ankara knows it should cooperate with the Kurds, but on the other hand it’s not happy with the consolidation of Kurdish power in northern Syria and southern Turkey.

The incursion wasn’t a serious military operation, but it requires, given how fragmented Syria has become, behind-the-scenes contact with many different elements, including Kurdish groups such as the YPG and PYD as well as the U.S. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it happened just after Turkey and the U.S. signed an agreement to arm the Syrian opposition.

Syria Deeply:Ankara and Washington recently signed an agreement to jointly train and equip of thousands of moderate Syrian rebels. Are we witnessing a new stage of collaboration in the fight against the Islamic State?

Bacik: Definitely. As of today, we are seeing signs of a shift in Turkey in its stance towards the Islamic State. Turkey is now realizing that it should update its security policy with the West in regards to the ISIS threat. Turkey is now addressing that threat in a more serious way, so it is more likely to be part of the U.S. led process in the fight against the group, and could be part of that operation soon. As far as I understand, Turkey is making preparations to contribute.

But it’s not only about the Kurdish and ISIS issues: Turkey is now completely isolated in its foreign policy. Turkey’s prestige is very weak, so its only option is to come to an agreement with Western institutions, where Turkey can play a role in the fight against ISIS. It’s the only way it can market itself.

Turkey has various instruments to cooperate with the arms and training program, but I think the program is going to fail – it can help fight ISIS, but it cant help the fight against Assad and the rival blocks trained by Iran who are fighting to preserve his power.

Syria Deeply: Turkey has laid out conditions for joining the U.S. led coalition, including the removal of Assad, while the U.S. has stressed that its priority is battling the Islamic State. To what extent can there be convergence between the two countries in the fight against ISIS?

Bacik: Turkey should update and refine its policy on Syria. Its main strategies and concerns regarding Syria are different than that of the U.S. I don’t know how convergence between the two is possible. Turkey’s priority is first and foremost to weaken Assad. This condition puts Turkey in a very difficult position vis a vis the U.S. and Western policy.

Given the difference on a macro scale between Turkey and the U.S, technical cooperation will always be limited. Turkey should update its understanding of Syria to become more closely aligned with that of Western governments. However, right now that’s very difficult because Turkish leaders view Syrian problems as purely a domestic issue. They believe that if they update their stance on Assad, it will be a failure in the eyes of Turkish domestic policy.

Syria Deeply: The Syrians, who have repeatedly accused Turkey of abetting the Islamic State, said the raid offered further evidence of a “deep connection between the Turkish government” and ISIS. Does this accusation have any bearing in reality?

Bacik: Several months ago, pro-government newspapers in Turkey were telling the Turkish public that ISIS wasn’t a terrorist group. Members of the Turkish parliament also said that ISIS wasn’t a typical terrorist organization. Turkey needs to update its understanding of ISIS, no doubt. It not only failed in regards to Syria, but in regards to ISIS.

It was very telling how Iran and Russia reacted to Turkey’s recent incursion into Syria. Iran’s deputy prime minister immediately criticized the incursion as a violation of international law. It’s not easy for Turkey to maneuver in the region right now. Turkey has contributed to the formation of this very ugly picture in the region.

Syria Deeply: Jihadists are using Turkey as their main logistical base for the flow of foreign fighters. Is Turkey now at risk of retaliation from ISIS? How will it protect its border? How large is the ISIS threat inside Turkey?

Bacik: There is no doubt that Turkey is trying to move more closely towards anti-ISIS rhetoric and behavior. The question is if Turkey starts collaborating with the U.S. against ISIS, how will ISIS react? ISIS conducted an operation in Turkey almost a year ago, in Nideh, which killed members of the Turkish army. There was a suicide attack in Sultanahmet, and even though it was hidden from the Turkish public, we know ISIS did it.

Very frankly speaking, Turkey cannot protect the border. The Turkish border with Syria is almost 900km long: it’s impossible to protect. To protect it, you would need a stable government on the other side. It’s a paradise for jihadists and for smuggling drugs. It’s a problem of geography. In the beginning, Turkey expected ISIS was going to weaken Assad, but we are now seeing the fallout of that perception.

There are rumors, but no evidence, about how ISIS is organized in Turkey. Some people say there are thousands of people linked with ISIS living in Turkish territory. So far, we’ve studied ISIS as mainly a Syrian and Iraqi issue. We have no idea about how ISIS is organized on Turkish territory, but there are many people from Turkey joining ISIS. We don’t know if ISIS is going to activate its followers in Turkey, and we don’t know how ISIS is going to react to this recent incursion.

China’s Inconvenient Truth

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BEIJING, China – The evidence of China’s pollution problem can now be seen from Space. NASA satellite images show a huge bloom with a bluish huge over the world’s most populous country. This massive air pollution problem is caused by China’s coal fired power plants as well as car exhaust, in a country where bicycles were the primary mode of transportation just over a decade ago china is now home to the world’s largest population of drivers. The true cost of China’s rapid industrial development is being felt by the country’s people, who breath in the byproducts of development on a daily basis.

a view of the city of Shiziazhuang, the capital of North China’s Hebei province, showing low visibility caused by pollution in the regions largest city. (photo courtesy of the Washington Post)

On Saturday, Chai Jing, a former TV journalist at CCTV in Beijing, released her feature-length documentary titled “Under the Dome”. This film has been doubled China’s “Inconvenient Truth,” refrain to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore’s 2005 Academy Award winning documentary which awoke many American’s to the environmental justice problems associated with Global Climate Change. 60 million peopled reportedly watched the documentary as Jing took the government to task for poor air quality, especially in the country’s densely populated urban areas.

Jing began her documentary with an image of a sonogram of her daughter who was born with a malignant tumor that she claims was caused by air pollution.  “I’d never felt afraid of pollution before and never worn a mask no matter where, but now, here’s life in my arms,” she said. “What she breathes, eats and drinks are all your responsibility and then you feel the fear. When I went to Beijing I knew I was pregnant, when I heard the heartbeat, I wish she could be healthy and I couldn’t wish for anything more than this. Unfortunately she had a benign tumor.” Jing’s daughter survived, but her mother says how she has been worried about the issue of air quality in china ever since.

Pollution has become the leading issue in Chinese politics and the primary concern for members of the public. Air pollution topped the list of concerns among locals ahead of annual parliamentary sessions which begin on March 5. According to a poll published by China Daily, 18% of respondents said pollution was their primary concern, followed by corruption (10%) and income inequality (8%).

Air, water and land pollution is a major problem for china’s limited natural resources. The country has a population of over 1.3 billion, making it the most populous nation on earth, and resource management has become a primary concern for the government which must provide resources for an ever growing and ever modernizing population.  According to Jing’s documentary many of china’s rivers are polluted with benzoyl, a deadly chemical, from the coal-mining province of Shanxi, a landlocked state in the north, and west of Beijing.  When Jing did the original reporting on Shanxi in 2004, 88% of the rivers in the region were polluted.

The documentary, which was released online, has gone viral in china and around the world. Demonstrating china’s growing concerns over environmental justice issues. The timely video hopes to help pressure the Chinese government into taking more direct action to conserve the environment.

For more information please see:

Forbes – Pollution Becomes China’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ – 3 February 2015

Think Progress – China’s Surprising Reaction to an Online Video Exposing the Country’s Extreme Pollution Problem – 2 March 2015

The Washington Post – China Is Disappearing – 2 March 2015

The New York Times – Documentary on Air Pollution Grips China – 1 February 2015

John Legend’s Bahrain Concert Highlights World’s Silence and Indifference towards Bahraini Regime

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

MANAMA, Bahrain – As the world’s attention focuses on the threats associated with the spread of extremist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant the world has remained silent as human rights abuses continue in the small Gulf State regime of Bahrain. Bahraini rights activists expressed concern on Friday that John Legend, an American singer known for his outspoken advocacy of civil rights and in the United States, plans to perform in Bahrain next week, despite the country’s continued brutal crackdown on dissent and civilian protests. Legend is scheduled to perform at Bahrain’s state sponsored Spring of Culture festival.

Bahraini youths peacefully demonstrate in front of armed police in Manama in 2010. (Photo courtesy of The Guardian)

Bahraini human rights activities have labeled John Legend, the Academy award winning recording artist behind Selma’s hit song “glory,” a hypocrite for eloquently writing about the American Civil Rights movement and, to their minds, failing to show empathy for the Bahrain human rights movement by going forward with a big ticket performance for Bahrain’s rich and powerful. Legend responded with a statement saying that he was aware of “documented human rights abuses by the government of Bahrain,” but preferred to “engage with the people of the country” by visiting there.

When accepting the Academy Award for best original song in a motion picture Legend told viewers of the telecast, “We say that ‘Selma is now’ because the struggle for justice is right now.” He added, “Live in the most incarcerated country in the world. There are more black men under correctional control today than were under slavery in 1850. When people are marching with our song, we want to tell you that we are with you.” Bahraini activists have argued that Legends decision not to cancel the Bahraini show demonstrates a level of hypocrisy and indifference towards the struggle for human rights in Bahrain.

Robert Mackey of the New York Times noted the Irony in the Selma song writer’s actions writing; “three years before the American protesters mentioned in the song “Glory” confronted police officers in Ferguson, Mo., with the chant, “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” demonstrators in Bahrain were gunned down by the security forces as they marched with raised hands, repeating the Arabic word for “peaceful” — “selmiya” — again and again.

The Bahraini regime has a long history of human rights abuses and crackdowns on public assent. The fourth anniversary of the Bahraini uprising was marked on 14 February with clashes between protesters and police, as the Bahraini regime resisted reform. Shortly after Hussain Jawad prominent, a prominent Bahraini human rights activist was arrested by plain-clothes police and his home of was raided by 20 masked police officers. His family expressed concerns that he may be tortured while in custody.

For more information please see:

The New York Times – John Legend Rejects Calls to Cancel Bahrain Show over Rights Abuses – 2 March 2015

Press TV – International Silence Emboldens Bahrain Regime: Nabeel Rajab – 1 March 2015

Middle East Eye – Bahraini Human Rights Activist Detained, Family Claim Risk of Torture – 16 February 2015

The Guardian – We Are Human Rights Defenders, But Bahrain Says We’re Terrorists – 9 February 2015

U.S. Immigrants May Be Deported For Bosnian War Crimes

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – United States officials are seeking to deport hundreds of Bosnian immigrants, whom are believed to have been invovled in war crimes during the 1992-95 war. The Bosnian War killed more than 100,000 people and displaced two million others after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Officials have identified an estimated 300 immigrants suspected of having concealed wartime atrocities when they came to the United States. During the wave of Bosnian immigrants to the United States, more than 120,000 Bosnians sought US visas. During this time, little effort was made on behalf of the United Sattes government to check the backgrounds of these immigrants.

US immigrants suspected of war crimes during Bosnian War (Photo Courtesy of BBC).

In 2008, the United States immigration agency set up a war crimes section, which has investigated immigrants from former conflcit zones, including: Ethopia, Rawnda, El Salvador, Guatemala and other global hot spots. However, no conflict has gained as much detention as the Bosnian war.

Now, investigators are giving much attention to those who arrived in the United States following the Bosnian War. Michael McQueen, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement historian, told the New York Times, “the more we dig. The more documents we find,” “the idea that the people who did all this damage in Bosnia should have a free pass and a new shot at life is just obscene to me.” U.S. officials are making an effort to identify suspects, urging witnesses to come forward with any information pertinent to the war crimes. However investigations have proven to be complicated, due to a lack of available expenses necessary for fees such as travel and translation.

Federal officials have built cases against immigrants from New York to Oregon. Suspects include: a metal worker in Ohio, four casino staff in Las Vegas, and a woman located in Kentucky who had been a guard at a military detention center in Bosnia. The woman, Azra Basic, has been jailed and faces extradition on charges that she tortured detainees, allegedly forcing them to drink gasoline and human blood.

Kathleen O’Conner, a human rights prosecutor at the Department of Justice, has stated, “justice can be served in the United States despite the fact that many yeas have gone by and that the conduct occurred overseas, far away.”

 

For more information, please see the following:

BBC – US Moves to Deport 150 Bosnians Over War Crimes – 1 Mar. 2015.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES –US Immigrants Suspected of Bosnian War Crimes Could Be Deported – 28 Feb 2015.

NEW YORK TIMES – U.S. Seeks to Deport Bosnians Over War Crimes – 28 Feb. 2015.

REUTERS – U.S. Moving to Deport Bosnians Over War Crimes: NYT – 28 Feb. 2015

Fragile Truce Tested in Ukraine

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

KIEV, Ukraine – The ceasefire between pro-Russian forces and the Ukrainian military, brokered by France and Germany, is broadly holding at the front line in eastern Ukraine, but the events of the last several days have put new strained on the fragile truce. Pro-Russian fighters in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk are reportedly training for another round of clashes against Ukraine’s government troops. Under the watch of rebel commanders, fighters have fired automatic assault rifles, grenade launchers and even an anti-tank missile at targets propped against refuse discarded by a local mine on Sunday. The training operations came just a day after the murder of Boris Nemtsov, a Putin critic and opponent of the war in Ukraine, who was gunned down in Moscow on Saturday night. Nemtsov was reportedly planning to publish evidence of Russia’s presence in eastern Ukraine.

Volunteers of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People”s Republican guard fire their weapons during training in Donetsk on Sunday March 1, 2015.

“We don’t want this war”, said Yegor, a commander of the rebels, who claim to be serving the new Republican Guard created by the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Zacharchenko. “But when we see what’s happening on the other (Ukrainian) side we’re preparing for the worst.”

On Monday the Ukrainian military reported that one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and four more wounded in separatist eastern territories in the past 24 hours. The Ukrainian government reported a sharp drop in attacks from pro-Russian separatists over weekend but warned that rebels may be using the ceasefire as a means of repositioning for future combat. Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko also claimed that pro-Russian rebels continue to receive a “significant” amount of military equipment from neighboring Russia, a claim continually denied by the Putin regime.  “The enemy is moving heavy weapons and military equipment, primarily in the area of Mariupol,” Lysenko said in a televised briefing. “If the situation doesn’t worsen, then the Ukrainian side will continue to pull back weapons. For now the process of withdrawal is ongoing,” Lysenko said.

The United Nations announced on Monday that a sharp escalation in the fighting in eastern Ukraine from mid­-January to mid-February led to the death of at least 842 people and left more than 3,400 people wounded, with hundreds missing and many buried without their deaths being recorded. Ivan Simonovic, the United Nations assistant secretary general, reported that in total more than 6,000 people had been killed since the conflict began last April. “Credible reports indicate a continuing influx of heavy and sophisticated weaponry to armed groups in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as foreign fighters, including from the Russian Federation,” the United Nations Said.

For More Information Please See:

The New York Times – Fighting In Ukraine Has Killed Over 840 since Mid-January, U.N. Says – 2 March 2015

Reuters UK – Pro-Russian Rebels Train For More Fighting Despite Ukraine Truce – 2 March 2015

Reuters – Ukraine’s Military Says One Ukrainian Serviceman Killed In Past 24 Hours – 2 March 2015

Forbes – Nemtsov and the Crisis in Ukraine – 1 March 2015