Reporting by Ethar Abdul Haq; Translation by Rana Abdul
(Zaman al-Wasl)- The word secret spread adopted by Le Monde, the French newspaper, to describe tbe the agreement between Ankara and Washington regarding the current battles in Manbij and its surrounding areas which Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke about briefly to the French newspaper.
Given the ability of the word secret to raise various inspiration including the idea that a large deal regarding Syria has been reached, the official spokesperson for the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied any deal and reminded the public that Cavusoglu’s statements did not mention the word.
Tanju Bilgic, the official spokesman, said that Le Monde misquoted the minister’s words, when they asked him about the deal conducted between his country and Washington about the Manbij battles (Aleppo’s countryside), the Turkish minister answered clarifying, “the cooperation stands and it as the level of the military apparatus in both countries,” and “I cannot give details surrounding an issue concerning military cooperation.”
Cavusoglu’s words were clear and understood, as from principle the man’s privileges are restricted to the political and diplomatic field and he does not perhaps have the deep insight into the military agreements, and even if he did, he is not authorized or commissioned to speak about it.
Le Monde did not interpret this from the minister’s words, and instead sufficed itself with impressing the word secret to the deal between the United States and Turkey, and focuses on distancing the Democratic Union Party militia’s to west of the Euphrates, to a Syrian area that can connect one day in the future- in some form or other- with southern Turkey, for the quiet volcano to be activated and spray out the lava of fighting and secession that lies beneath its surface.
Turkey did not completely deny the American Turkish deal then, but it objected to the description of it as secret, perhaps fearing that this word takes more than its size when it is repeated, despite the agreement in reality is a secret because its clauses have not been announced and its details are not known, and more importantly impacts on the Syrian scene are not subject to prediction.
The secretive nature of the American Turkish deal around Manbij stems from its clauses being hidden, and from this comes its direct and indirect influences on the situation in the field, who has a definitive say in drawing up maps, distributing privileges and setting weights, when the large political players take a real and final decisions to stop the fighting and conflict, and begin the political process regarding Syria. In the Manbij deal, if correctly named, Manbij is but the title because it is the close target, and there is later on ‘after Manbij’, lines and borders that everyone inside and outside rush to draw, Ankara is no exception here, rather it is at the head of those rushing, as the Kurdish militia’s extension west of the Euphrates river, and what is west of the Euphrates and what suffering it raises for the Turkish military and politicians, is one of the factors of proper pressure that contributed to bending the curve of Turkish politics and giving it a different shape that what Erdogan personally was drawing in his consistent speech.
Why then does the deal remain in silence, since its aim is announced at least on the Turkish side? There are two answers, one of them simply says that the nature of military and intelligence deals is secretive, and no country as high as it ranks in the transparency stairs is willing to announce the clauses of its agreements that concern its national security.
The complicated answer, has faces, but the Kurdish militia is without doubt in its heart because it is the common denominator between Washington and Ankara, with the two capitals in opposition about it, as the Americans see it as a dream, and believe it is a deserving hope in eliminating ISIS, the Turks see it as a nightmare which local spells will not be enough to exorcise, and there is a need if only for certain phases to draw on competitors and perhaps enemies if necessary, or otherwise Turkey’s geography, its political structure, and economy will face more challenges.
Finally, even if late, Ankara has realized that the fire burning in Syria for the past years is increasing, a far that cannot be put out with water alone, and there is no escape from following the policy of putting out fire with fire, and the American Turkish deal might be a small fire prepared to face large fires… and the moral of the story remains in the conclusions evaluating the degree of success of the new Turkish tactics.
Comments About This Article
Please fill the fields below.