Turkey hosts millions of Syrian refugees- Some have moved on. Some have integrated into Turkish society. But some will inevitably return to Syria. Turkey cannot continue supporting them. It puts a strain on it’s economy and it’s a cause for domestic discord.
I’m quite certain Syria would like their citizens back. They’ll need them to rebuild the nation if they can force out the occupiers The refugees can be returned to the occupied territories which were their previous homes in many cases.
Obviously there’s more to this after a decade of destabilization, but, that’s the quick overview
Today I spot two items of interest- First the meetings between Syria and Russia. Second the spin from places like MEMRI. I’m assuming there’s no need to explain what MEMRI is all about.
Syrian Observer
President Bashar al-Assad held a meeting on Tuesday with Alexander Lavrentiev, the Russian President’s special envoy, along with a delegation, to discuss the pressing matter of Syrian refugees’ return and various proposals and ideas being deliberated on the regional and international stage to find a resolution.
During the discussions, both parties addressed the issue of Turkish reluctance to withdraw from Syrian territories, as well as the challenges of providing cross-border humanitarian aid to Syrian civilians residing in regions controlled by terrorist organizations. These efforts are to be in accordance with international humanitarian law and the principles of sovereignty.
Both parties demonstrated their commitment to addressing the humanitarian aspect of the Syrian refugee situation, condemning any attempts to politicize this pressing issue. The focus remains on alleviating the plight of the affected population and seeking practical solutions for their safe return home.
Both parties demonstrated their commitment to addressing the humanitarian aspect of the Syrian refugee situation, condemning any attempts to politicize this pressing issue.
The focus remains on alleviating the plight of the affected population and seeking practical solutions for their safe return home.
Juxtapose those negotiations with this spin from MEMRI
Arab Commentators, Including Pro-Erdoğan Figures, Launch Boycott Of Turkish Products And Tourism Over Deportation Of Syrian Refugees And Growing Anti-Arab Racism
MEMRI is not concerned with anti-Arab sentiments. As they’ve done more to promote anti Arab sentiments than most any other NGO.
The concern lies with the possibility that their non Arab ally in the region won’t get it’s own nation. And Israel has wanted this for a very long time.
I take you back to repost from my old site
Kurdish Project in ME a “new Israel”
– Using the way back machine to get to a report from 2015
We’re now eight years back- November 2015
In a nutshell- Kurds/Israel cojoined- Like cojoined twins?“twin babies born joined together at some point” Long term readers here KNOW that Kurdistan is simply Greater Israel
Notice the overlap?- Cojoined! This just ain’t that difficult folks..
From “Jew News” October 2014 -GREATER ISRAEL and KURDISTAN: Now this is my kind of a Middle East
Where did I get the name “Second Israel” to describe Kurdistan? From Tablet Magazine- A term used by Ofra Bengio is professor emerita at the department of history of the Middle East and Africa and senior Research Associate at the Moshe Dayan Center, Tel Aviv University.
Tablet Mag 2014
Ofra Bengio makes it very clear that the Middle East is for Israel and it’s cojoined twin Kurdistan. Not for Arabs, Persians or Turks. Pay attention to the language. Think about the refugee crisis. Think about ethnic cleansing. And read!
“How should Israelis and Jews approach the idea of an independent Kurdish state? I argue that if there is one state that should support the idea of an independent Kurdistan in Iraq it is Israel, for various moral, political, economic, and strategic reasons.
Indeed, the affinities between these two small non-Arab nations, both of which have been denied the legitimacy to have a state in a region that the Arabs define as belonging solely to them, go a long way back.
These relations, which started in the 1960s and have gone on intermittently until today, have been advantageous for both parties. The Kurds gained military, technological, and humanitarian support while Israel gained access to intelligence. The Kurds also helped Jews who were fleeing from Iraq. However, both parties chose to keep these ties secret because of the expected negative reaction of the surrounding countries.
On the political level, the idea of another non-Arab state coming into existence in the Middle East sends a powerful message to the world and the people of the region that the right to statehood should not be the prerogative of Arabs, Turks, and Persians alone
No less important for Israel is the strategic benefit of a Kurdish state that is stable, prosperous, and more secular and democratic than surrounding countries, and that may act as a bulwark against the terrorist, radical, and destabilizing forces that are becoming rampant in the region. The emergence of ISIS in Iraq, if not contained, may endanger Israel as well.
With regard to the possible stance of a Kurdish state toward Israel one may safely assume that it will be friendly to the Jewish state. For one thing, the Kurds will need the sympathy and support of another non-Arab state in the international arena. For another, the Kurds have never been in conflict with Israel nor were they exposed to anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish indoctrination, nor do they harbor anti-Israeli feelings the way the Arab population does. Indeed, rarely did we hear vitriolic attacks or anti-Israeli propaganda from their leaders or from the Kurdish population at large. In a recent opinion poll that asked Kurds which country could be trusted to support Kurdish independence, 56.3 percent said Israel, 8.2 percent Turkey, and 4 percent the United States.
Although hard facts are missing one may assume that as the Kurdish leadership was accelerating its efforts for declaring independence it had itself approached Israeli leaders to grant their public support to such a move, which might be of crucial importance vis-à-vis the United States.
This may explain the fact that the three most important Israeli leaders, namely Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former President Shimon Peres, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman came out publicly last June almost in tandem to support the establishment of a Kurdish state. The most outspoken was Netanyahu who declared: “We need to support the Kurdish aspiration for independence. They deserve it.”
Turkey should send those back that wish to go. Syria will take them back. It’s win/win for both nations. But for Israel? This is not ideal. So we’re getting a whole lot of hating on Turkey. And an increase in US involvement in the region– See today’s earlier report