Turkey says world must act against Syria after bombings

[bemildred]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Turkey accused a group with links to Syrian intelligence of carrying out car bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town, and said on Sunday it was time for the world to act against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The two car bombs, which ripped through crowded shopping streets in Reyhanli on Saturday, increased fears that Syria's civil war is dragging in neighboring states, despite renewed diplomatic moves to end it.

Damascus denied involvement, but Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said those behind the attacks were from an "old Marxist terrorist organization" with ties to Assad's administration.

"It is time for the international community to act together against this regime," he told a news conference during a visit to Berlin.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/12/us-syria-crisis-idUSBRE94A05S20130512

[iamthebandfanman]

1. im afraid theyve lost me on that statement..

given that the regime in Damascus is decidedly against Marxist socialism in favor of their own arab flavor of the economic ideology mixed with strong nationalistic behavior
the Baathists went out of their way to make the distinction between there newly created 'arab socialism' and international Marxism in the past

[David__77]

3. They are blaming it on a group called THKP/C.

This group does have a pro-Syrian standpoint in this conflict and has had members living in Syria before. But it's a tremendous step to argue that this means that Syrian intelligence was in the know or involved, even if THKP/C conducted the bombing. That would be like saying Turkey is responsible for everything Qaeda does just because they knowingly allow them to operate on their soil.

[iamthebandfanman]

4. thanks for the info

.. I will say this about the conflict..
it has, at the very least, made me start to educate myself more about the region and its history..
your bit of knowledge just added to mine, so I thank you for that!

there are a few youtube channels out there of people recording whats going on in their cities...
I found this guy a few days ago...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvV-hIrMcVNXXeWuq3rQW4g


I have no idea what hes saying (beyond God is great, of course).. but its an interesting look into the violence that's going on and what people are going through (regardless of whatever political statement is being made in words)...
truly a sad sad situation with no winners .. just death

[David__77]

2. They're so predicatable in their attempted implication.

Turkey should remember that Hatay province is full of supporters of Syria and Assad. The Sunni religious Turkish government acts as if even a pro-Syria demonstration is the handiwork of Syrian intelligence... But plenty of Turks do not want to be involved with the Syrian war or to host Syrian armed groups, thus making them targets.

All Turkey need do is work with Syria to reestablish security along the border and to prevent the flow of illegal arms across the border. Instead, Turkey has been doing everything possible to destroy border security.

[John2]

8. I read different information

about Turkey's religion than you are saying. The information I read is most of Turkey's Islamist religion is a different sect of the Shia religion. They allow religious freedom in Turkey and keep it out of politics. I also read the Turkish Prime Minister said similar things about Israel to their Mos lem population every other country in the region says. They have a number or political parties in Turkey and he only got 49 percent of the vote. Maybe he doesn't want Turkey to be seen attacking another Islamist country.

Furthermore Turkey joined NATO because of a threat from Russia. Syria is an ally of Russia while Turkey allied itself with NATO and the United States. The biggest group the Turkish government have a problem with internally are the kurds, who they had been at War with, and reportedly caused 40,000 Deaths until their Prime Minister made a truce with them.

Also, according to Human Rights Organizations, the country of Turkey has the most recorded Human Rights abuses even over such states as North Korea, Iran and China. Some people also believes Turkey wants to be the power in the Middle East as the heir to the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey also gives safe haven to Syrian Rebels attacking Syria. So it is strange to accuse Syria of letting a group carry attacks from their side, when the Government of Turkey seems to be doing the same thing. And not only this, the Turkish government is openly assisting them and calling for the overthrow of the Syrian Government. It is also strange to me, the Government they want to plant in Syria as a replacement has a U.S. naturalize citizen from Texas as its head and the second person in charge is a Christian,with both having ties to the United States, in Texas and Indiana. The head of the opposition hasn't lived in Syria for two Decades. And there were some groups in the opposition quit when they made him the Head of the opposition.

There is other information also, that most of the backers of the FSA, are quiting and joining the more extremist Islamists. Turkey's other Arab allies backing the oppositon are the Saudi Government and those smaller Arab states like Qatar. None of those states are Democracies but are allies of the United States like Turkey. They want the U.S. to physically attack because according to reports, the opposition is losing. Maybe Turkey will not attack because of dissent among their own people and they appease them by putting on staged acts, with rants against the state of Israel. Israel's aggression probably blew their cover and made it worse though.

[aquart]

5. The world?

Bombed any Kurds lately?

[jessie04]

6. IOW.." US should do it as usual"

I got a better idea... you and Jordan do it...get rid of Assad ...get rid of Al-queda ...and start a democracy...have fun.

[Wolf Frankula]

7. This is not our Quarrel

Why don't you Turks do it?

Wolf

[BelgianMadCow]

9. As if it makes even the tiniest bit of sense for Assad to have done this

This immediate link to Assad sounds wholly implausible. Right after it happened, 9 people taken into custody, some have already confessed, we are told.

I'm not buying it. Cui bono? The losing "rebels" that want to draw in NATO.

And Kerry has already reacted to the "horrifying news" saying the US will "stand by its ally Turkey". No kidding. The Patriot missile batteries were a give-away.

That red line just HAS to be manufactured, if not with gas (oops, it was probably the rebels said the UN), then by Israel, now this.

[cqo_000]

10. Turkey says it won't be drawn into Syrian war

Source: The Associated Press

Turkey's prime minister vowed Sunday his country won't be drawn into Syria's civil war, despite twin car bombings the government believes were carried out by a group of Turks with close ties to pro-government groups in Syria.

Harsh accusations have flown between Turkey and Syria, signaling a sharp escalation of already high tensions between the two former allies. But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that Turkey would not be drawn militarily in retaliation.

He insisted Turkey would "maintain our extreme cool-headedness in the face of efforts and provocations to drag us into the bloody quagmire."

"Those who target Turkey will be held to account sooner or later," he said. "Great states retaliate more powerfully, but when the time is right… We are taking our steps in a cool-headed manner."

Read More: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/05/12/turkey-bombings-suspects.html

[Franker65]

11. Would it not constitute an attack on a NATO member

And therefore invoke a collective response? I think remaining cool-headed is the best strategy but it must be difficult to look on while your people are getting bombed. Any more of this and they should carry out some airstrikes to send a message.

[jakeXT]

12. It's not like they weren't or are involved

Their brand image, many rebels say, can sometimes make or break a deal with rich, private donors in the Gulf or the ultraconservative Sunni Muslim clerics pouring money into the Syrian rebellion.

It's not uncommon to see bearded, robed sheiks mingling with Syrian rebels in some of the fancier hotels of Antakya, the southern Turkish city that has served as something of a rear base for Syrian rebels and activists.

These benefactors sometimes ask to see YouTube proof of the rebels' military prowess. And the fancier the video, rebels say, the better.

For other brigades, it's also a matter of hearts and minds. Some hope their brand image - from their logo to responsiveness on Twitter - can help them win the favour of dissident Syrians who have grown critical of an armed rebellion they see as having strayed from the goals of a peaceful uprising.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/wall-street-journal/for-syrian-rebels-brand-rules-fight-for-hearts-minds-and-cash/story-fnay3ubk-1226634925153

[Bosonic]

13. These benefactors sometimes ask to see YouTube proof of the rebels' military prowess

That might explain the following article:

Savage Online Videos Fuel Syria’s Descent Into Madness

The video starts out like so many of the dozens coming out of the war in Syria every day, with the camera hovering over the body of a dead Syrian soldier. But the next frame makes it clear why this video, smuggled out of the city of Homs and into Lebanon with a rebel fighter, and obtained by TIME in April, is particularly shocking. In the video a man who is believed to be a rebel commander named Khalid al-Hamad, who goes by the nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, bends over the government soldier, knife in hand. He has sliced through the soldier’s fatigues and is working the knife though the pale skin of the soldier’s torso. He has already cut out the man’s heart. The man then cuts another organ free and stands to face the camera, holding an organ in each hand. “I swear we will eat from your hearts and livers, you dogs of Bashar,” he says, referring to supporters of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Off camera, a small crowd can be heard calling out “Allahu Akbar” — God is great. Then the man raises one of the bloodied organs to his lips and starts to tear off a chunk with his teeth.

Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/05/12/atrocities-will-be-televised-they-syrian-war-takes-a-turn-for-the-worse/#ixzz2TALo6HgN

[jakeXT]

14. Sometimes throwing money at something is not a good idea,

unless it's your intention to increase the problems.

[jakeXT]

15. "Erdogan has made a big mistake. Syria was a neighbour with a fire – we should have taken water to p

"Erdogan has made a big mistake. Syria was a neighbour with a fire – we should have taken water to put it out, not gas to make it flare up."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/turkey/10052495/Kill-the-Syrians-Turkish-mobs-search-out-civil-war-refugees-after-devastating-car-bomb.html

[bemildred]

16. Interesting, thanks.

Not a pretty picture.

[jakeXT]

17. Some friction in Turkish politics

ISTANBUL // A Turkish opposition MP yesterday accused the Syrian rebel group Jabhat Al Nusra of planting the twin car bombs that killed 46 people in a frontier town this weekend.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, said he held the Syrian government responsible for the attack in Reyhanli. But Mehmet Ali Ediboglu, who represents the Republican People's Party (CHP), claimed that rebels with links to Al Qaeda had exploited lax security in Turkey's Hatay province.

He said he believed that Al Nusra had planted the bombs in the frontier area in a bid to drag Turkey into Syria's civil war because the rebels have realised that they need help to overthrow Bashar Al Assad's regime.

"This was the work of a very professional terrorist organisation," said Mr Ediboglu, who represents Hatay in parliament, told The National by telephone. "It looks like an Al Qaeda-style attack," he said, adding that Al Nusra had a strong presence on the Syrian side of the border region. "They want to get Turkey into the war."

http://m.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/turkish-mp-blames-al-nusra-for-border-town-attack