Turkey and its "specious" fight against ISIS

(To Andrea Gaspardo)
26/02/19

Throughout the duration of the "Syrian civil war", Turkey has been the subject of heavy international scrutiny, both at government and public level, for its alleged collaboration with ISIS. The heavy circumstantial evidence gathered, especially from the 2015 forward, of a silent collusion, when not of a real support, from the Turkish "deep state", or a part of it, towards what has become the more dangerous international terrorist organization, however, have not prevented that the political leadership of the country could participate as a supporting actor in the diplomatic process related to the settlement of the military-political situation in the southern neighbors (Syria and Iraq) also in order to protect the Turkish national interests in Middle East area.

More recently, through the information portal Suriye Gündemi, Ankara began to disseminate data and statistics, updated to 31 December 2018, related to "its" war against ISIS, in order to present in a positive light the Turkish military and security initiatives at home and abroad against the aforementioned terrorist organization. In particular, from the 2013 to today, ISIS would have been held responsible for having completed 20 terrorist attacks on the territory of Turkey that would have caused more than 300 deaths. In response, with a series of thousands of anti-terrorist operations carried out by police, gendarmerie and armed forces throughout the country, the Turkish authorities arrested 4.378 members or sympathizers of ISIS while other 1.000s were confined to repatriation centers awaiting be transferred to the countries of origin. Not only that: 8.526 suspected terrorists or their sympathizers have been permanently banned from setting foot in the country, while 61.000 has been rejected by people on the border because of suspected membership or collusion with ISIS.

The purpose and timing of this initiative, however, have something suspicious. For years, in fact, Turkey has refused to share with the other partners of the so-called "international coalition" the data of its "commitment" against ISIS. Now, this initiative would have all the connotations of a "sympathy operation" designed to attract the grimaces of the forgetful and prepare the ground for other Turkish actions in the near future.

simultaneously, Suriye Gündemi he also published the first detailed report on the Operation Shield of the Euphrates, the operation carried out by the Turkish armed forces and their local Arab auxiliaries belonging to various formations of the so-called "Free Syrian Army", both against the armed formations of ISIS and against the forces of the Syrian Kurds, always the true objective of Ankara. According to the aforementioned information portal, the operation lasted 217 days, from the 24 2016 august to the 30 May 2017. During the clashes, the Turkish forces and their local allies took control of an area of ​​2015 square kilometers "freeing" 243 centers inhabited by "terrorists". In total, the operation led to the elimination of more than 3.000 enemy fighters (both ISIS and Kurdish members) at the price of 71 dead among the ranks of the Turkish soldiers and over 600 among those of theFree Syrian Army.

Beyond the clear propaganda intent that is not completely hidden, what is really interesting to us Westerners is the number related to the arrests and rejections of suspected sympathizers of ISIS. In fact, the considerable size of the phenomenon alone suffices to confirm the thesis that, during the "Syrian civil war", Turkey has become the largest jihadist "rear and highway" of recent history, bearing in mind that , the above data refer only to ISIS jihadists and not to those of other groups.

Photo: Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri