I regret the comments about Turkey in the article entitled “West’s Flirtation with Terrorists a Poor Joke” by Mr. Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor published on the GDN’s 24 November 2014 issue. Against the writer’s unfounded accusations about Turkey, I would appreciate the following text being published on the same page and at the same column:

“Turkey, being targeted by numerous terrorist groups, has a long and painful experience in its fight against terrorism. For decades now, Turkey has learned a lot from its decisive counter terrorism efforts, including the fact that international solidarity, coherent action and cooperation are crucial in countering terrorism. For this very reason, Turkey is a state party to most of the United Nations and the Council of Europe conventions and protocols on terrorism, and it actively supports all the regional and international efforts in that direction.

The Daesh terrorism is the latest menace alerting the international community. Turkey, in this regard, has designated it as a terrorist organization since 2005, under its previous names and revised it by its new name on 10 October 2013. Turkey is one of the main targets of the Daesh in the region. The Daesh has attacked the Turkish Consulate General in Mosul and taken hostage all the Consulate staff on 11 June 2014.

The Daesh terrorism cannot be disassociated from the entirety of the Syrian conflict and this conflict continuosly produces trouble for all the countries. Apparently, the heaviest burden of what is going on in Syria is on the shoulders of the direct neighboring countries, first and foremost Turkey. Turkey’s fights against all kinds of terrorism and extremism for decades now are well known by the international community. Also, Turkey’s hosting of around 1. 6 million Syrians fleeing from the Daesh and the Syrian regime is also crystal clear. Despite these facts, accusing Turkey for turning a blind eye to the Daeshis neither fair, nor reasonable.

Fight against terrorism requires closer cooperation, coordination and sharing timely intelligence and information. Equally, selective approaches would only result in limited successes. If the real goal is to create a “terror-free” and “extremism-free” region, then holistic and comprehensive policies are needed, not selective approaches.

A peaceful region free from terrorism and all kinds of extremism is what Turkey aims at and that’s why Turkey puts forward concrete proposals like no-fly zone with safe areas within the Syrian territory, which is still urgently needed for protecting the Syrians themselves from the current Syrian regime’s and the Daesh’s atrocities.

Instead of citing unfounded and unreasonable accusations, Turkey's critics should try to come out with some constructive counter proposals serving to the same goals.”

Hatun DEMİRER

Ambassador

Related Documents

GDN 6 Dec 2015.pdf