President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan participated in the U.N. General Assembly meeting that brings together prominent world leaders in New York. His participation and declarations were awaited by international media outlets as there has been a very heavy propaganda against Turkish policies in the Middle East recently. It would not be exaggerated to say that since June 2013 we have seen a barrage on the part of international media outlets toward the Turkish government and its policies. Turkey has been accused of playing a double game, on one side trying to destabilize Syria's Bashar Assad together with Western democracies and on the other side aiding some jihadi movements, more precisely the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Turkey's 49 consular staff, in the hands of ISIS until four days ago, severely restrained Ankara from taking any actions that could be heralded by international media outlets or be shared with the public. Upon the deliverance of these people, Turkey now has a much wider maneuverability than previously.
This was not, however, the main question asked to the Turkish authorities by an incredible number of foreign media representatives. The only question asked was "How did you manage to have the Turkish captives freed? What did you grant or give in exchange?" It is noteworthy that no such questions have been asked to French authorities when two journalists were freed after a year-long detention. This attitude shows the degree of distrust that has been instilled against Turkey recently. Erdoğan took everyone unprepared when he declared in New York to Turkish journalists that Turkey, in collaboration with the U.S. and all the other allies of the coalition, would take all necessary measures, including military ones, to stop ISIS and bring the bloodshed to an end. That was seen and analyzed as a very important reversal and a major change in Turkey's foreign policy.
Such an analysis remains surprising as Turkey, in collaboration with France, asked other countries for a military intervention in Syria two years ago when it became evident that the Assad regime was using chemical weapons against its citizens. At that time, the Syrian opposition, organized within the Free Syrian Army, had to be clearly and unequivocally supported against Assad's government forces, supported by the Russian and Iranian military. This has not been done. At the last moment the U.S. administration opted for a Geneva conference-like system to halt the bloodshed. The conferences served nothing but to give the Assad regime more time and the Free Syrian Army was dislocated and enfeebled in the meantime to the advantage of other very radical movements such as ISIS. Today, Assad feels powerful enough to reject any other negotiation. Syria is being bombarded by the U.S. air force supported by some allied Arab countries and nobody knows what to do to bring a semblance of peace to Syria and Iraq.
Fortunately, for many Western media outlets, the culprit has been discovered: it is neither Iran nor Russia, nor Assad nor the very unforgivable indifference of democratic regimes vis á vis the tragedy in Syria. Turkey has been accused of arming and training ISIS, nothing less. Turkey has also been accused of not keeping its southern frontier with Syria, at more than 900 kilometers, secure while allowing people to cross it. Will this be of any good if we keep on writing that the lives of at least 1.5 million Syrians have been saved because Turkey let them in? Erdoğan emphasized it repeatedly. Will he be heard at last?
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