President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lambasted the main opposition, the Republican People's Party (CHP), for escalating tensions in Türkiye through attempts to pit Alawites against Sunnis after neighboring Syria was recently mired with violence.
The new Syrian administration managed to suppress attacks by the loyalists of the former regime that broke out in Syria's coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous. Erdoğan warned against the "fire of strife" in Syria and slammed efforts to link it to Türkiye in a speech at his Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) parliamentary group on Wednesday.
Türkiye hosts relatives of the Alawite community in Syria and the CHP claims to defend the rights of the linked Alevi community of Türkiye against "jihadists," a name they attributed to the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led anti-regime forces that toppled Baathists last year. Assad and his supporters were mostly of the Alawite minority.
"I call upon (the CHP) to abandon its poisonous, ugly, discriminating rhetoric about our Alevi souls," Erdoğan said, using an affectionate name for members of the community in Türkiye. The CHP was already accused of exploiting what its critics call "political Alevism" to further its own agenda to discredit the government for its support to the new rulers of Syria. The main opposition party's sudden shift in its view of the population of Syria is even found hypocritical as the party has been at the forefront of calls for the mass expulsion of millions of Syrian refugees taking shelter in Türkiye after fleeing Assad's oppression.
"The CHP should stop spreading the fire in Syria to our country. Their rhetoric led this country to pay a hefty price in the past. It is irresponsible, very dangerous. It is our duty to maintain unity, security and peace in our country. It is our joint responsibility, together with the opposition," Erdoğan said.
Along with provocative statements by CHP members, the party's supporters have been actively involved in a campaign against the new Syrian administration, claiming a massacre of Alawite civilians. Mass killings of civilians were not confirmed, though the death toll in clashes between Assad loyalists and the Syrian army exceeded 1,000 according to human rights groups. Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, pledged an investigation into alleged arbitrary killings, while social media was flooded with photos of bodies. Social media was also awash with a disinformation campaign claiming Türkiye instructed groups in Syria it supported to engage in a massacre of Alawites.
"I must remind you that Alevis, Kurds, conservatives and democrats faced the most violent oppression under CHP administrations. The CHP should stop exploiting Alevi citizens and instead express regrets of the past for their oppression," he said. The CHP is Türkiye's oldest party and the predecessor of current Chair Özgür Özel was an Alevi himself, a sub-identity he chose to make prominent as he ran against Erdoğan in the 2023 presidential elections.
Further criticizing the opposition for their stance, Erdoğan added: "Those who divided us for years as Turk-Kurd, secular-anti-secular, progressive-reactionary, Alevi-Sunni are pursuing different scenarios in recent days. Creating new faultlines open to exploitation just as we solve a problem of 40 years in the country with the goal of a terror-free Türkiye is serving imperialism, I can say honestly. Whoever targets this people's brotherhood by getting carried away by a few imperialists will face us, our government and 85 million."
“The CHP administration must repent from carrying the fire in Syria into our country," he stated. "We have seen this heinous plot playing out in the past in Maraş, Çorum, Sivas, in Gazi neighborhood," Erdoğan reiterated, referring to notorious episodes of violence specifically targeting Alevi citizens in the past four decades.
Türkiye has become a cornerstone for peace and diplomacy in its region, Erdoğan also said in his speech. He highlighted that the country strives to preserve stability and mediate conflicts for the good of the region. "Beyond making Türkiye a source for regional stability, we have turned the country into an epicenter of 'peace diplomacy,'" the president said.
Erdoğan drew attention to increasing challenges and conflicts worldwide, citing tensions in Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Gaza. “A spark of unrest based on ethnic grounds is being stoked in Syria, where 14 years of oppression were ended with the revolution of Dec. 8,” Erdoğan underlined.
“Despite all negativities, we keep our hope alive and our decisiveness strong as Türkiye, the Turkish people and the AK Party.”
He said that Türkiye struggles “to support peace, goodness and justice in our country and abroad.
"Putting forth the terrorist acts of Syria's former regime's leftovers, an insidious ambush is being staged against our people's brotherhood."
Calling for a peaceful transitional period and an inclusive government, Ankara has led diplomatic efforts since Assad's fall to help Syria regain its normalcy and ensure stability in neighboring countries where developments directly affect Türkiye. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed to help the new Syrian administration form a state structure and a new constitution as the country looks to rebuild after 13 years of civil war. Ankara also says it trusts al-Sharaa’s administration in the fight against terrorist groups in Syria, namely the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG.
Answering reporters' questions as he left the meeting, Erdoğan said he was open to hosting a delegation of the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM Party), which visited Abdullah Öcalan, jailed leader of the PKK terrorist group. The delegation is scheduled to visit the AK Party as part of its tour of political parties to drum up support for the terror-free Türkiye initiative launched by Erdoğan ally Devlet Bahçeli.
Last year, a small delegation of DEM Party lawmakers visited political parties at Parliament after their meeting with Öcalan to convey the latter’s message to the Turkish opposition. On Feb. 27, the delegation held a historic news conference in Istanbul where a letter by Öcalan was read, calling on the PKK to lay down arms and dissolve itself after years of violence that claimed thousands of lives.
Media reports say the DEM Party will discuss “democratization” and “setting up a committee at Parliament” with opposition parties. "Democratization" refers to more rights for the Kurdish community, which the PKK exploited for a long time to justify its campaign of terrorism, as well as the DEM Party’s more notorious demand for more autonomy in the municipalities it runs. Sabah newspaper reported that the DEM Party would also lobby for Öcalan to attend the “congress for dissolution,” which is expected to be held in Iraq, at least via video link.
