Turkey Reversing on Syria – Will End of Support for Syrian Rebels As ‘Goodwill Towards Damascus’

Turkey has stopped supporting the Syrian coalition of opposition forces. According to analyst and journalist Musa Özuğurlu, this decision is likely to contribute to normalization between Ankara and Damascus.

Turkey has decided to end its support for the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces (aka the Syrian National Coalition), which encompasses various opposition groups fighting in the Syrian conflict, the Syrian news outlet Zaman el-Vasl reported citing a source in the coalition.

Founded in November 2012, the Syrian National Coalition received $320,000 in annual support from Turkey.

One potential problem with Turkey’s statement is the framing of the concession by Ankara. Analysts at 21WIRE do not believe that the admitted annual sum of $320,000 is in any way indicative of the scope and scale of Turkey’s ‘rebel’ terrorist operations over the last 7 years. By now it is well known that the Turkish city of Gaznientep was used as a primary base and launching pad for numerous western NGO conducting covert subterfuge in Syria, and also as a base for militant coming to and from their anti-government operations inside of Syria. While Turkey acted as a host, other nations like Qatar are on record as paying well in excess of $3 billion to arm, supply, train and fund rebel/terrorists in Syria. This does not even count Turkey-based operations of US, UK, France, Germany, Norway, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Israel in relation to the destabilization of Syria since 2011. For Turkey to imply that its contribution to this effort amounts to a mere $320,000 is simply not credible as being representative of its overall stake. Whether that is just a reflection of a timid mea culpa on Ankara’s part in the face of international condemnation – is not certain.

Sputnik continues:

According to Turkish political analyst and journalist Musa Özuğurlu, the decision to stop this support was prompted by Ankara’s unwillingness to give funds to an opposition organization “capable only of talking at press conferences and useless in combat actions on the ground.”

The journalist pointed to the fact that currently the coalition does not have the instruments to influence the course of events in Syria.

“This organization now is rather symbolic. It can operate only under the aegis of its leaders based in Ankara and Istanbul. After five years, everyone sees that the Syrian National Coalition has no future. The Turkish government realized that funding the group made no sense and decided to end its support,” Özuğurlu told Sputnik Turkey.

The expert pointed out that Turkey is focused on neutralizing the security threats coming from Kurdish units involved in the Syrian conflict.

“While the US decided to cut off support for Syrian opposition fighters in order to focus on military assistance for Kurdish forces, Turkey’s decision [to end support for the Syrian National Coalition] is a signal that Ankara will focus on countering Kurdish forces in Syria,” he said.

21WIRE: If Turkey is sincere in this endeavor, then we have a major breakthrough in progress. Özuğurlu underscores the diplomatic commitment here:

“By abandoning support for the Syrian opposition, Turkey is making a goodwill gesture towards the Syrian government. This decision may help break the ice between Damascus and Ankara,” he said.

Overall, this is terrible news for the Neoconservative and Clinton alliance which has devoted so much into the Syrian Project since 2011, and even before that when you consider the US had been coordinating the destablization of Syria since at least 2006. That’s over a decade of covert and proxy war operations directed against Syria, led by the United States.

Undoubtedly, war hawks and deep state operatives in Washington can now chalk this one up as a loss, right alongside Vietnam, Iraq and soon to be in Afghanistan.

READ MORE TURKEY NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Turkey Files

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