By Prof. Dr. Mehmet Yuva *
Recall the Broader Middle East and North Africa Initiative (BMENA): In the early 1990s, Soviet Russia and the states subordinate to it collapsed. The US strongly penetrated the new states that broke away from the Soviet Union. Washington used the Fethullah Gulen Gladio, NGOs, Saudi funds and educational institutions in Türkiye very effectively to establish governments loyal to itself and create the “controlled chaos” the Caucasus, Central Asian countries (Turkic states) and even in Russia itself. Under the name of “Turkish brotherhood” and “Muslim solidarity”, these countries have turned into areas where the US, Britain, Israel and their collaborators had it all their own way.
Yugoslavia was torn apart. The former “socialist-communist” countries – the Czech Republic (1999), Hungary (1999), Poland (1999), Bulgaria (2004), Estonia (2004), Latvia (2004), Lithuania (2004), Romania (2004), Slovakia (2004), Slovenia (2004), Albania (2009), Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020) – became members of NATO, which once they had regarded as their greatest enemy. The once partisan countries of the struggle against fascism, Nazism and imperialism had turned into consumer markets of the capitalist European Union, cheap labor, money laundering centers, mafia lands, special warfare training centers of ethnic separatist and religious terrorist organizations and suppliers of prostitution and drugs.
Invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq
The US and NATO had been left unrivaled in Europe. With the fictional terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001, the “war against terrorism” was launched to the heart of Asia and West Asia (Middle East).
On October 7, 2001, Afghanistan was invaded under the pretext of “fighting Al-Qaeda”. On March 20, 2003, Iraq was invaded with the participation of many armies, led by the US and the UK, on the pretext of “producing chemical and nuclear weapons”, “harboring al-Qaeda”, “harboring Osama Bin Laden”, “threatening the civilized, democratic world”. Four months after the invasion of Iraq, on August 7, 2003, US Secretary of State (2005-2009) Condoleezza Rice, published an article in the Washington Post with her title of National Security Advisor: “Transforming the Middle East”. I am quote::
‘The self-committing’ US
“Soon after the conclusion of World War II, America committed itself to the long-term transformation of Europe. (…) Today America and our friends and allies must commit ourselves to a long-term transformation in another part of the world: the Middle East. (…) Much as a democratic Germany became a linchpin of a new Europe that is today whole, free and at peace, so a transformed Iraq can become a key element of a very different Middle East in which the ideologies of hate will not flourish. (…) Our task is to work with those in the Middle East who seek progress toward greater democracy, tolerance, prosperity and freedom. (…) As President Bush said in February, ‘The world has a clear interest in the spread of democratic values, because stable and free nations do not breed ideologies of murder. They encourage the peaceful pursuit of a better life.’ (…) America is determined to help the people of the Middle East achieve their full potential. We will act because we want greater freedom and opportunity for the people of the region, as well as greater security for people in America and throughout the world.”
Hellhound carrying firewood to hell
Recall that Bush son of Bush, when asked, “The chemical and nuclear weapons that you claim were found in Iraq have not been found. What is your answer to that?”, leaned down under the table and mocked by saying, “Maybe they hid them here”. Bush son of Bush, and his African-American officer Condoleezza Rice, were the hellhounds carrying firewood to the hell promising democracy, freedom, peace, social prosperity to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine (the Land of Damascus) and 22 other countries. They are the ones who offer poison hidden in honey, who speak the word of truth but aim to fulfill the desires of the devil.
They divided Iraq on sectarian and ethnic basis and then, in 2004, they wanted to extend the occupation into Syria. In March 2004, the first attempt to civil war was staged in Qamishli. But Arab tribes crushed an uprising attempt of separatist terrorist organizations. These failed. The conditions were not favorable. Due to Syria’s resistance, the US invasion of Iraq was met with fierce resistance.
Three-step plan in Syria
The three-step plan in Syria was as follows:
1) Conquest of Syria from within by soft power through developing its relations with Türkiye, Qatar, the EU, the UAE, the Vatican and the Saudi dynasty;
2) Intimidation through economic blockade and embargo;
3) Encircling and controlling Syria by isolating it from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Palestine.
The year 2005 witnessed major social events and acts of terrorism in the region. On February 14, 2005, Valentine’s Day, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated. Despite a large army of bodyguards, armored vehicles against explosives and radar systems scanning the surroundings, first the radar systems of the convoy were blocked, and then the vehicles were turned into a pile of iron with very heavy explosions. From the first moment the US, the Western press and their collaborators in Lebanon blamed Bashar al-Assad and the Lebanese Hezbollah. At the request of the UN, the Arab League and the Lebanese government, the Syrian army, which intervened in Lebanon’s civil war in 1975, was demanded to leave the country.
A systematic attack against Damascus began over the blood of Rafik Hariri. Undoubtedly, the arbitrary actions of the Syrian army and intelligence officials, who used their positions for personal commercial gain and exploited and abused Lebanon, led to the emergence of a broad front against Syria. About 30 years after 1975, the Syrian army was forced to leave Lebanon. It is an interesting fact that during this period, General Ghazi Canaan, who was in charge of Lebanese security, Vice Presidents Abdulhalim Haddam and Farouk Shara, Hafez al-Assad’s son-in-law General Asaf Shawkat and his wife Esma al-Assad either committed suicide, fled abroad or were killed shortly before or after the start of the events in Syria. It was claimed that they were preparing a coup against Bashar al-Assad and that they were secretly in contact with the US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Türkiye.
To be continued.
* Prof. Dr. Mehmet Yuva is President of the Türkiye-Syria Friendship Movement and Coordinator of the Turkish Language Institute at the Damascus University, Syria
This article first appeared in the Turkish daily newspaper Aydınlık. Translation by UWI.