In
Syria, Turkey
Opposes Any De
Facto
Sovereignty in
Kurdish Zones
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
August 30 --
When the
foreign
minister of
Turkey, Ahmet
Davutoglu,
came to take
questions
after
Thursday's
Security
Council
meeting on
Syria, he
spoke of
refugees and
his invitation
to the
Council
members to
come and visit
camps.
Inner
City Press
asked
Davutoglu a
more pointed
question: what
is Turkey's
position on
the reported
autonomy of
the Kurdish
areas in
northern
Syria?
Davutoglu
is
a skilled
diplomat -- he
had just
likened
Turkey's
position on
Syria to
Srbrenica in
Bosnia and
Halabja in
Iraq -- but he
made
himself clear:
his country
opposes any
declaration of
sovereignty by
these areas. Video
here, from
Minute 7:05.
He
said that
"Assad regime
may try to use
all
instruments
against
political
unity of
Syrian people.
For us, we see
all Syrians...
as
one unity."
He
emphasized,
"We will be
against any de
facto
declaration of
sovereignty
inside Syria"
unless decided
by an "elected
parliament of
New Syria."
That seems a
long way off.
Footnote:
Turkey
arrived, as it
did during
last
September's UN
General
Debate, with a
large
delegation.
Then, it
resulted in a
dust-up
with UN
Security,
some of whose
members are
asking just
how many extra
passes Turkey
gets.
Given
the diplomacy,
one thinks
such
confrontations
can be
avoided this
late
September.
Watch this
site.
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