Syria has been suffering from brutal wars since 2011
NAUDERO: Syria has been suffering from brutal wars since 2011. Quite unexpectedly, a domestic uprising against the government has turned into a devastating interest-game in the region. In particular, if we speak about Turkey, it has strong presence on the Syrian soil amid concealed geographic and ideological interests.
Turkey wants to prevent Iran from spreading its influence in the region and to perhaps stopping them from getting access to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, if Al-Asad’s regime collapses, the Kurdish nationalists would rise up in the region, posing a threat to Turkey because it has 50-60% Kurd population in the southeast region of the country. Strategically, Turkey seeks for replacement of the current government in Syria. Furthermore, the US has consistently been trying to persuade the Turkish leadership to call a ceasefire. Resultantly, Turkey agreed not to engage in military operations in Syria for 120 hours on Thursday, October 17, which would be extended permanently in response to the success of US negotiations with Kurdish militant groups (YGP) for complete withdrawal from the affected regions. In the end, we hope to see peace and prosperity in the region with all involved countries to freeze military activities. Peace is necessary for progress and development.
Fahad Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2019.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
