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One on One with Mehmet Taylan Tokmak – Consul General of the Republic of Turkey
11-12-2019
AlameenPost Editor sat down with Mehmet Taylan Tokmak – Consul General of the Republic of Turkey and discussed issues surrounding the current Turkish initiative "Operation Peace Spring."
Jafar Bhamji congratulated CG Tokmak on his appointment to Vancouver. CG Tokmak took charge of the Vancouver office from September 1st, 2019. He is one of the youngest foreign representatives of the Republic of Turkey.
Background
As the war in Syria keeps taking on new dimensions it is important to get some perspectives as to what is actually happening on the ground and why it was necessary for Turkey to take this initiate "Operation Peace Spring."
First of all "Operation Peace Spring" is the third of such operation conducted by Turkish military inside Syria since 2016.
Since 2012, Turkish President Erdogan has been trying to establish a "safe zone" along the section of Turkey's border with Syria that falls to the east of the Euphrates River.
In July 2016 Turkey was allowed to move into northwest Syrian and clear the area from both ISIL and the YPG under operation, named "Euphrates Shield."
In January 2018, Russia allowed Turkey to launch yet another operation, this time named "Olive Branch", to expel the YPG from Afrin.
On Sunday, October 6, in a phone call between Erdogan and Trump, Trump decided that he would allow Turkey to go ahead with its military operation and establish a "safe zone". Three days later, the Turkish army entered Syria.
Concerns of Allies.
Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Poland -- the EU members of the Security Council -- plus Estonia, the incoming EU member of the council, issued a joint statement after the Security Council held closed-door consultations on the situation in northeast Syria.
"We deeply regret that Turkey has not responded yet to these repeated appeals from its allies," said the statement read out to reporters by Christoph Heusgen, the German UN ambassador, on behalf of the six countries.
Question. How is Turkey addressing the concerns of its allies?
CG Tokmak: From the outset Turkey has openly declared that we are against any group in Syria with a separatist agenda. We support territorial integrity of the country. In addition to numerous Astana Summits (Turkey, Russia, Iran) we have also clearly expressed this in the Istanbul Quadrilateral Summit (Turkey, Russia, France, Germany) which we have hosted on 30 October 2018. Our fight against all forms of terrorism continue unabated. We are the only Global Coalition country whose soldiers fought chest to chest against DAESH in Syria. We have neutralized more than 4.000 DEASH operatives only in Syria.
Question. Will the US leave after ISIL is eliminated?
CG Tokmak: President Trump has stated that they have an interest in securing some oil fields but I cannot comment on US plans.
Question. Does Turkey see the SDF/YPG as a threat after US Decides to leaves?
CG Tokmak: YPG is the Syrian arm of the PKK terrorist organization. This was also previously acknowledged by the US officials numerous times. It is a threat for our national security. It has separatist agenda and uses DEASH for its own ambition, which is carving out territory from Syria.
On 17 October Turkish – US Joint Statement, 22 October Sochi Summit and Turkish Russian Memorandum shows that both US and Russia acknowledged that Turkey has legitimate security concerns which resulted in launching of the Operation Peace Spring and accepts the establishment of a safe zone. But what are these concerns? During last two years we have seen in North West of Syria around 300 bomb attacks. 220 of them were identified from YPG open sources as perpetrated by them. We also have credible evidence that YPG has been recruiting DEASH expertise on IED manufacturing for these attacks.
Imagine a Marxist Leninist group claiming to represent first nations, nested at Grouse Mountain with 120mm mortars shelling Stanley Park and beyond. Would that be tolerable? That is unthinkable yet this is what we are going through at our borders. In Turkish side of our borders with Syria as of October 31st, 21 civilians died, 187 wounded along the border due to YPG attacks. This information was shared to UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UN Security Council. Also the last two bombing attacks perpetrated by YPG in the town of Tel Abyad which claimed lives of 13 and 8 civilians respectively, shows the true face of YPG.
Question. Is Turkey trying to fill the void after the US leaves?
CG Tokmak: Our national security concerns are clear. Since President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from Syria last December, we have been conducting meetings with our American partners on the establishment of a safe zone under effective Turkish security forces control with a depth of 20 miles which was agreed between the two Presidents. With pressing national security needs as I have elaborated, we had to start the Operation Peace Spring to establish that safe zone. Our aim is to liberate the local population from PYD/YPG’s oppression and to lay the ground
for safe and voluntary returns of displaced Syrians.
Question. Is the aim of "Operation Peace Spring" to expel YPG from Syria and Turkey’s border or is it to eliminate any call for creation of Kurdistan.
CG Tokmak: Operation Peace Spring is carried out on the basis of our right to self defence emanating from Article 51 of the UN Charter and the relevant Security Council resolutions, and in full respect of Syria’s territorial integrity and unity. We are against formation of a terrorist statelet next to our borders. We have to be crystal clear that PYD/YPG is not a representative of Kurds. In Turkey, we have millions of citizens with Kurdish origin, which means that they are also NATO citizens. Moreover, among 3,6 million Syrians which we are sheltering in Turkey, there are 300.000 Syrian Kurds who had fled the YPG invasion in North East of Syria.
Question. On October 9th Trump sent a letter urging Erdogan to not be a “tough guy” and reach an agreement with the Kurds. Does Turkey see a threat of a future for Kurds to have an independent country Kurdistan?
Picture: CG Tokmak showing how YPG fighters destroyed the electric powerlines.
CG Tokmak: I will not comment on the language of the letter. YPG ringleader mentioned in the said letter, Mazlum Kobane/Ferhat Abdi Sahin is a terrorist wanted by Turkey. He had joined PKK in 1990. He is foster child of PKK founder Abdullah Öcalan and has hundreds of Turkish citizens’ blood on his hands. Fighting one terrorist organization with another terrorist organization is wrong. We have to be united in fight against all forms and manifestations of terrorism.
Question. With Turkish forces advancing on Tal Tamar it is an apparent bid to expand the area under the safe zone? What is next? Expansion of the safe zone?
CG Tokmak: Tel Tamir is beyond the operation area of Peace Spring. As a part of their propaganda campaign, YPG has been using that location for harassment fire and trying to provoke our forces. We have identified that coordinates of some of the incoming fire from Tel Tamir are churches. YPG, as a terrorist organization, intentionally uses places of worship with an attempt to draw fire on them.
On the other hand, as Syrian Christians, World Council of Arameans have been condemning YPG for years but their voice is not heard by the international community. Their recent statement which is available online clearly supports our operation. Syrian Christians also want to return to their villages, which were burned by YPG. Turkey is not seeking any ethnic cleansing or demographic engineering. Contrary to that, we aim to tend to the wounds of local populations who were subjected to such practices of YPG.
Question. The United Nations said up to 160,000 people had been displaced and Aid agencies had earlier warned that nearly a half-million people are deemed to be at risk from ongoing fighting in the border region. The only people loosing are the civilians in all circumstances. How is turkey going to relocate the civilians fleeing war?
CG Tokmak: According to the OCHA report dated October30th, 105.574 people were displaced however 96.885 had returned to where they have left. The said report also states that 40% of them (approx. 39.000) returned to towns of Tel Abyad, Ein Issa, and Suluk which we have cleared from YPG terrorism.
On the other hand it is important to mention that from Turkey more than 390.000 Syrians had already voluntarily returned to Operation Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch areas which are in northwest Syria.
Question There are around 2,500 militants-captured ISIS militants with majority of them from European Union nations. How is Turkey dealing with foreign terrorist fighters (FTF)?
CG Tokmak: It is a very complex problem but instead of turning a blind eye all concerned states needs to face and deal with. Especially FTFs children need to be rehabilitated at home countries under state supervision. After DEASH lost its territorial control in Syria last March, as the co-chair of FTF Working Group in the Global Coalition, Turkey had already hosted a FTF meeting in Ankara on May 7th we had warned about potential future problems and asked source countries for repatriation of their citizens. We had also warned all Coalition members about YPG using FTFs as a source of income in terms of smuggling them out of camps under de facto YPG control by taking bribe, as well as blackmailing Western countries for supporting their separatist agenda in exchange of an open ended detainment of thousands of FTF related women and children in those camps.
Question. During the last three years more than 3,000 Turkish families have landed in Canada seeking asylum. There is a campaign to raise awareness (about the human rights situation in Turkey according to Vaner Kaplan who claims to have visited more than 200 Canadian politicians. How will this affect Turkey’s relations with Canada?
CG Tokmak: As you know, FETO tried to make a coup on 15 July, bombed our parliament, killed 251 innocent people. Its followers are capable of making up any story but there should not be a negative influence on our bilateral relations with Canada.
Footnotes: Footnotes: Pictures with caption: CG Tokmak showing how YPG fighters destroyed the electric powerlines.
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