Biden’s Misguided Apology

If one follows the mainstream media, one is at a loss, since only the face value of events are defined tailor-made for their respective governments to lull the voters and shape public opinion for their legislative agenda. Had we believed the excuses justifying foreign aggressions in Libya, Iraq and now Syria, the bloodbaths resulting from those wars would have undermined the claims and led the public to confusion. Independent and investigative journalists — sometimes with the help of Julian Assange’s Wikileaks and Edward Snowden’s “treasonous” revelations come to shed more light on the root causes of political developments.

By creating the coalition, the US policymakers believe that provoking constant wars in the Middle East and leaving dysfunctional governments left behind pave the way for Israel’s hegemony in the region. Whereas Turkey, by joining the coalition, albeit reluctantly, has a completely different agenda and that is why at at times, their policies are in conflict. By destabilizing strong governments in lands formerly ruled by the Ottomans, Turkey aspires to recreate an Ottoman Empire for modern times, its apostle being Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

A cursory review of conditions set by Turkey in joining the coalition will reveal its true intentions. A no-fly zone in Syria, a border buffer and the right to invade Syrian territories are not goals to uproot ISIS. When Vice President Biden spilled the beans, he was right. Even after the parliamentary vote in Ankara, Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu announced that one should not expect immediate action by Turkey. Because Ankara is in the process of arming and training ISIS forces to do its bidding, the first goal is to depopulate the Kurdish region in Syria, including Kobani, to prevent the creation of an autonomous Kurdish area, which can cause a lot of headaches for Ankara.

In an interview with the prominent journalist Amberin Zaman in Al-Monitor, a Kurdish leader, Cemil Bayik, reveals that Turkey has supplied ISIS with trainloads of armaments in Syria, basically confirming the inadvertent indiscretion of Mr. Biden.

The fact that ISIS released 46 Turkish hostages unharmed while beheading on camera other hostages, further proves that the two supposed adversaries are in bed together.

Another writer for Counterpunch, Dan Glazebrook, outlines the intentions, of at least Britain, behind the coalition, by writing: “Air strikes will inflict casualties on ISIS in Syria and Iraq, but they will not be enough to defeat the group and may not even contain it.” Then he asks: “Why do they not pursue a more effective strategy? Because the defeat of ISIS is not really their goal. ISIS and its friends have played right into the hands of British foreign policy for the last three years, acting as the vanguard in the Anglo-American proxy war of attrition against the Syrian state.” Just this week, while ISIS was overrunning the Kurdish region of Kobani, Turkey was banning Kurds from crossing into Syria to rescue their brethren, while the coalition was unleashing airstrikes — a charade, if not a tragic political comedy.

It becomes clear that ISIS represents a necessary evil to each member of the coalition, to serve a narrow agenda for each.

After NATO broke up Yugoslavia, Turkey extended its political and economic influence throughout the Balkans. The war in Syria can launch the second phase of the Turkish leaders’ old dreams. The only problem is that once Turkey invades Syria, it will definitely face Russia, Iran and Hezbollah Party. In that scenario, it will be difficult to anticipate the outcome of the conflict. The cold war is in full swing, if you also figure in the perspective crisis in Ukraine and tensions in the Caucasus.

Turkey also used ISIS to teach a lesson to the Armenians, first by unleashing the murderous gangs to rampage Kessab, that historic Armenian enclave in Syria, and recently by directing those hordes to commit the most heinous sacrilege against the church and Martyrs memorial in Deir Zor. One million and a half martyrs were denied the right to have their own individual graves. Some remains, recovered from the desert, had been enshrined in St. Mary’s Church, to symbolize an entire nation lost in that desert. As a tool in the hands of the Turkish authorities, ISIS once again violated the Armenian martyrs.

The UN condemnation is inadequate and insufficient response to the barbarity committed in Deir Zor. On October 3, the United Nations Human Rights Office expressed concern about the continuing wave of destruction unleashed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (or Iraq and Syria, sometimes). According to the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR), ISIS militants destroyed an important Armenian Church in the Syrian city of Deir Zor as part of an ongoing campaign of violence and terror which has seen the group also blow up mosques, shrines and damage churches in Northern Iraq. “We condemn the destruction of the church and other religious institutions,” UNHCHR Spokesperson Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.

Without identifying the significance of the martyrs’ memorial and issuing a generic condemnation, the UN has done a disservice to the martyrs. It actually has added insult to injury. Would they have had the same reaction if this similar desecration and violation had happened to a Jewish shrine?

Mr. Biden’s apology is misguided. It tries to cover up, awkwardly, a lie, when the truth is so obvious. He does not owe an apology to Erdogan. He and the UNHCHR owe apologies to the Armenians, to the 1.5 million martyrs, on the eve of the centennial.