Column – Early warning: NATO is wearing out Turkey’s southern border

Syria: US forces patrol border with Turkey to prevent clashes with Kurdish militias

İbrahim KaragülBY: İbrahim Karagül*

Turkey’s southern border is being worn out through NATO, through the U.S.’s military units in Syria.

The attempt, whose foundation was laid down earlier through the cooperation between the Fetullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ)-affiliated commissioned soldiers and the U.S. military, to weaken the border is being continued by changing format.

The map plan that was previously activated covertly through the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), to join the Syrian and Turkish sides, is now being implemented openly through the U.S., NATO and the PKK’s Syrian branch, the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

This time they are preparing, thinking, “We’ll take care of the Syrian side, that’s when we will open the Turkey front.” The bilateral plan to join the two sides through terrorism was evaded with an extremely harsh intervention after the June 7, 2015 elections. This time, the plan is not covert, but it is instead an open military plan that exceeds even the PKK.

Our entire border will become debatable

Then Turkey needs a new plan too. It needs a rough, game-spoiler intervention unexpected by all countries, like fighting terrorism.

The next step to follow what we are witnessing today is the entire Syrian border becoming debatable.

You can be sure that when that time comes, regional and international public opinion is going to be created with a fait accompli or an extremely “legitimate” reason. Turkey is going to be forced in to certain things through states and alliances like NATO. That is when I don’t even want to think about their partners on the inside.

‘The Turkey front’

The plan, by those who fully armed the PKK/PYD, is, after completing the Syria side, to direct the attacks toward the Turkey side – and they are going to do this. That is when they are going to open the “Turkey front” they tried to open on July 15, 2016. They are going to try this.

NATO has never given any consideration to our security concerns. Turkey is merely a front for the alliance, an armed force it will use against its own enemies. If there is a threat for the U.S. and Europe, then Turkey is valuable.

What about the threats faced by Turkey? For example, what about the terrorism that has been destroying our country for 40 years? That’s what they are already thriving on; and as soon as the Syrian war started, it openly declared the PKK as its partner.

Against who? Of course against Turkey, for the complete division of the region, for the new map of the Middle East.

We will be defending our borders alone

The very same NATO, instead of supporting us, is trying to take Turkey’s south hostage. It is applying a map that includes our borders as well. In other words, it is preparing the infrastructure of the wave that will hit Turkey following the Syrian war.

The threat has always come from our allies. Take any problem for example today and you will find our allies behind it.

Our borders are not NATO borders and they can’t be, they shouldn’t be. The NATO border perception could result in border lines becoming vague. These borders can certainly not be sacrificed to alliance relations, especially after the northern Syria corridor plan has been revealed. Its defense will solely be Turkey’s defense. This responsibility cannot be transferred.

NATO tutelage now means ‘intervention’

This country must now think very well what NATO’s tutelage means. The Cold War era is long over. NATO’s “protecting” Turkey back then was an act to fine-tune the country through coups. As for today, the same mission signifies “intervention” in Turkey. This was the meaning of the kind of outcries like “NATO may intervene in Turkey, it should intervene in Turkey” by FETÖ circles before July 15.

What am I trying to say?

The intention of U.S. and NATO circles, which are getting ready to wage a war against Turkey right before our very eyes, is obvious. A front is being built throughout the Syrian border. The primary target of this front is Turkey.

Statements such as, “We are going to protect Turkey, we are going to protect its borders,” made by U.S. and NATO authorities is a load of rubbish. It’s an act to gain time, to distract Turkey. This is the meaning of the subsequent statements that have been made in recent days.

We are going to position you in the frontmost line

If you trust the border to those who set up a terror front on the border, this would mean to pave the way for this invasion. Right now, those borders are being worn out. In the next step, those borders are going to become debatable at the international level.

As for those who classify these as war-mongering: For them, it doesn’t matter whether NATO or the U.S. or the PKK is there. Because prior to the June 7 elections, they were working for the current circumstances to form and investing in the PKK through the Peoples’ Democracy Party (HDP).

But if one day, that terror, that multinational attack is directed inside Turkey, we are going to position them in the frontmost line.

*Ibrahim Karagül is a Turkish writer and journalist. He is the editor-in-chief of Turkish Yeni Şafak newspaper.

(Published in Yeni Şafak Turkish newspaper on May 12, 2017)