A MASSACRE THAT IS BECOMING ORDINARY IN THE INSENSITIVE EYES OF THE WORLD
Today’s Zaman
Nov 13 2012
Turkey
Syria has been suffering a massacre under the gaze of the whole
world for the past 19 months. Not since the genocides in Bosnia and
Herzegovina and Rwanda has the world been so insensitive and impotent.
The responsibility for the brutal massacre of hundreds of people every
day in Syria belongs not only to the cruel Bashar al-Assad regime
but to all of humanity, which remains insensitive to this massacre.
The world may choose to turn a blind eye to these massacres or remain
indifferent to them; countries around the world may be too weak or
disorganized to respond to them; but they have recently come to the
very edge of Syria’s common border with Turkey. Even the new rules of
engagement declared by Turkey in the wake of the downing of its jet
by Assad’s forces — according to which Turkey would regard Syrian
warplanes and helicopters within five kilometers of the common border
as violating its airspace — have been violated. Indeed, for the past
few days, the warplanes and helicopters of Assad’s forces have been
shelling targets as close as 300 meters from the Turkish border. It
is claimed these warplanes have approached the zero point of the
border, and some eyewitnesses even argue that they have violated
Turkish airspace.
It is deplorable to see women, children and the elderly fleeing
air strikes in the Rasulayn region of Syria’s al-Hasakah province,
near the Turkish border, to Turkey’s border city of Ceylanpınar to
save their lives. I am talking about innocent civilians desperately
attempting to cross the border without even finding the time to put on
shoes. The sheer number of children among the wounded is sufficient
to communicate the horror of the ongoing civilian massacre. Those
fleeing are not armed dissidents fighting Assad’s forces; they are
just civilians living in the region. The number killed in homes that
have collapsed under heavy bombardment is not known. What is known
is that out of 68 severely wounded people brought to Turkey in the
past few days, 10 have died in Turkish hospitals.
Shrapnel that has strayed into Turkey from shells dropped by the
warplanes and helicopters of the bloodthirsty Assad regime at the
zero point of the border has damaged some houses and shops and wounded
two people in Ceylanpınar. For this reason, questions as to why the
rules of engagement justly declared by Turkey are not being complied
with abound in the minds of the public. Despite the fact that security
measures have been increased along the border and Turkish warplanes
are now patrolling the area, Turkey has once again been content to
issue a note to the Assad regime. And this confuses the public as to
Turkey’s deterrent capacity.
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: “We have reported the issue to
the United Nations Security Council [UNSC] and NATO. The international
community’s silence on the matter hurts the human conscience. The
Assad regime is primarily responsible for these incidents. The UNSC’s
inaction is responsible for it in the second place. As long as this
inaction continues, the Syrian regime will continue to find pretexts
for its provocations.” I could not agree more with these words.
However, Davutoglu went on to note that Assad’s warplanes did not
violate Turkish airspace, adding, “If our airspace had been violated,
we would certainly respond.” These words give the impression that
Turkey did not have recently announced rules of engagement in place.
Of course there is nothing wrong with Turkey adopting an extremely
cautious and self-possessed attitude as regards this “clear and present
danger.” Yet it is impossible to make sense of the continued silence
of the Western powers, including the US, which hide behind the pretext
that the Syrian opposition does not inspire confidence and does not
fully represent the groups in the field. Indeed, under the direct
influence of the US, the Syrian opposition has been reorganized as the
“Syrian National Coalition” to be more representative and legitimate in
nature. Isn’t it high time that the international community kept its
promises of solidarity, support and help for the Syrian opposition,
now that it has been reshaped as the legitimate representative of the
Syrian people in resisting the massacring, illegitimate Assad regime?
With their sophisticated defense technology capable of disabling the
radar and communication devices of any armed unit at any place or time,
how many civilians are the US and NATO waiting to see die before they
take action to protect them from Assad’s air attacks? No one expects
NATO, the US or any other nation to directly send troops to Syria. But
why don’t they employ their technological defense capabilities and
indirect methods to paralyze Assad’s striking power?
As Davutoglu said, the whole world is going through a tough test of
humanity over Syria. So far they have performed very poorly. The
developments have already indicated that this problem cannot be
settled through the self-sacrificial work of Turkey and some regional
countries. In addition to the humanitarian aspect of the crisis, Turkey
has spent $400 million on the care of the refugees, and the problem
is growing to dimensions Turkey cannot support. Currently, Turkey is
hosting about 170,000 Syrian refugees — 120,000 in camps and 40,000
to 50,000 in cities — and is being exposed to the sociopolitical
and psychological effects of this crisis, in addition to security
concerns created by the fact that in a country with which Turkey has
a 910-kilometer-long common border, 30,000 to 40,000 people have been
massacred, 1 million people have fled and 2 million people have been
internally displaced.
In short, hundreds of innocent people are being killed each day, under
the insensitive and indifferent gaze of the whole planet. Every day,
the cruel Assad regime commits new crimes against humanity by shelling
settlements. Still deeply wounded by the disgraceful memories of the
massacres in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda, the world is facing
the risk of shouldering another disgrace by turning a blind eye to
the ongoing massacres in Syria.
This risk threatens the image of the US administration most. US
President Barack Hussein Obama, in whom people have invested great
hopes, has the chance to be remembered with honor, like Bill Clinton,
who put an end to the tragedies in Bosnia and Kosovo. If, during this
second presidential term, he fails to take action to deal with the
Syrian tragedy that started in his first presidential term, Obama
will be etched in the collective memory of humankind with the burden
of this terrific tragedy.
http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-298050-a-massacre-that-is-becoming-ordinary-in-the-insensitive-eyes-of-the-world.html