Terrorist attacks on Turkish soil won’t stop until the country’s Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan, gives up on his support of rebel forces in Syria, British broadcaster, Neil Clark, told RT.
Turkish police have fired tear gas at protesters in a town near the Syrian border, which was the scene of a deadly double car bombing a week ago.
Demonstrators are angry over Ankara's support for the Syrian
rebels, which they say is putting Turkey in the firing line.
World affairs journalist and broadcaster, Neil Clark,
believes Erdogan must reconsider his policies and stop accusing
the Syrian government of targeting the Hatay province, as it
would’ve been an “absolutely absurd” move from Damascus.
RT: Tension and discontent on the Turkish-Syrian border
is now escalating - what ramifications could this have?
Neil Clark: I think if I were Turkish I would be
protesting too, because Mr Erdogan has made colossal blunder here
because in August 2011 he took the line he’s going to play a
leading role in trying to topple the Syrian government. He
allowed rebels to be based in the country. His government gave
arms to them and equipment. And now it’s sort of a blowback time.
We had some terrible bombings in Turkey this week and this will
only continue, until Turkey changes course in relation to
Syria.
RT: Turkey maintains Syria was responsible for last
weekend's bombing of a Turkish town that left more than 50 dead,
but why would Damascus orchestrate a cross-border attack?
NC: It’ll be absolutely suicidal for Syrian president
[Bashar] Assad to order an attack on Turkey, knowing that very
powerful countries in the West are just itching for an excuse to
militarily attack the country, to bomb the country. So the last
thing would be doing is trying to bomb Turkey. It’s absolutely
absurd. I don’t know who was responsible for these bombings, but
it’s clear that what Erdogan has done has actually involved
Turkey in this war. He’s brought the war to Turkey. And
understandable the Turkish citizens – not just those on the
border with Syria, but throughout the country – are getting
increasingly angry and they demand that he changes his
course.
RT: Turkey has made it clear it doesn't want to get
directly involved in Syria, but has pledged to respond to the
bombings. What action could we see?
NC: We haven’t got any evidence as to who’s responsible
for these bombings. And I think Erdogan has to seriously
reconsider his entire policies, because all he’s doing is
increasing the tension here by backing the rebels. He took a
gamble in August 2011 believing that the Syrian government would
fall very shortly and that there’ll be a very nice Islamist
government in power in Damascus that’ll be very friendly to
Turkey. It backfired. It hasn’t happened. And I think that the
position, Turkey is in, is getting worse and worse. I hope I’m
wrong, but we’re going to see more bombings, I’m afraid. Because
the war has been brought to Turkey and, of course, the rebels
themselves are fighting among themselves – the radical Islamists,
the not so radical Islamists. It’s all happening in Turkey.
RT: An international conference on Syria – endorsed by
Russia and the US – is expected soon. What results can we
expect?
NC: It all depends on the stance of the US and its allies.
Because if they’re still going to carry on with this rhetoric,
this Assad must go, we’re not going to get any progress, are we?
The people, who are pouring the petrol on the fire, the countries
like the US and Turkey, have got to change their position. It’s
no use that they’re having a conference, if they’re still going
to back the rebels. They’re still saying that the Syrian people
could decide the government they want as long as Assad goes.
That’s not democracy, is it? It’s up to the Syrian people alone.
It’s up to US, Qatar, Turkey to stop interfering in Syria.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.