US Knew Turkey Aided al Qaeda but Did Nothing to Stop It
When Armenian-Americans voiced their anger over
Turkey’s role in the incursion into Kessab last spring, US authorities
merely expressed “concern” about the well-being of Armenians and
Christian minorities. Despite the community’s insistence that Turkey was
directly involved in allowing the al Qaeda-affiliated Al Nusra rebels
to freely enter Kessab, the US State Department was reticent in
fingering its NATO ally.
Fast forward to today when the Obama Administration is leading a fragile coalition against the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria, an off shoot of Al Nusra known as ISIS, and Turkey is, once again, rejecting American access to its airspace in Incirlink and is refusing to join the coalition against the Islamic State.
On Friday, the London-based The Telegraph quoted former US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Riccardione as saying that Turkey has directly supported al Qaeda’s Syrian wing in defiance of the US and has worked with other hard-line al Qaeda affiliates, effectively opening its borders to Syria and allowing free access to those rebels.
Riccardione said that Turkey was attempting to make those hard-line factions more moderate. However, Al Nusra, the group credited for the invasion of Kessab, was the predecessor of ISIS as members of its core group splintered from Al Nusra to create the group that is now at the center of the US campaign.
“We ultimately had no choice but to agree to disagree,” Riccardione was quoted by The Telegraph about the US response to Turkey’s fist-hand involvement with the group.
“The Turks frankly worked with groups for a period, including al Nusra, whom we finally designated as we’re not willing to work with,” Riccardione was quoted in The Telegraph.
Essentially, the US’s response seemed to have been to turn a blind eye to Turkey’s collusion with terrorists, just as Turkey turned a blind eye to the al Qaeda rebels using its border as a transit route to Syria and the ensuing destruction and loss of life in places like Kessab and Aleppo.
While Riccardione’s statements are not the “official” US response, because he left the government when his mission ended in June, his statements paint a clear enough picture to conclude that the US knew about Turkey’s role in al Qaeda’s attack in Kessab and chose to do nothing. In fact, it also went a step further to cover up any suggestion of Turkey’s involvement and lied to its own constituents.
read more:
http://asbarez.com/126987/us-knew-turkey-aided-al-qaeda-but-did-not...
Fast forward to today when the Obama Administration is leading a fragile coalition against the Islamic State for Iraq and Syria, an off shoot of Al Nusra known as ISIS, and Turkey is, once again, rejecting American access to its airspace in Incirlink and is refusing to join the coalition against the Islamic State.
On Friday, the London-based The Telegraph quoted former US Ambassador to Turkey Francis Riccardione as saying that Turkey has directly supported al Qaeda’s Syrian wing in defiance of the US and has worked with other hard-line al Qaeda affiliates, effectively opening its borders to Syria and allowing free access to those rebels.
Riccardione said that Turkey was attempting to make those hard-line factions more moderate. However, Al Nusra, the group credited for the invasion of Kessab, was the predecessor of ISIS as members of its core group splintered from Al Nusra to create the group that is now at the center of the US campaign.
“We ultimately had no choice but to agree to disagree,” Riccardione was quoted by The Telegraph about the US response to Turkey’s fist-hand involvement with the group.
“The Turks frankly worked with groups for a period, including al Nusra, whom we finally designated as we’re not willing to work with,” Riccardione was quoted in The Telegraph.
Essentially, the US’s response seemed to have been to turn a blind eye to Turkey’s collusion with terrorists, just as Turkey turned a blind eye to the al Qaeda rebels using its border as a transit route to Syria and the ensuing destruction and loss of life in places like Kessab and Aleppo.
While Riccardione’s statements are not the “official” US response, because he left the government when his mission ended in June, his statements paint a clear enough picture to conclude that the US knew about Turkey’s role in al Qaeda’s attack in Kessab and chose to do nothing. In fact, it also went a step further to cover up any suggestion of Turkey’s involvement and lied to its own constituents.
read more:
http://asbarez.com/126987/us-knew-turkey-aided-al-qaeda-but-did-not...
No comments:
Post a Comment