600 bus loads of Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters from neighbouring districts and provinces as far away as Nigde (400 km), Syrian refugees who did not speak Turkish and workers who were threatened with dismissal for non-attendance by their employers were transported by the authorities to Reyhanli. They were lined up in front of Mr Erdogan in a military order in a manner reminiscent of the periods under military rule. Meanwhile, the local people were not allowed to go out of their homes. [60] [61]
Ten days before Mr Erdogan's visit,
government officials began distributing a significant amount of money
to the local population of Reyhanli in an effort to buy off their
silence. [62] Likewise, during his fifteen-minute speech in
Reyhanli, Mr Erdogan announced various financial incentives for the
people of Reyhanli as well as promotion of Hatay to metropolitan
municipality status in the next year. [63]
STANCE OF THE KURDISH OPPOSITION IN TURKEY
The day after the bombing attacks in Reyhanli, the co-chair of the
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), which is the only pro-Kurdish party in
Turkey's parliament, Mr Selahattin Demirtas rushed to Mr
Erdogan's rescue:
The fact that the attacks took place at Reyhanli on the Syrian border brings instantly to one's mind a Syrian connection of this matter. [...] [These attacks] could be interpreted as the extension of Syria's civil war and internal chaos to Turkey. [...] Were [these attacks] connected to the ongoing resolution process [between the Government and the Kurdish opposition] in Turkey? It is hard to figure that out. What is clear is that the political atmosphere in which Turkey currently finds itself was the target.
Since the day the civil war began in Syria, we have been pointing out that the Government's stance, its foreign policy is wrong. [...] However, particularly in the face of attacks perpetrated in this period against Turkey, attacks which target civilians, our citizens; our priority should be to act in unity instead of holding the Government responsible. [...] We will stand by the Government [in its efforts] to take precautions against these attacks, to adopt an attentive, sensitive stance towards these attacks. [64]
Mr Demirtas' stance is all the more
surprising considering the sheer number of false-flag operations of the
past three decades which have targeted Kurdish politicians, activists
and civilians in Turkey. At the end of April, four days after the
PKK's military leader Murat Karayilan announced the withdrawal of
the PKK guerrillas from Turkey in line with a ceasefire agreement, The
Times reported the transfer of over 1,500 guerrillas from Turkey into
northern Syria to secure the Kurdish areas there. [65] In an
interview held eleven days after the bombing attacks, Mr Demirtas spoke
even more straightforwardly:
Three Kurdish states may come into being: A Kurdish state in Iran, a Kurdish state in Iraq, a Kurdish state in Syria. Now it is certain that there will be an autonomous region in Syria just like the one in Iraq. Of course, if the Kurdish entity in Syria incorporates Lattakia as well, a big problem for the Kurds would have been resolved. [Then] they would have access to the sea and a total dependence on Turkey would come to an end. [...] The Kurds are Turkey's luck. There is a Kurdish buffer [separating Turkey from both Syria and Iraq] . If the central administration in Iraq persists in its current mentality, then the Kurdish state in Iraq may come into being as a fully independent [entity]. [66]
Nine days after the bombing attacks, the co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK), which is another pro-Kurdish party in Turkey, Mr Ahmet Turk visited the United States. Following three consecutive meetings held at the U.S. State Department, Mr Turk spoke to the press:
A Turkey that embraces its own Kurds, that wins the hearts and minds of its own Kurds will play a more effective role in the Middle East, will be an actor capable of bringing democracy to the Middle East. [67]
He continued, "We need to bring into life the project of a Syria where all sorts of different [identities] could freely exist, could freely express themselves. [The U.S. officials] have very clearly stated that they see eye-to-eye with us on this matter." [68]
The "peace process" with the Kurdish
armed and political opposition in Turkey is actually a classic divide
and rule strategy which aims to pacify the Kurdish opposition in Turkey
ahead of a planned invasion of Syria and Iran whilst implementing the
U.S. plan to divide both the occupied Iraq and Syria into three
separate entities.
MILITARY PREPARATIONS
The day after Israeli Air Forces' May 5th attack on Syria, Turkey
and Israel have launched separate military exercises near their
respective borders with Syria. Israeli drills took place in the
occupied Syrian Golan Heights, while Turkey's
"Yildirim-2013 Mobilization Exercise" was held at
NATO's Incirlik Airbase. [69]
According to a statement by Turkey's General Staff, the aim of Yildirim-2013 exercise was to test Turkish Armed Forces' readiness for battle and coordination with Government ministries. The ten-day exercise finished on May 15th, the day before Mr Erdogan met Mr Obama in Washington D.C. [70]
The same day, a unit consisting of hundreds of armed personnel carrier vehicles carrying "Free Syrian Army' militants, accompanied by tanks defending them, crossed from Turkey's Ceylanpinar border gate into Syria. This military deployment, considered to be the largest ever from the region, occurred at a time when the militants squeezed in Ras al-Ayn [in Northern Syria] needed help. [71]
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