Address to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the Syrian Crisis Apr.

26, 2012 Erturul Krk

The report is balanced and comprehensive. But The Syrian conflict could be better understood if it is placed within the context of the sweeping changes caused by Arab Revolutions which have started with the uprisings in Tunisia on 17 December 2010 to extend from Maghreb to Mashrek eventually leading to the collapse of the Western backed Arab regimes. The Arab Spring as concocted by the U.S. and European mainstream media in order to void the social change in North Africa and Middle East from its revolutionary content is indeed that what have remained after the robbing of the Arab peoples of their revolution by the major political allies of imperialism in these countries the armed forces and the political Islam. The massive emancipation movement of the workers, the urban poor, students, women what have shaken the old regimes and opened the path to elections have nevertheless gained the power to the forces of repression under the guardianship of the armed forces, whose absolute authority have remained intact even after all these sweeping popular upheavals. On the other hand, in Libya, the central link in the chain of North African countries where such an emancipatory mass movement did not exist, the US led international community, namely the NATO, oversaw a joint military intervention to push the local reactionaries to power in order to replace Gaddafis dictatorial regime. However, the imperialist domination in the Arab world vis-a-vis a variety of ways of intervention has a constant nature it is hypocritical and profit oriented. Libyan leader Gaddafi was one of the best friends of Turkish prime minister as well as that of the Italian but they would not mercy him once the US decided to start military attack on Libya and they followed on its footsteps for regime change. But in Bahrain, in Yemen, in Qatar masses are out in the streets fighting for democracy but we hear no US backing or no Turkish backing because these are not countries of strategic import. Thus we are totally against any US and foreign intervention in Syria after the Libyan example. Obviously the Assad regime is a ruthless dictatorship. But it always was. It was a dictatorship even when Turkish prime minister called him a brother in 2010. Therefore it is hardly convincing that the major concern of the West is democracy as such but strategical interests. Therefore we urge that the Council of Europe uses its influence for a peaceful outcome to the Syrian crisis, that Turkey refrains from nesting Free Syrian Army who commit human rights violations and crimes against humanity. We urge that Council of Europe works in the direction of a new Syria based on a multiethnic, multi religious democracy, pluralism, rights of women and rights of labor, that the Syrian peoples, including the Kurds enjoy their right to self-determination.