Being in the field brings one to the diplomatic table

Take a look at the Turkey-Syria-Iraq map. Put one end of a compass between Mosul and Hasakah. Widen the other arm of the compass centimeter by centimeter… Draw a circle. Keep the radius of this circle at 150 to 200 kilometers. The problem is there.

On the Syrian side, there is the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which has come down to the Hasakah line. You know who is arming them. On the Iraqi side, it is the Sinjar Mountains.

It is as if a secret hand, just as it did before for the Peshmerga, is drawing places for the YPG. Then it moves the tool of dividers and marks a place for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Yes, I’m talking about the Sinjar Mountain. This line is the extension of the YPG in Syria into Iraq. It stretches toward the YPG region in Syria. At the same time, it stands as the “promised land” that contains a valley 200 kilometers long.

Pay attention… The first arm of the pair of compasses was not put on the Kandil mountains. This is because on one side of the Kandil was the state of Iran and on its Iraqi side was the Peshmerga. What was promised to the Peshmerga was already given in Arbil.

Thus, now, a new place was needed. Like the PKK line that was drawn over Sinjar, for the YPG which is in the process of building cantons in Syria.

There is such a dream, an ambition at the arm of the compass. Well, how are we going to stop this tool of division?

Thanks to this question, we can understand better why Turkey has a presence in Bashiqa and at al-Bab.

Bashiqa and Sinjar

When viewed from this point, Turkey has to have powerful diplomatic activities in the capitals of five countries. Baghdad is one of them. Restoring confidence for cooperation and territorial integrity may reverse the dreams at the end of the compass.

Washington, Moscow, Tehran and indeed Damascus… When looked from this angle, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım’s trip to Baghdad is significant.

I assume that in the event the PKK, which is trying to settle in Sinjar, is stopped, then Turkey will meet in goodwill the demands of the Baghdad government about Bashiqa. In other words, in this situation, Turkish troops will withdraw from Bashiqa.

We come to the same place again.

On the field, at the table

Turkey could not have been indifferent to these “compass operations” that took place right next to its border. It did not and it went into the field.

This is what the “Shield of the Euphrates” is.

Because Turkey is in the field, it is at the table in Astana.

Look back in history. It is bitter but true. In these kind of regions, when you are in the field, the cost is your life. But if you are not in the field, then you are not at the negotiation table. And then, you pay the cost with your country.

Look at the Gulf countries; look at Middle Eastern countries… The artificial structures drawn by the pairs of compasses and civil wars… Middle Eastern history is full of such examples. The first and second world war again are full of examples of these.

We are the only nation in this region which conducted a liberation war, achieved independence and was able to form a state.

It is such a difficult situation that we are constantly exposed to the dilemma of defending the country and conducting a liberation war.

Haven’t we made mistakes here? Of course we have. We have never ever learned to trust each other. An uncontrollable rage has poured poison inside us. We have apologized to our children and our prime minister, years after we hanged them. We declare jailed poets, writers and composers as state artists, but only years later.

Why am I recalling all this? Guys, the arm of the compass is at work again. And our borders lie inside the circle drawn. For this reason, it is time to be united.

If we are able to grow good sons of the country like Ömer Halisdemir, who changed the course of events on the evening of the attempted coup and fell a martyr, if we have heroes like police officer Fethi Sekin, who prevented a much bigger disaster in İzmir and paid with his life, then instead of succumbing to rage, grudge and hate, it is time to trust each other.

It is time to take a deep breath and think calmly.