Turkey's policy on Syria duplicitous at best – lawyer

Press TV has conducted an interview with Barry Grossman, an international lawyer from Bali, for his take on new revelations about Turkey’s military support for foreign-backed terrorists in Syria.

Press TV: Now, Bashar al-Assad says that Ankara is using terrorism as a tool against the Syrian people, your thought sir.

Grossman: Increasingly, since this all started a few years ago, we’re seeing clear evidence emerge typically in the form of declassified military documents from the US and for that matter of the UK, which leave little doubt that Turkey has consistently from the start, supported the same insurgency elements that are now rallying under the flag of ISIL. These reports indicate that Turkey supported al-Nusra to develop chemical weapons that Turkey initially worked with the United States, was pivotal in arming essentially all the insurgents and continues to do so. In fact, some of these reports have gone so far as to say that the sarin gas attacks in Damascus in 2013 were in fact a false flag operation carried out with Turkey itself.

Press TV: And what kind of justification is Ankara using to support the insurgency against the sovereign neighbor?

Grossman: Well, not unlike the United States, public position taken by Turkey is a little bit incoherent it’s at best duplicitous. For its part, the Turkish government simply denies it provided military material support to these insurgents at least denies doing so in terms, which would be considered to violate international law. On the other hand, it openly takes a position that it supports the overthrow of the Syrian regime, of the Bashar al-Assad government. So, there’s a something of a contradiction in two approaches since even President Obama himself has come out and conceded that there is no moderate opposition in Syria. And it’s become quite clear that such material support that has been provided over last few years has inevitably found its way into the hands of the very same elements which both the US and the broader coalition claim now to be fighting against in both Iraq and in Syria.

Press TV: Hasn’t it occurred to Erdugan that supporting mercenaries, that these mercenaries have no experience in running a government and supporting them maybe detrimental to the safety of Syria’s future and not only the Syria’s future but the future of the region in whole and Turkey’s as well?

Grossman: Well, no doubt, it has occurred to him. In fact, there are analysts quite openly commenting now that Erdogan is stuck in a bit of hard place in that and now it’s become completely an open secret that he has from the start supported the insurgency both with chemical and conventional weapons and that to the extent that is not successful in achieving regime change, that there will be blowback, that the chickens will certainly come home to roost in Turkey. So, one can only assume that President Erdogan is very aware of what’s at stake here and that might explain Turkey’s willingness to continue down the same path it started on back into 2011.