BY YASEMIN CONGAR
MILLIYET- If you’ve been following recent events from the eyes of Turkish columnists, then you could have some misconceptions about Syria. By reading columns about the recent developments in Syria, you could also think that the US had started a campaign against Damascus without cause. You should be careful about these views, otherwise you could think that the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was for the benefit of the US and Israel, because in this way they could increase their pressure on Syria. Thus, you can ignore the European Union’s claims and the UN resolutions. Moreover, you would also ignore the voice of the Lebanese people. I would have nothing to say if you, considering the recent visit by Syrian President Bashar Assad to Turkey and President Ahmet Necdet Sezer’s future visit to Damascus, would forgive Syria’s years of support for PKK terrorists and the way it let Abdullah Ocalan leave the country with a slap on the wrist and also its claims over the Turkish province of Hatay. But the government’s failure to join the international outcry calling for Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon shouldn’t make you neglect this information.
France and the US led the call for Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon. This request later turned into an international consensus, because it found its root and response in the Lebanese people. Assad’s statement that Syria would withdraw from Lebanon is the result of Syria being left friendless. Sources in Washington say that Syria has no choice but to withdraw its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon. During the revolt in the streets of Beirut by the Lebanese people, I asked a US official about whether Syria would withdraw. ‘What impresses me the most is that al-Jazeera is broadcasting all the events live without any censorship,’ he said. The revolts in the streets of Beirut gave a more important message than the recent elections in Iraq. Speaking about the statements by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, the same official said that Gul’s words are not the message that the entire world is trying to give Damascus.
The US claims that steps have started in the Mideast which are reinforcing each other and advancing the cause of democracy. US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accuse the regional countries which they criticize as ‘being out of step.’ And what will Ankara’s attitude be?