On the existence of such a people as the Syrian Turkmens, who are interested in events in Syria, were able to learn relatively recently, after a Russian bomber was shot down near the Turkish border. The pilots who managed to eject were shot in the air. One of them died, about the fate of the second for some time there were conflicting reports. The Syrian Turkmen who shot at the Russians said they had killed both pilots. Later, it became known from reliable sources that the co-pilot was rescued and taken out during the search and rescue operation.
Who are the Syrian Turkmen? What is their position in the current war?
Going deeper into history…
The first mention of the appearance of Turkmen and Oghuz tribes in the region dates back to the 9th century. Basically, the settlement of the lands of the Middle East and Asia Minor by the Central Asian peoples beginsin the 11th century, when the Seljuks established their rule here with the help of Turkish militias. Under the onslaught of the Mongols, the Seljuk empire collapsed. During the reign of the Ottomans (from the 14th century until 1922), Syrian Turkmens in the lands of modern Syria (Aleppo, Hama, Latakia, Homs, Tartus, Idlib, Jarablus) protected pilgrims who, in accordance with the canons of Muslims, annually performed the Hajj. Since that time, numerous representatives of this people have lived in these areas.
During the French occupation, some moved to Damascus.
Grains of discontent
Before the start of the civil war, about one-sixth of the territory of Syria was inhabited by Turkmens. According to various estimates, their number is about 3.5 million, of which one and a half million speak their native language. The religion of the majority is Sunnis (the most numerous offshoot of Islam), there are also Alawites (one of the most mysterious religious Islamic movements).
Basically, representatives of this nationality are engaged in shoe business, they own factories in the city of Aleppo, the workers of these enterprises are also Turkmens. Among them are politicians, cultural figures, military and scientists (in particular, the former Minister of Defense of Syria Hassan al-Turkmani).
In the 30s, as a result of the assimilation policy pursued by the Syrian government, representatives of this people were deprived of many rights. They did not have the opportunity to unite in circles and parties. They were forbidden to communicate, publish books, study in their native language.
Until a certain time, dissatisfaction with the current government was ripe in their camp.
What preceded the big conflict?
During the period from 2006 to 2011, more than half of the Syrian lands were affected by drought. The mediocrity of the economic policy led to the desertification of lands, the death of crops and livestock. According to the UN and the Red Cross in 2010, about a million people were on the verge of starvation.
The rural population went en masse to the cities. In the city of Aleppo in 2011, there were 200,000 refugees. Unemployment was 20%. Political forces that disagree with the authorities were outlawed.
Demanding the adoption of socially just decisions, ethno-confessional groups of Sunnis, Alawites, Kurds and Christians united and rose to fight.
Causes of the explosion
Sources consider the main reason for the beginning of the Arab Spring to be a ripe and bursting abscess of people's dissatisfaction with the authoritarian rule of the incumbent president, corruption in the highest echelons of power, aggravation of religious contradictions, etc.
According to political analysts, Syria's internal problems have turned out to be fertile ground for fomenting an external conflict.
"Fire to the Fuse" brought from outside.
As evidenced by The Wall Street Journal journalists Noor Malas and Carol Lee, for several years, representatives of the US presidential administration held secret negotiations with members of the state apparatus of Syria to recruit people who are ready to facilitate a military coup and remove the incumbent from the government of the country.
Chronicle of protests
A month before the unrest (at the end of January 2011) extremistThe Syrian Revolution organization took to Facebook to call for an uprising against the rule of Bashar al-Assad.
At first, anti-government demonstrations were scattered, up to mass actions that broke out on March 15 in Daraya. The uprising resembled the scenarios in Tunisia and Egypt. The protests soon turned into a nationwide full-scale uprising.
Tanks were deployed against the rebels, water and electricity were cut off in especially rebellious areas, food and flour were confiscated from people by security forces.
The cities of Daraya, Aleppo, Hama Duma, Homs, Latakia and others were besieged by government troops. Soldiers who refused to shoot at civilians were shot on the spot.
Rebels and defectors from the army formed combat units that launched an armed campaign against the government army. This is how the Free Syrian Army was created. Violent clashes erupted across the country.
Escalation of violence
The authorities reacted with merciless suppression of the riots, rumors spread throughout the country about the brutality of the regular army units against the inhabitants of the rebellious cities.
EU sanctions were imposed against Syria. But the escalation of the conflict was gaining momentum, the number of victims was growing.
At the turn of 2011-2012, the government begins to use artillery and tanks against the rebels. December 26 in Homs, tanks fire on residential buildings.
In some states, there are protests against the Assad regime, the participants commit pogroms in the embassies of Syria. USA andGreat Britain and withdraw their ambassadors from Damascus.
In April 2012, Assad is trying to peacefully resolve the conflict. A truce is declared in the country, UN observers are being received.
For the first time in half a century, elections are held in Syria on a multi-party basis, in which the National Unity bloc (Baath Party) wins.
Despite the declared peace, armed clashes continue.
Participation in the confrontation of other countries
Other states are joining the confrontation: Syrian rebels are being financed and armed by the oil monarchies of the Persian Gulf. Iran stands in defense of the Syrian government. The Russian Federation is supplying Assad with defensive weapons.
In the summer of 2012, Turkey openly enters the conflict: on June 22, a Turkish fighter jet was shot down over Syrian territory.
The UN and the Red Cross officially recognize the conflict in Syria as a civil war.
Russian Help
In March 2015, anti-government forces take control of Syrian cities one by one. In the captured Palmyra, ISIS carried out mass executions, massacring 400-450 civilians who supported the soldiers and the government (mostly women).
60,000 civilians were displaced after ISIS carried out operations in the summer of 2015 in Al-Hasakah.
Soon the number of refugees, according to UN estimates, reached 200,000.
In the summer of 2015, the US found evidence of Turkish officials collaborating with ISIS.
In September ISIScompletely ousted Assad's troops from the province of Idlib, captured the last oil field ("Jazal"), which is under the control of government troops, the Abu al-Duhur airbase.
Assad turns to the Russians for help, and on September 30, Russian aircraft began to operate on the infrastructure of the militants with pinpoint strikes. After a week-long purge of Russian aviation, the victorious large-scale offensive of the Syrian army began, during which government forces resumed control over most of the country's territory.
Which side are the Syrian Turkmens on?
According to the Associated Press, representatives of this people were among the first to support an armed rebellion against the incumbent president, with the assistance and assistance of Ankara.
In 2012, the Syrian Turkmens create their own army, numbering more than 10 thousand people. The armed forces are deployed in several areas of Iraq and Syria. The militias are waging war against President Assad and ISIS. From reliable sources it is known that the training of the militants of their brigades was carried out by special forces instructors from the patron power.
Syrian Turkmen and Turkey
After the start of the civil war in Syria, the situation of the people in the country has deteriorated significantly. He found himself face to face with serious opponents: the army of Bashar al-Assad, radical ISIS fundamentalists and Kurdish groups. Ankara acted as a patron. Syrian Turkmen and Turkey - what is the connection? Representatives of this nationality living inSyria and Iraq are closely related to the people inhabiting Turkey, which agrees to support them in every possible way in exchange for the obligation to move in the wake of a policy that is beneficial to it.
It is clear that Ankara is concerned not so much with the problems of the people oppressed in Syria, but with its own interests - political and economic.
With the help of Turkmen detachments on the border, the necessary counterbalance to the Kurdish self-defense is being created. In addition, they are involved in providing smuggling interaction with ISIS. Political scientists do not rule out that Ankara seeks, having become the initiator of the strengthening of separatist sentiments among the Turkmens, to eventually include the Syrian lands where they live.
Posing itself as a defender of the oppressed people, Ankara covers planned incidents by protecting their interests.
Syrian issue
According to reliable information, Turkey is actively involved in the so-called Syrian issue.
One of the projects to destabilize the "enemy" organized by Ankara is the Syrian Turkmens. Who are the representatives of this third largest people in the country fighting for? How were they involved in someone else's game? What is in store for them in this game?
Ankara began to help its fellow tribesmen back in the 90s, when the Bayir-Budzhak Mutual Assistance Organization for the Oppressed was created.
In 2011, the "Syrian Turkmen Movement" is also created, the purpose of which is to call on the people to participate in the uprising against Assad.
Several bureaus are being set up in Turkish cities and on the border withfixed "areas of responsibility": the rebellion in Aleppo is led from the Gazantip office, the rebels in Latakia - from Yayladaga, the rebels in Al-Raqqa - from Akdzhal.
In addition, the "Syrian Democratic Turkmen Movement" controls the activities of the opposition in Syria. Among the planned measures of the organization are the release of the press in the native language, the creation of radio, schools. The goal of the activists is the Turkification of the northern lands of Syria, which in the future may allow them to demand separation, autonomy and the annexation of lands to a neighboring, "friendly" country.
Syrian Turkmens are creating their own army, actively interacting with rebel gangs. There are currently 14 paramilitary units. They are united in the “Brigade of the Turkmen Mountain”. The militants of Latakia are commanded by Muhammad Awad, in Aleppo the military commander of the rebels is Ali Basher.
Although paramilitary groups have been fighting government forces, Kurdish militia and ISIS since 2012, in August 2015 the leader of the Mejlis officially announced the need to form a Turkmen army in Syria. The army must protect the people from ethnic cleansing carried out by the enemy, expelling them from the inhabited cities. So the cleansing of the Syrian Turkmen by the Kurds in the city of Tell Abyad forced twenty thousand inhabitants to flee. Assad's troops also drove them out of Homs, Raki and other cities.
The size of the proposed armyestimated at 5,000 people. There are 1,000 members of opposition organizations. Most likely, the soldiers from the Turkish special forces should have been passed off as militias.
Turkish Gambit
I must say that the goals of the Syrian rebels and Ankara are somewhat different.
Firstly, the oppositionists do not accept Ankara's project, which provides for the federalization of the country. Interested intelligence agencies are forced to take into account that their wards prefer a "united Syria". Thus, in order to please the latter, Ankara undertook the creation of the “Syrian Turkmen Platform” project, at the founding conference of which the rebels were promised all kinds of support. Some Turkish businessmen have already joined the project, planning their further participation in the politics of the country liberated from Assad.
Secondly, the activities of the IS, against which the Turkmen groups are fighting, are beneficial for Ankara. In fact, by attacking a Russian plane in November 2015, Turkey supported ISIS. According to reliable data, its public funds and organizations provide significant assistance to IS. Ankara controls sections of the border that are strategically important for it, allowing the transit of oil from IS-controlled areas to Turkey, and from there to IS lands, the transit of goods, weapons and uniforms necessary for the militants is supported.
It is very important for Ankara to control the Turkmen population and keep them anti-government.
In fact, the people are hostages of Ankara's foreign policy aggression. With her filing, he became a participant in a bloody conflict.
Military strikes on the Syrian Turkmens by Assad troops, Kurds and IS lead to huge casu alties and an increase in the number of refugees among them. Ankara has certain political dividends in this situation.
By spreading rumors about the genocide of the Turkmen people, carried out by the Assad clan, allegedly in order to give fertile lands to the Alawites, their co-religionists, Ankara emphasizes its role as a defender of the oppressed kindred people. Thus, the government seeks to enlist the support of its own citizens in the confrontation with the ruling Syrian regime.
The new enemy, which the Syrian Turkmens got with the “light” filing of their neighbors, is Russia. And they have no choice but to fight with her.
What's next?
According to Reuters, from the beginning of the operation in Syria (September 2015) as part of assistance to President Assad until the tragic day of the death of a Russian pilot (November 24), Russia bombed Syrian Turkmen 17 times. According to a representative of the Russian military department, in the vicinity of the cities of Kesladshuk, Salma, Gmam, where the majority of the population are representatives of this people, the bases of the rebel formations are concentrated, which are fighting the incumbent president, and with the help of air strikes, it was possible to destroy the bunkers with stored ammunition, command posts, a factory, where shahid belts were produced.
According to journalists, the Russian bombing resulted in a significant number of civilian casu alties, thousands of families fled to the border.
24November Turkish Air Force under the pretext of border violations shot down a Russian SU-24. Representatives of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation deny the violation of the border. The bomber fell from her a few kilometers in Syria. From the ground, from the location of the Turkmen group, fire was opened on the ejected Russian pilots. The commander was killed, the navigator was rescued. As a result of a mortar attack from a Mi-8 helicopter, a contract marine was killed.
The next day after the incident, the President of the Russian Federation announced an operation against ISIS carried out by Russian bombers in Latakia (the place of concentration of gangs).
The President of Turkey said that only peaceful people live in this area and Ankara has an obligation to protect them.
According to Western journalists, after the incident, the bombardment of Syrian Turkmen by Russian aircraft became massive. According to witnesses, there has not been such an intensity of airstrikes since the beginning of the war. Russian aircraft in Latakia destroyed the positions of the Free Syrian Army and the housing of ordinary citizens.
The hostilities forced more than seven thousand people to leave their homes. According to the Anadolu agency, in search of quieter areas in the last days of November last year, more than two thousand representatives of the people fled to the south of the patron country.
