A last warning from Demirtas against Turkish incursion into north Syria

Selahattin Demirtas, the jailed former co-chair of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), wrote on the Turkish administration's preparations for a military campaign in north Syria.

Indicating that the ruling alliance of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is collapsing, he said that the alliance would try to survive by creating a nationalist sentiment in the context of a military campaign.

In his article published on Medyascope on Tuesday, Demirtas added that everyone expressing opposition against such a campaign will likely be accused by the administration of "supporting terrorists."

He went on to say:

"I believe many people are aware of the bloody game. We will see who will manage to avoid being manipulated into following the warmongers and have a say in Turkey's future."

Citing the Turkish Republic's founder Ataturk's words that "War is murder if it's not inevitable," he continued:

"If Turkey has been faced with a real threat, a serious attack, and if these cannot be prevented through diplomatic means, it undoubtedly has the right to defend itself. But this is not the case in Syria. The AKP administration carries on a war in Syria not to defend Turkey, but to assert its dominance over the will of the Syrian peoples, particularly the Kurds.

"The AKP administration has played a great part in the escalation of the Syrian civil war. Right from the beginning it conducted a proxy war by means of radical groups it supported and armed, and aggravated the situation, instead of having diplomatic talks with the Damascus administration and the Kurds. It labeled one 'Assad the murderer', and the other 'terrorist', although neither Damascus nor the Kurds posed a threat to Turkey. It recognized neither, and closed all channels of dialogue with them.

"Some may say, 'There's no way that a great country like Turkey will hold talks with a murderer and a terrorist.' This would be only funny, because we can ask them in return, 'Did Turkey hold talks with the Saudi crown prince because he is an angel? Did you hold talks with the prince of the United Arab Emirates because he had a bath in holy water before he came? What about holding talks with Israel? What about talks with the Taliban? What about your preparations to meet with 'Sisi the coup leader' in Egypt?

"So all the states and armed groups in the world are as clean as a whistle, and when it comes to Kurds and Damascus they are 'terrorist' and 'murderer', are they? Haven't you recently embraced and kissed Putin who is responsible for killing 34 [Turkish] soldiers in Idlib?

"Nobody must take seriously those who try to present a military campaign to be launched for an election win -while there is no reason for war and for an illegitimate occupation- as 'homeland defense.' This can only be an election campaign, not homeland defense."

Demirtas concluded:

"It looks like the countdown for a military campaign in Syria began. The consequences of dragging Turkey into such an unpredictable adventure will be grave, when everyone including the international community and regional powers are against it, and while the domestic economic crisis is turning into a total collapse."