‘Spirit of the times’ statement sparks debate within AKP

As steps toward normalization between Turkey and Syria are being taken, this process has drawn a reaction from former AKP MP Yasin Aktay.

Aktay stated that the steps to be taken with Syria would not yield a positive result. This article by Yasin Aktay has sparked a debate within the AKP.

Yasin Aktay's column is as follows:

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan recently made a statement regarding the possibility of President Erdoğan meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying, “The spirit of the times compels us to seek peace.”

The concept of the “spirit of the times” is, of course, an abstract one. It is also an area somewhat open to political hermeneutics. What does the spirit of the times really want us to do? It never has a side that kills politics or reduces options to one, but it can have a side that exerts pressure on it. This needs to be filled with very sound strategic intelligence and realistic assessments. Surrendering to certain developments and options exclusively because of the spirit of the times is, of course, incomprehensible. On the contrary, the concept also expresses the intelligent and measured evaluation of new opportunities that arise to deal with new threats brought about by changing conditions in the world.

It is very clear that the activities of Israel and the US in the region directly threaten Turkey. It is no secret that a significant part of Turkey is within the scope of the Zionist project's implementation, and that the effort to create a legionnaire army from the PKK-PYD has no other meaning than this.

The Zionist project threatens Turkey as much as it threatens Syria, and even primarily Syria, and conditions naturally require the countries of the region to take joint measures against this threat and to be in communication and cooperation regarding these measures.

However, the problem here is how much Assad really grasps and understands such a threat, or how much he cares. Is the US in Syria despite Assad?

The initial reactions Assad gave to Erdoğan's statements in this direction can be seen on one hand as a natural reaction to the 13 years of hostility that have passed, but on the other hand, it leads to the question of whether Assad, even if he wanted to, could provide what might be expected from such a normalization. Because in order to remain in power in his own country, he no longer has the ability to break the alliances he has built against his own people for 13 years and establish new ones in favor of Turkey, even if he wanted to.

In his statement to the cameras, as if enjoying the fact that the request for a meeting was announced to the public by Erdoğan for the first time, he immediately attempted to set conditions: First, the Turks will withdraw from Syrian territory and cut off the support they provide to terrorist groups.

Can Assad make such a call to the US, which has occupied his country partly on behalf of his supposed arch-enemy, Israel? Has he made any move so far to remove Israel from the Golan, which was occupied in 1967? He is taking advantage of the opportunity that fell into his lap to criticize the necessary operations Turkey has undertaken in Syria, forgetting his own irresponsible massacres and crimes against humanity that led to millions of people from his own country entering Turkey and created a security threat for Turkey at one point.

My personal opinion is that meetings with Assad will have no benefit. He can neither propose a solution that will make the return of Syrians in Turkey to their own countries possible, nor can he make a contribution that will eliminate the US-Israel-backed PKK terror threat against Turkey. It is a fact that the US has been turning a blind eye to the operations it has carried out against Turkey using the PKK so far, but this turning a blind eye must be understood well. In the situation Assad is in, he has no choice but to turn a blind eye to the US anyway. And he will not have one after this point either. In other words, Assad currently has neither the power nor the intention to change the situation within Syria.

He is not in a position to set a condition on this matter, but if he really has the intention for a beginning, he could start by leaving the control of Aleppo to an international force, for example the UN, so that his citizens in Turkey can return to their countries.