IRGC Adviser: Iraq, Syria Crisis to Harm Turkey
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) adviser urged Turkey to correct its behavior vis-à-vis the crisis in Iraq and Syria.
Brigadier General Yadollah Javani told the Tasnim News Agency that if Ankara fails to rectify its behaviors, the crisis in Syria and Iraq will undoubtedly bring harm to Turkey, too.
He criticized Turkey’s conduct with regards to the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other terrorist groups, saying that evidence shows that Ankara has been among the main supporters of ISIL terrorists in Syria.
“Turkey has played a major role in equipping the ISIL terrorist group (with arms),” General Javani stated.
“We were hoping that the country’s new government would reconsider its previous wrong policies,” he said, adding that, instead, the Turkish government has recently asked for parliament authorization to invade neighboring countries under the pretext of fighting ISIL.
The senior IRGC adviser regretted that Turkish officials have failed to have an accurate understanding of world developments and that their actions not only do not lead to national and global security but could endanger Turkey’s internal security in the not so distant future.
Turkey’s parliament on Thursday authorized the government to carry out cross-border military operations in Iraq and Syria purportedly to fight ISIL and other armed groups.
The vote also allows foreign soldiers to be stationed in Turkey and to use its military bases for the same purposes with no limit on the troop numbers.
Elsewhere in his remarks, General Javani referred to the US-led anti-ISIL coalition and said the countries that have joined the coalition are expected to try to destroy ISIL not make it easier for the terrorist group to carry on with destruction.
Since September 22, the US and its allies, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Jordan, have been conducting airstrikes against the ISIL inside Syria without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate.
This is while the US and some of its Western and regional allies have been supporting the militants operating to topple the government in Syria since March 2011.