Aleppo resistance key to Syrian peace, Turkey says

ANKARA

The fall of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo to regime forces would shatter hopes for peace, the spokesman for Turkey’s president said Wednesday.

Writing in the English-language Daily Sabah newspaper, Ibrahim Kalin said: “The fall of Aleppo will be more than a matter of losing a city. It will be the crushing of the last hope of the Syrian people for peace, freedom and dignity.

“It will be handing the bloody Assad regime another cowardly victory. But more tragically, it will send a painful message to the people of Syria that they are left on their own.”

Although taking the city would be a “key gain” for Bashar al-Assad’s regime, it would deepen the humanitarian tragedy and “embolden the regime in the face of the indifference of the world toward the most cruel and brutal war in recent times,” Kalin said.

Aleppo has seen an escalation in attacks by regime forces and their allies over the last two weeks, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths.

Kalin said UN officials had agreed that the regime had “consistently” violated international agreements aimed at ending the conflict, such as December’s UN Security Council resolution and the Munich agreement in February.

“Now, the regime is concentrating its attacks on Aleppo,” he said. “It is targeting schools, bakeries, hospitals and roads with the aim of punishing civilians in opposition-held areas. This is a typical Russian tactic: Bomb not only the combatants but also their families, homes and towns so that they will give up fighting without actually firing a bullet.

“The opposition has stood up to this indiscriminate killing. But there are no more safe areas in and around the ancient city of Aleppo. Without any hope in sight, Aleppo is becoming another ghost city. Its near-total destruction is a tragic sign of the failure of the international community to save Syria and its people.”

Geneva talks

Kalin, who speaks on behalf of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also commented on the UN-sponsored Geneva talks.

“The UN diplomatic initiative led by the U.S. and Russia is manipulated to prolong the life of the Assad regime and secure the political calculation of its backers,” he said.

In the meantime, Daesh retains control of large parts of the country, Kalin added. “The politics of diversion and delay in the UN-led Geneva talks is helping this terrorist group recruit new members and expand its spheres of influence.”

While Assad remains in power and continues its “war of attrition under the guise of peace talks”, Daesh will remain an effective force in Syria, Kalin said.

“The two monsters of the Syrian war, i.e., the criminal Assad regime and the terrorist Daesh, feed off each other and share the crime of destroying Syria and its people.”

He added: “If the UN, U.S. and Russia are really serious about stopping this monstrosity, they have to first stop the Assad regime from undermining whatever is left of the hope to bring peace, security and prosperity to Syria.

“Talks in Geneva are of no meaning when barrel bombs and airstrikes burn and destroy everything in Aleppo.”

The full article can be seen at www.dailysabah.com/columns/ibrahim-kalin/2016/05/11/aleppo-burning