TURKISH TROOPS SHOULDN'T TAKE PART IN PEACEKEEPING FORCE IN
LEBANON
03-08-2006 16:10:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian
Publisher, The California Courier
In the past three weeks, hundreds of innocent men, women
and children have been killed and thousands injured on both
sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border. While the bulk of the
blame for the fighting falls on the warring parties, the United
States, as the only superpower, has its share of responsibility
in this bloody affair.
The disastrous situation in the Middle East is about to get
even worse, thanks to officials in Washington who have other
agendas than bringing peace to the region. David Ignatius
revealed in his July 21 article in the Washington Post that the
Bush administration was considering the deployment of a
multinational "stabilization force" in southern Lebanon,
composed of troops from Turkey and several other countries.
Unlike a traditional United Nations peacekeeping force, this
would be a robust peace-enforcement unit that would be ready to
shoot it out with Hezbollah fighters or anyone else in their
way.
The United States and Britain, with their forces bogged
down in Iraq and Afghanistan, and unwelcome in Lebanon due to
their tendentious approach to the Middle East conflict, are
looking for others to die in place of their own soldiers. The
Turkish Daily News quoted a Washington analyst stating that
sending Turkish troops to Lebanon "involves a major risk of
serious casualties while doing somebody else?s work."
Turkish leaders, on the other hand, despite the obvious
dangers posed by such an engagement, are eager to send thousands
of their soldiers to the South of Lebanon, not to bring peace,
but to extend their country?s influence far beyond their
borders. Turks know that, up until a century ago, most
neighboring countries were a part of the Ottoman Empire.
Unfortunately for the Turks and their Washington cohorts, the
population of these countries also remembers that infamous
Empire, but not so fondly. In addition to Armenians, the
ancestors of the inhabitants of today?s Lebanon, be they
Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians or Kurds suffered untold
deprivations and outright massacres under the repressive Ottoman
regime.
Of particular concern is the appearance of Turkish troops
in a country with a sizable Armenian population, the direct
descendants of the 1.5 million Armenians massacred and expelled
during the 1915 Genocide. In the 1970?s and 80?s there were
scores of attacks by young Lebanese Armenians against Turkish
diplomats in Lebanon and elsewhere. Bringing thousands of
Turkish troops in the proximity of a large Armenian community
for the first time since 1915 contains all the ingredients of a
bloody clash in the making. In the process of trying to quell
one conflict, the Bush administration is sowing the seeds of
future new confrontations.
In addition, most Arabs do not look too kindly at the
strategic alliance between Israel and Turkey. These two
countries along with the United States conduct periodic joint
military exercises.
Another complicating factor is that the Turkish soldiers
and people in southern Lebanon belong to two different, often
rival Islamic sects. The Turks are Sunni, while the Hezbollah
fighters and their followers are Shia.
Fortunately, not everyone in Turkey is as eager as Prime
Minister Recep Tayyýp Erdogan to send Turkish soldiers to
southern Lebanon. Several opposition leaders were quoted as
saying that Turkey should not enter ?such a swamp.?
An international force is probably necessary to maintain
the peace on the Lebanese-Israeli border, but does it have to
include a Turkish contingent? There are plenty of other
countries that could send troops to Lebanon without risking a
confrontation with the local population. If the United States
and Israel are so enamored with Turkish soldiers, they can
station them on the Israeli, rather than the Lebanese side of
the border!
As there are several Armenians in the Lebanese cabinet and
parliament, they should ask their government to reject the
participation of Turkish troops in the proposed multinational
force. Such a force cannot be sent without the approval of the
Lebanese authorities. When Turkey offered to contribute troops
to the coalition in Iraq, the Iraqi government, despite pressure
from Washington, refused to accept them, in order to avoid
clashes between Turkish soldiers and Iraqi Kurds.
It is simply unacceptable that in the pursuit of their
political agendas, the neo-cons in Washington encourage sending
Turkish troops to Lebanon. The international community should
not allow such irresponsible action that would perpetuate the
conflict in the Middle East rather than bring peace and
stability to the region.