The Deaths Of Five Turkish Military Personnel Exacerbated Its Conflict With Syria

Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Photo: Twitter @RTErdogan)

JAKARTA - The Turkish Defense Ministry said five of his country's soldiers were killed by the Syrian attack. The soldiers were killed by Syrian gunfire while in Idlib. The fire was aimed at preventing clashes between the opposition and Russian-backed government forces. Apart from the Turkish army, three Syrian civilians were also victims of the attack.

The shooting prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to deliver a statement for the Russian side. For nine years, Turkey and Russia worked together to contain the bloodshed and have forged close defense ties in recent years.

However, Turkey and Russia are also "at odds" because Russia supports President Bashar al-Assad in the war in Syria while Turkey supports rebels aiming to overthrow Bashar al-Assad. Not only in Syria, Turkey and Russia are also fighting in Libya.

This attack, which killed Turkish military personnel, is the biggest challenge to Russian-Turkish relations. Since 2018 the two countries have made a deal to stem fighting in Syria's northwestern Idlib.

"There is no need for us to engage in serious conflict or contradiction with Russia at this stage. We will of course sit down and discuss everything. But not with anger. Because those who sit in anger wake up at a loss," Erdogan said. .

Quoted from Al Jazeera, Idlib is an area of the opposition forces dominated by Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham, a former Al-Qaeda affiliate. The troops made a final stand against government forces backed by Russian air power. Some of the anti-al Assad fighters are groups backed by Turkey.

Under an agreement reached with Russia in 2019, Turkey has 12 military observation posts scattered around Idlib, some of which have been destroyed by pro-al Assad forces.

The deaths of Turkish military personnel took place near Saraqib, a town located at the intersection of the M4 and M5 roads, where Turkey deployed additional troops at the end of last week.

Not standing still, Turkey responded to the attack with an attack that was claimed to have killed 13 Syrians. Turkey also claims to have "neutralized" more than 70 members of the al-Assad regime. The Syrian government has refused to provide a direct statement about the casualties.

Apart from protecting al Assad's rebel groups, Turkey is also worried about hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been displaced and have fled to the Turkish border to escape attacks in Syria. Turkey currently hosts some 3.6 million Syrians and the presence of such refugees is a controversial political issue.

Turkey-Syria conflict

It's no secret that Turkey and Syria have had a relationship that has not gotten along for a long time. It started with the Turkish side condemning the actions of Syrian President Bashar al Assad who carried out attacks on protesters to his government in 2011.

After that, Turkey's initial "only" condemnation developed into providing military assistance to the Free Syrian Army, which is anti-Assad's government. The Turkish military has also often fought against the Syrian military on the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turkey's operation in Syria is not only to help anti-government groups against President al Assad but also to fight the Islamic State jihadist group and Kurdish Army militias on the border. Turkey and the Kurdish group have been having problems since 1978.

In addition, Turkey also considers the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the People's Protection Unit (YPG) militias as terror groups bent on taking control of an autonomous region in Syria, even though they are major allies of the United States in the fight against ISIS. ISIS and other jihadist groups have become Turkey's main enemies because they have attacked Turkish sovereign territory.

Several times ISIS has launched suicides in Turkey. On October 10, 2015 Ankara, the capital of Turkey, was shocked by the explosion of two bombs outside a train station in Ankara. The explosion left 109 civilians dead. The attack has been described as the deadliest terror attack in Turkish history.

On March 19, 2016, a suicide bombing occurred in Beyoğlu district, Istanbul, in front of the local authority office. The attack left at least five people dead including the perpetrators. Later that year, ISIS militants attacked Istanbul Atatürk Airport with a suicide bombing. Before detonating himself, the perpetrators, amounting to 3 people, shot at the passengers. The attack left 45 people dead and 230 injured.

A strong Kurdish presence in Northeast Syria, close to the Turkish border is also the reason why Turkey is "plunging" into the Syrian conflict.

In 2019, US President Donald Trump withdrew troops from the region which would be a golden opportunity for Turkey to work out its plans. Turkey creates a buffer zone in Northern Syria and places 2 million Syrian refugees in the area.