As Turkey’s Operation Olive Branch continues full speed ahead, the vision that Turkey produced regarding the purpose of the operation can be a lesson and warning for everybody who is making plans on Syria.
Turkey is strongly supporting and following the agreement reached in Sochi with Russia and Iran. The two most significant articles of this agreement are Syria’s territorial integrity and leaving Syria to the Syrians. The policy that the U.S. has produced regarding this is completely the opposite of the agreement of these three countries. It is clear that the U.S.’s plans regarding Syria lead to its division.
Foreign intervention in the region for the sake of fighting against terrorism, at the end of the day, leaves the region with the most violent terrorism environment and its results. In fact, when occupying Iraq, the U.S. mentioned its aim of “bringing democracy” rather than fighting against terrorism. The result is, that today, it has harvested terrorism from democracy that it planted which drives the region into further instability. “Planting democracy and harvesting terrorism,” planting the fight against this terrorism and harvesting mass-killings and chaos is the summary of the U.S’s adventure in the region.
However, Turkey has no other attempt than bringing order and stability to the region once again that was destroyed and dragged into chaos for the sake of fancy words such as “democracy” and the “fight against terrorism.” They destroy, Turkey reconstructs. With the Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkey clearly proved this. Liberated areas were rapidly reconstructed and 150,000 Syrians who had to leave before returned to their homes. Those who returned to their homes use the services provided by Turkey.
Turkey has no other purpose and pursuit in Afrin, either.
“The International Conference for Reconstruction of Iraq” held in Kuwait last week did not find too much place on the agenda in the shadow of these developments, but the summary of the conference obviously showed the striking view of Turkey’s distinction.
Iraq was occupied in 2003 on the grounds of having “weapons of mass destruction” which then turned out to be a huge lie. Even though the reason of the occupation turned out to be nothing, the U.S. did not hesitate to carry out the most horrible and inhumane acts of occupation in Iraq. As a result, Iraq experienced a period of destruction during which all the cities were destroyed, over one million people from all walks of life were murdered, and parties nurtured hatred and enmity against each other. As the first-degree responsible of this occupation, the U.S. left a devastated Iraq behind after it started to withdraw from the country in 2011 as an election promise of Obama.
Furthermore, as if that wasn’t enough, the intervention made under the pretext of fighting Daesh terrorism left saved cities like Mosul destroyed. Today it has been agreed on that Iraq, which was saved from Daesh and the occupation, should be reconstructed. We watch that those who are responsible for the destruction do not adopt the same pragmatism when it comes to taking responsibility of this reconstruction.
In the Conference for the Reconstruction of Iraq held in Kuwait, Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu pledged a credit worth $5 billion for the projects and investments that Turkish companies will carry out in Iraq. The way this credit will be used will both help reconstructing Iraq and bring dynamism to Turkey’s and Iraq’s economies, which will be a very significant step for stability.
At the same conference, Kuwait promised $2 billion, Saudi Arabia $1.5 billion, the UAE $500 million and the U.S. $3 billion. The fact that the U.S., which had spent hundreds of billions of dollars in destroying Iraq and earned more than that by confiscating Iraq’s assets, allocated only a project-based credit of $3 billion for the reconstruction of Iraq should be put on the record as a worthy lesson.
Considering the reasonable and intermediary role that Kuwait wants to play in the region, it is understandable why Kuwait hosted the Conference on the Reconstruction of Iraq. Kuwait, which was occupied by Iraq in 1990, is getting ready for mega-vision projects nowadays to play a far more central role in the region. In fact, the Project of the Silk City and Kuwait Islands which was mentioned a long time ago has been prominent in the country’s agenda recently.
A budget of $500 billion is estimated for the project, which is expected to turn Kuwait into a significant culture, trade, investment, technology, politics and life center in the region. The project, which comprises of developing a brand new city and nine islands, is expected to create a free trade and investment region connected to Kuwait.
The construction of the project presents a very significant development and growth vision for the region. The Turkish construction industry has a very positive impression in Kuwait. The performance showed in the construction of Kuwait Airport has left a very good impression and it creates an invitation for Turkish companies for the Silk City project. But as far as I can see, there has been nobody from Turkey showing much interest in this project so far.
In any case, however, Turkey needs to show its interest in this project, which will rapidly carry out a railway project, that will connect Turkey to Kuwait through Iraq.
In fact, such a railway project can be the most significant contribution that Turkey can make to Iraq’s reconstruction and it provides an important opportunity to connect Turkey to the Gulf economy more effectively.
