ANKARA
Regarding reports that Russian intelligence ordered the PKK terrorist organization to spread disinformation that Turkey had supplied the Syrian opposition with chemical weapons, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University (COMU) Rector Dr. Sedat Laciner said, “Russia, Iran and Assad's Syria see the PKK as among the most important tools for stopping Turkey in the region.”
A report in Haber Turk daily includes information on how Russian intelligence pressured the PKK terrorist organization and its political offshoot in Syria, the PYD, to spread false reports that Turkey supplied opposition forces fighting against the Assad regime with chemical weapons.
The report indicates that Turkish intelligence learned about the orders from Russia by listening to a phone conversation between an administrator of the PKK's Syria branch and another member in early September.
The fact that Russia does not consider the PKK as a terrorist organization reveals much about Moscow's point of view, Laciner told an AA correspondent.
"Since its establishment, the PKK and Russia have a close relationship. Whether in the time of military bases in Syria or arms transfers later, there have been various collaborations. Especially when armed movements in Chechnya increased, Russian sympathy for the PKK increased in Turkey. And now, Russia, Iran and Assad's Syria see the PKK as among the most important tools for stopping Turkey in the region,” Laciner explained.
Referring to the view that Turkey's role in Syria could be stopped if ethnic and sectarian problems in Turkey increase, Laciner added, "Therefore Iran and Russia are concerned over the possibility of the PKK withdrawing from Turkey, or a decrease in terrorism in Turkey. There were, and are, in efforts to reverse this process. Thus this claim [of Russian pressure] is not a remote possibility."
- "If something is deciphered, it can't be done again"
Reminding that Russia has long had connections with the PKK, Galatasaray Economic and Administrative Sciences Department Professor Dr. Beril Dedeoglu said, “There is no major reason today for us to say they have cut off connections. Even though we cannot say the entire PKK, part of the organization may be contributing to the execution of intelligence activities.”
Dedeoglu added, “Russian cooperation with the PYD is not an extraordinary situation. They are struggling against the Al Nusra Front. Such a tripartite mechanism is normal. But if there is such an intelligence cooperation to force Turkey out of the equation, once it is deciphered, it is very difficult to continue with it... If something has been deciphered, it cannot be done again. There will be efforts to try to prevent a crisis between the countries.”
englishnews@aa.com.tr
