Some more thoughts on the leaked tape from a meeting in the Turkish foreign ministry which is only very selectively reported in “western” media. A video with recorded voices and English text is available as is the seemingly complete text in two parts.
The setting of the recording is this:
The voices of the illegal recording believed to belong to Davutoğlu, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Hakan Fidan, Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, and Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Gürel. According to the information obtained from sources, the recording consists of a chat between four officials in Davutoğlu’s office before the commencement of the official meeting with the participation of more civil and military bureaucrats in another room at the Foreign Ministry.
It is not clear when exactly the meeting happened. It would fit the situation late last year or early 2014.
The major points from my view:
- Turkey has delivered 2,000 trucks of weapons and ammunition to the insurgents in Syria.
- There are plans for false flag attacks on Turkey or Turkish property to justify an attack from Turkey on Syria.
- The Turkish military has great concerns going into and fighting Syria.
- The general atmosphere between these deciders is one of indecisiveness. Everyone seems to be unclear what Erdogan wants and is waiting for clear orders from above.
- U.S. military has shortly before the meeting presented fresh plans for a no-fly one over Syria.
Then there is the fact in itself that this tape and others leaked. Internal government communication in Turkey and personal communication of Turkish official has been thoroughly compromised. This will hinder future decision making and will erode any trust Turkish government allies may have in it.
It is somewhat astonishing how “western” media avoid the content of the leaked tape. An AP report on it makes a lot of the youtube blocking the Turkish government ordered in reaction to the tape. Of the recording itself the AP only mentions this:
The four are allegedly heard discussing a military intervention in neighboring Syria, a sensitive political issue in Turkey, although the context of the conversation is not clear.
The Washington Post filed that AP report under Technology. This is an incredible disservice to its readers.
The Guardian report based on Reuters is not any better:
The move by the TIB came hours after an anonymous YouTube account posted a leaked audio recording allegedly of a confidential conversation between Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu, undersecretary of the foreign ministry Feridun Sinirlioglu and deputy chief of the general staff, Yasar Gürel, discussing possible military action in Syria.
There is no mentioning at all of the false flag attack. The Wall Street Journal comes somewhat nearer to the truth:
… a leaked recording published anonymously on the platform puported to reveal a conversation in which Turkey’s foreign minister, spy chief and a top general appear to discuss how to create a pretext for a possible Turkish attack within Syria.
For once kudos to the NYT which at least touches one point but leaves out the other important ones:
… the officials were heard discussing a plot to establish a justification for military strikes in Syria. One option that is said to have been discussed was orchestrating an attack on the Tomb of Suleyman Shah …
German media did not do any better.
A NATO ally is planning a false flag attack on its own territory which would implicate NATO Article 5 and other NATO countries’ forces and the media do not even touch the issue? This is ludicrous.
Related to the Syria issue is another thinly sourced trial balloon, the tenth or so, by the unofficial CIA spokesperson David Ignatius in the Washington Post:
The Obama administration, stung by reversals in Ukraine and Syria, appears to have decided to expand its covert program of training and assistance for the Syrian opposition, deepening U.S. involvement in that brutal and stalemated civil war.
…
Details of the plan were still being debated Thursday, but its likely outlines were described by knowledgeable officials: …
It follows the list of issues that have been discussed on and on over the last three years, more CIA training for insurgents in Jordan, more weapons, maybe some MANPADs. Ignatius source is here seems to be the CIA friends in the Syrian opposition:
The expanded program would “send a clear message to the Assad regime that there is no military solution to the struggle,” according to a March memo to the White House from the opposition. Assad “has no incentive to talk” now, the memo argued, because he thinks he is winning.The rationale, bluntly stated, is that to reach an eventual diplomatic settlement in Syria, it is necessary now to escalate the conflict militarily. This has been a hard pill for Obama to swallow, but prodded by the Saudis, he seems to have reached that point.
There are so many caveats in here – “appears to have decided”, 2still being debated”, “seems to have reached that point” – that I do not believe a word of it. The loudly announced, by Ignatius and others, attack on south Syria has yet to appear and the halfhearted attack by the Turkish supported Jihadists in the north seems to be stuck.
I do not anticipate any bigger action by Turkey or the U.S. especially as the such action right now would likely lead to harsher reaction by Russia.
