Turkey's former Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis told Today's Zaman, in an exclusive interview published on Friday, that Turkey could potentially lose some of its own territory if it goes ahead and intervenes militarily in northern Syria.
If Turkey, Yakis says, intervenes along the 60-mile-long Jarablus-Azaz line in northwestern Syria to stop the Russians and/or the Syrian Kurds from closing off that border to groups it supports in Syria it could in turn lose the Hatay Province.
"The world would not accept such interference [by Turkey in Syria]. It would now allow the border to be redrawn unilaterally. What's more, if the Turkish military faced defeat, Syria might reintroduce the claim that Hatay belongs to Syria," Yakis explained.
Hatay was annexed by Turkey from Syria in 1939 after the province opted for independence from Damsacus. Syria has never accepted this but never forcefully challenged Turkey on it for various reasons. This might change if Turkey intervenes militarily.
Yakis added that Russia has been itching for a chance to punish Turkey for the Turkish shooting down of the Russian Su-24 warplane last November 24 after that warplane had briefly overflown Hatay for 17 seconds.
"It is guaranteed that Russia will be the main actor in shaping the future of Syria," he said.
He also pointed out that if Turkey initiated a clash in Syria it could not invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which deems an attack on one member an attack on the alliance.
He went on to add that, "Just as with the [Turkish] intervention in Cyprus, the US may leave Turkey alone," he warned. Additionally, he reasons, the Arab states may oppose a Turkish military intervention in Syria (despite whatever they think of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) as they did in Iraq where the Arab League condemned Turkey's authorized deployment of troops to Camp Bashiqa near Mosul last December.
If Turkey, Yakis says, intervenes along the 60-mile-long Jarablus-Azaz line in northwestern Syria to stop the Russians and/or the Syrian Kurds from closing off that border to groups it supports in Syria it could in turn lose the Hatay Province.
"The world would not accept such interference [by Turkey in Syria]. It would now allow the border to be redrawn unilaterally. What's more, if the Turkish military faced defeat, Syria might reintroduce the claim that Hatay belongs to Syria," Yakis explained.
Hatay was annexed by Turkey from Syria in 1939 after the province opted for independence from Damsacus. Syria has never accepted this but never forcefully challenged Turkey on it for various reasons. This might change if Turkey intervenes militarily.
Yakis added that Russia has been itching for a chance to punish Turkey for the Turkish shooting down of the Russian Su-24 warplane last November 24 after that warplane had briefly overflown Hatay for 17 seconds.
"It is guaranteed that Russia will be the main actor in shaping the future of Syria," he said.
He also pointed out that if Turkey initiated a clash in Syria it could not invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which deems an attack on one member an attack on the alliance.
He went on to add that, "Just as with the [Turkish] intervention in Cyprus, the US may leave Turkey alone," he warned. Additionally, he reasons, the Arab states may oppose a Turkish military intervention in Syria (despite whatever they think of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) as they did in Iraq where the Arab League condemned Turkey's authorized deployment of troops to Camp Bashiqa near Mosul last December.
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