By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, August 30 -- When the foreign minister of Turkey, Ahmet Davutoglu, came to take questions after Thursday's Security Council meeting on Syria, he spoke of refugees and his invitation to the Council members to come and visit camps.
Inner City Press asked Davutoglu a more pointed question: what is Turkey's position on the reported autonomy of the Kurdish areas in northern Syria?
Davutoglu is a skilled diplomat -- he had just likened Turkey's position on Syria to Srbrenica in Bosnia and Halabja in Iraq -- but he made himself clear: his country opposes any declaration of sovereignty by these areas.Video here, from Minute 7:05.
He said that "Assad regime may try to use all instruments against political unity of Syrian people. For us, we see all Syrians... as one unity."
He emphasized, "We will be against any de facto declaration of sovereignty inside Syria" unless decided by an "elected parliament of New Syria." That seems a long way off.
Footnote: Turkey arrived, as it did during last September's UN General Debate, with a large delegation. Then, it resulted in a dust-up with UN Security, some of whose members are asking just how many extra passes Turkey gets.
Given the diplomacy, one thinks such confrontations can be avoided this late September. Watch this site.
