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U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone with former CIA Director Leon Panetta in Ankara in 2011 Photo
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone with former CIA Director Leon Panetta in Ankara in 2011 Photo
The Turkish authorities thought they could work with extremist Islamist groups in the Syrian civil war and at the same time push them to become more moderate, Francis Ricciardone, who was until late June the US ambassador to Ankara, told journalists in a briefing.
That led them to work with Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's branch, as well as hardline Salafi Islamist groups like Ahrar al-Sham. Mr Ricciardone said that he tried to persuade the Turkish government to close its borders to the groups, but to no avail.
Comment: Captured ISIL militant says Turkey territory used by terrorists as the main route into Syria
"We ultimately had no choice but to agree to disagree," he said. "The Turks frankly worked with groups for a period, including al Nusra, whom we finally designated as we're not willing to work with."
Turkey allowed its borders to be used as a conduit for aid, weapons and volunteers heading for the Syrian rebel cause from the start of the uprising, and there have long been accusations that it did not do enough to distinguish between "moderate" groups and extremists.
Comment: Is Turkey breaking away from the US? Or is it just for show? They won't allow their airbases to be used and they won't take part in the "fight" against ISIL. Whatever the case, the US ambassador neglected to mention that US is the main sponsor of these terrorists groups, having funded them directly, or indirectly via their proxy regimes (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar etc.) He also makes the distinction between moderate and extreme rebels which is non-existent, but is only a PR ploy to deceive the public and keep doing more of the same - namely funding, training and arming these groups.