What do you make of Israel's claim that its actions in Syria are for security and Druze protection? Cengiz Firat, former Turkish Ambassador, shares his thoughts. #Israel #Syria
00:00Ambassador Firat, I'm curious as to what you make of what's been said on both sides, particularly given we know that Turkey itself likes to maintain its border security with Syria.
00:13It's conducted operations along its border. It's pushing for a buffer zone to enhance its own security.
00:19So what do you make of what Sarah is saying, that this is a security operation for Israel?
00:24And I would add that our Turkish forces inside Syria are in much bigger buffer zone than the one we are talking about on the Israeli border.
00:31Thank you very much for the comments on behalf of Turkey, but let me speak if you wish.
00:37Now, concerning all the recent events, I think we have to take a step back and have a look at what's happening in Syria itself.
00:45Well, after Bashar al-Assad's regime was toppled, we all in the region, maybe with the exception of some, have come to the conclusion that we need a stable Syria.
00:58And for that, I think everybody's in unison.
01:02Most of the players, even Iran, is silent on this issue at the moment.
01:07And we've all discussed this on many occasions and many fora, et cetera.
01:13And we wanted to give Shara a chance.
01:17What's happened with the Alawite minority, what's happened between the Bedouin tribes and the Druze, et cetera, these are things that have happened before and will probably happen again.
01:29Syria is a very heavily armed place.
01:32Every single family has arms.
01:35Every tribe is armed.
01:37We have different sections.
01:40We are of different ethnic groups, et cetera.
01:42The reality on the ground is that countries such as Turkey and Arab countries and the U.S., as Mr. Barack has stated, the U.S. ambassador in Ankara and also the representative for Syria,
01:58we all want Shara's government to succeed in bringing together a stable Syria, whereby they can go forward with a constitution, an intact Syria.
02:14But this Syria, if you look at it from a point of view of military action, is no threat to Israel.
02:21There's no threat to Israel.
02:22So what Israel is doing now is excessive.
02:26Protecting the Druze is something else.
02:28Going and bombing Damascus is something else.
