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Syrian crisis moving slowly into Turkey: Commentator

Thursday, 18 February 2016 8:41 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 18 February 2016 8:40 AM ]

A police officer gestures as he walks at the site of an explosion while firefighters try to extinguish flames after an attack targeted a convoy of military service vehicles in Ankara on February 17, 2016. (AFP photo)

Press TV has interviewed Naseer al-Omari, a writer and political commentator in New York, to discuss a deadly explosion in the Turkish capital, Ankara, which claimed the lives of 28 people and wounded over 60 others.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you feel about what has happened in Ankara?

Omari: Well this is a very dangerous escalation. The convoy that was targeted is military which means there is planning. It happened near government offices so this is very dangerous and I believe that there will be a response to this and I am afraid that the Syrian crisis is moving slowly into Turkey and probably beyond unless something is done about this ongoing Syrian catastrophe.

Press TV: It seems though that the Turkish government is still obsessed with the likes of the PKK and Kurdish fighters even within Syria who are in fact fighting the likes of Daesh. How does that all play into this, do you think?

Omari: Well I think Turkey is being dragged slowly into a very dangerous situation and now it finds itself fighting its own ally - the United States - which is supporting Kurdish militias in their fight against ISIS (Daesh). There has to be a political solution to this crisis and all the parties have to find a new way of looking at the Syrian crisis because slowly it is moving into Turkey and before you know it Europe itself will start to face its own problems as a result of the refugees and all other problems that are traveling slowly from Syria north into Turkey and Europe.

Press TV: So do you think that we should expect any change in Turkish policies towards the Syrian crisis?

Omari: Unfortunately, any change that we will see will not be moving in the right direction. I believe that we will see probably military action in northern Syria to prevent the Kurdish militias from establishing foothold and that will create more problems with other fighting factions in northern Syria and probably with the Syrian regime itself and Russia. This is a crisis that is unfolding and I believe everybody is going about it, about solving it, the wrong way.

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