US, Turkey support for terrorism undermining Syria ceasefire: Pundit

Press TV has conducted an interview with Boris Malagurski, a political analyst and documentary maker from Belgrade, on the role of regional and international players in implementing a ceasefire in Syria.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: We’re looking at what Iran’s foreign minister has said in terms of a ceasefire that being his focus. I would think that this is a message that should also go out to Turkey who’s shelling the YPG Kurds in Syria and of course the border still ... terrorists to go in and out of it. Don’t you think that Turkey needs to comply first for a ceasefire to truly have it be effective?

Malagurski: Absolutely, there’s been a lot of talk about a ceasefire. Let me just clarify it; a ceasefire between two countries. Here we have a group of extremists, terrorizing and killing people in Iraq, Syria and other countries, and in Syria, the legitimate Syrian army led by President Bashar al-Assad is trying to eliminate the terrorists and reinstate stability in the country.

Turkey is definitely undermining this. Bashar al-Assad has said that he supports the stopping of the military operations only if it does not help the terrorists and this means that the battle against ISIS (Daesh), al-Nusra and other terrorist groups belonging to al-Qaeda needs to continue.

It’s very troubling that a staggering 80 countries support terrorists in Syria, some of them directly with financial aid, logistical support, armaments, recruitments in various political forms.

And stopping of military operations mean preventing these kind of preventing Turkey specifically and other countries from sending more terrorists, more equipment, logistical support, arms and mercenaries. Definitely, Turkey needs to stop meddling in Syria’s affairs.

Press TV: We got some contradictory statements coming from the US Secretary of State John Kerry. He has said that with Russia they have come out with a complete list for a ceasefire to go into effect, but then he said he doesn’t think that’s going to change anything on the ground. That doesn’t quite make sense.

Malagurski: It doesn’t make sense. One of things that the United States does is contradictory. They say that they support the war against terrorism, but in Syria they do support terror groups when they are fighting against Bashar al-Assad.

I think the Syrian army is doing a terrific job at curbing terrorism and attacking the links between Turkey and the terrorists in Aleppo. The Syrian army has already made the relation between Turkey and the terrorists more difficult, which made Turkey shell the Kurds and threaten sending Turkish ground troops into Syria.

So, I think the United States needs to decide whether they want to fight against terrorism and stop the civil war in Syria whether they want to play a double game and just simply support their interests in the region, which are against stability in Syria.

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