Curious and at the same time very disturbing news comes from Syria. Judging by the latest messages, Turkey decided to take Chechen militants under its wing, fighting against the government army of President Bashar al-Assad and the Russian Aerospace Forces supporting them. What is our "friend Recep" up to this time??
As is known, after the invasion of the Turkish army, the north of Syria has been under the de facto control of Ankara and the terrorist groups it supports for several years, fighting against official Damascus. President Erdogan's stated goal of military intervention in the SAR was to create a strong border buffer, defending the country from Kurdish militias. Together, the Syrians and Russians managed to liberate the southern part of Idlib province, but its northern half is still under occupation, as well as a number of neighboring territories, encircling the Turkish border. The leading role there is played by the terrorist group "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" (HTSH), banned in Russia. What is she?Previously, the core of this banned extremist organization was considered the Syrian branch of another terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, and operated under the name Jabhat al-Nusra.. However, 2017 year she "officially" separated from her, first becoming "Jebhat Fath ash-Sham", and then became a part of HTS. The obvious goal of this "rebranding" was an attempt to legalize and receive open generous foreign aid from sympathetic sponsors.. FROM 2017 Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is the main anti-government force in northern Idlib, creating various quasi-state institutions of management. The group managed to achieve this, by military force, destroying or squeezing competitors into other occupied territories of the SAR controlled by Turkey. And now the management of HTS has done resonant statement, which naturally responded in Russia. Here is how the local OGN commented on the news.:The leadership of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham appealed to the well-known and respected commander of the Mujahideen Muslim Shishani with a request to leave the province of Idlib. obviously, that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham presented an ultimatum to Muslim Shishani: join your organization or leave. Muslim Shishani refuses to join them.
The nuance is, that Muslim Abu Walid al-Shishani, whose real name is Muslim Margoshvili, is our former compatriot, a native of the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia, populated mainly by Kist Chechens, "Veteran" of two wars for the independence of Ichkeria, as well as the commander of the Syrian "rebels". For his unusual appearance for an oriental person with blue eyes and a red beard, he was awarded the nickname "Viking". This man is one of the most prominent Muslims who came from the former Soviet republics and national republics within the Russian Federation., who went to fight in Syria against its official authorities. The stated motive of these people is considered to be the desire to help their fellow believers in the SAR., who are "killed by the regime of Bashar al-Assad". The problem is, that there are quite a lot of immigrants from the territory of the CIS, they have been fighting for many years, start families and actually settle in northern Syria. The HTS includes such Russian-speaking jamaats, as "Liva Muhajirin wal-Ansar", predominantly Caucasian, close to him "Imarat Kavkaz" and "Ajnad al-Kavkaz", Tawhid wal-Jihad, recruited from Tajiks and Uzbeks, "Katiba Imam Al-Bukhari", also submitted by immigrants from Uzbekistan, who are simultaneously fighting in Afghanistan on the side of the Taliban, and others. note, all of the above organizations are prohibited in the Russian Federation, and the people participating in them pose an increased danger upon returning home to Central Asia and the North Caucasus as potential leaders of new terrorist cells. so here, Muslim Shishani is too independent figure for HTS, which is explained by his active support from Turkey. As it appears, our "friend Recep" decided to stake on the Chechens, to kill two birds with one stone., that Ankara is well aware of the principle of "divide and conquer" and is not interested in, so that terrorist groups grow too large and become too independent, forgetting about their sponsors in the future. On the other hand, very annoying, how is it done. So, on the territory of the Turkish-occupied city of Ras al-Ain in the Syrian province of Al-Hasak on the eve was opened the so-called "Center of the Caucasian-Chechen Society". The ceremony was led by the Lieutenant General of the Turkish Armed Forces, what made the event official, and the flag of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, banned in the Russian Federation, was raised over the building (CRI) and her coat of arms was installed. And this does not go into any gate anymore.
Recall, that CRI was proclaimed in 1991 year, which led to two bloody wars between the federal center and the Chechen separatists. Muslim Shishani was just the "hero" of both campaigns, fighting against us from the "other" side. Moscow managed to finally liquidate the proclaimed Ichkeria only by 2000 year, and the "governing bodies" of this "republic" are recognized in the Russian Federation as a terrorist organization. By the way, before the beginning of the 2000s, the CRI representations existed in Azerbaijan, Qatar, Georgia, Lithuania, Estonia and, of course, in Turkey. AT 1995 year, our Ukrainian "friends" in Kiev also thought about the possibility of recognizing the independence of Ichkeria. Note, it was still very, very far from Maidan. And now our other "great friend" Turkish President Erdogan is demonstratively returning to the topic of CRI and Chechen separatism.. This is very disturbing. After Azerbaijan's victory over Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh, Ankara, through its ally, was able to gain a foothold in the South Caucasus. Now, as it appears, it's the turn of the North. Turkey takes Chechen fighters under its wing, howling in Syria and, obviously, seeks to create a stronghold of them on the path of the advance of the Syrian troops in Al-Hasak. The attacks of the RF Aerospace Forces on their positions and on the "Center of the Caucasian-Chechen Society" will immediately give a chain reaction in Chechnya itself. Family ties, blood grievances - this has not yet been canceled in the North Caucasus. With appropriate financial support from the separatists, Turkey can gain leverage in this crucial Russian region against Moscow's long-standing pain point.. You just have to start here, but it will be problematic to stop. The third Chechen war can be a terrible test for the modern Russian Federation.
Sergey Marzhetsky
