From Asli: I
wanted to signal you a couple of points in two articles in the Turkish press
today, maybe you'll find some interesting points to post.
The
first is in the liberal Taraf. The journalist has interviewed some "rebels" in a
public hospital in the border town of Urfa. There's especialy a phrase that I
adored. A guy with a uniform of "Syrian Islamique liberation Front" responds to
the question of if they receive arms from Turkey as: "very little, like serum...
The nicest arms come from the French and the Saudis, G3 and so forth.."
The
second is in the leftist Birgün, and includes some interviews with doctors in
Hatay, once where the "headquerters of FSA" was. There are very interesting
things, like the telephones from high ranks saying "x is very important", or the
President of a University who calls to say "oh, that one, send him to my
hospital", etc.. But I found very stunning a conversation of a doctor with a
Syrian: "I told him to come back the next day, he told me that the next day he
was going to Syria but that he can come one day after. When I asked him how he
would get to Syria and then come back, he smiled 'the border is open for us, we
don't have much trouble here".
A
point that I found "funny" in the article was the doctors' testimony that, since
Syrians were treated off charge, some Arab locals tried to pass in the hospitals
as Syrian! You know, we, the Turks are always very proud of our hospitality. But
I never knew that it was up to the point to privilege the "guests" over Turkish
citizens! "
