The dust has yet to settle from the failed coup in Turkey which occurred two weekends ago. But it is a fair bet that the Turkey which emerges will be more Islamist, more authoritarian, less democratic. This is more bad news for Syria’s beleaguered Christians.
If there is good news resulting from the aftermath of the Turkish coup, it is that the United States can no longer maintain the fantasy that we and Turkey share fundamental interests with regard to the Middle East, and in particular Syria. The Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan has long fancied himself the new caliph of the Muslim world – witness his 1,100 room “White Palace,” fit for an emperor. He was an instigator of the campaign to overthrow Syrian president Bashar Assad in favor of an Islamist Sunni regime. He even once thought he could do business with the Islamic State, a stunning miscalculation. It was never Erdogan’s intention that post-Assad Syria be hospitable to the two million Christians who once resided there – any more than he intends Turkey to be hospitable to its Christian population.
Since we can now see clearly that the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar will not be collaborating in the creation and management of a liberal and pluralistic Middle East, America’s last opportunity to do good in that region is to protect the remaining Christians and other religious minorities, insuring that they are able to live in peace as equal citizens of their nations – and to prevent ethnic cleansing and other acts of genocide, such as occurred on the Nineveh plain of Iraq. Let this be the honorable legacy of our otherwise hapless policy in Syria. Help the Christians suffering in Syria by contributing to their cause here
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