Erdogan, who reshaped Turkish society to his liking, wanted to recreate his neighborhood as well, not work with his neighbors. He used religion, nationalism, and politics to pursue an agenda of supremacy driven by the same callous Darwinian capitalism that is at the root of most of the social and environmental illnesses. His refusal to do the decent thing and pick up the phone and say to his counterpart in the neighboring country that was devastated by the same deadly and destructive earthquake, inna lillahi wa-inna ilayhi raji`un, shows that he lacks the temperament of a leader who is supposed to represent the values of his society not his personal impulses and sectarian biases.
We say secterian bias because it is clear thzt Erdogan is willing to make peace with all former enemies, yet he resists making peace with the Syrian government and the only reason we see is because Assad is not a Sunni Muslim, he is seen by sectarian leader as a person who belongs to an inferior sect ruling over the majority-Sunni country. That is why only another sectarian nation-state, Qatar refuses to deal with the Syrian government, prompting a renouned journalist to write a public letter to the emir, we share it here because it highlights the same issues addressed in this editorial.
His Highness Sheikh “Tamim bin Hamad,” this is an open letter to public opinion and before God Almighty, from a crushed and overpowering Arab citizen to Your Highness. Perhaps you will hear these words emanating from a heart squeezed by grief and pain over a nation that is being written off from the map of influence, and is living in the worst stages of an era of deterioration.
Your Highness: Syria, which was hit by a devastating earthquake that left thousands of victims and tens of thousands of afflicted, displaced and wounded, is living the tragedy of the century, and its people are groaning under the weight of a double catastrophe after years of war and siege. Millions in Syria are below the poverty line, ravaged by poverty, hunger, destitution and cold.. Children, women, the elderly and decent families Mastoura has become homeless or breadwinner. You may be aware of this through reports that are supposed to reach you.
Many countries of the world, led by Arab and Islamic countries, have come to the aid and relief with the commendable capabilities they can, and the countries of Qatar have lagged behind in that. I know that you are helping our brothers in Turkey, and this is a humanitarian work that you bear witness to. And you help our brothers in northern Syria where the Syrian government has no control, and this is a blessed act, but excluding areas such as Aleppo, Latakia, Jableh and Hama because they are located in the areas of the Syrian government or the “regime” as you call it from relief, and withholding any sympathy for them or conveying their suffering, or even condolence with them . Allow me to say that this approach is wrong, and it harms the State of Qatar, its reputation and its future, more than it harms the Syrians at a painful but fleeting moment in the course of history.
The human tendency does not differentiate between one person and another on the basis of where he resides. Arab brotherhood, Arab blood, magnanimity, originality, and Arab honor necessitate transcendence over political differences and fear to save simple people, brothers, and human beings anywhere, regardless of the political dispute with the government or the difference in orientations. The State of Qatar must help the brothers and the Syrian people in Aleppo, Lattakia, Jableh and Hama, just like its donation to help the Syrian people in Idlib, Jandiris and other regions of the north.
If there is a political disagreement and a rift between you and the Syrian leadership, then let it not be, and no one will ask you to change your political orientations according to what you see as serving the interests of your country. But at the same time, there is no political dispute between the Syrian and Qatari peoples. It is a common sympathy and pain, and I am confident that your Qatari people are in pain for every Syrian and do not differentiate between those who sit in the open in Aleppo or those who sleep in the cold in Idlib. The entire Syrian people is afflicted and needs the embrace of its Arab brothers. Syria has always been the first to extend a helping hand to all Arabs in their tribulations and misfortunes, and it has never been stingy or hesitated for a single moment in offering even lives for Arab causes.
Your Highness: Perhaps you know or have heard about the gift of the Syrians in all cities, as well as the Arabs and Muslims in all countries, to defend Qatar in the face of bullying, racism and confusion practiced by Western countries during Qatar's hosting of the World Cup. They gave you love and sympathy, and this is more valuable than all the treasures and money of the earth. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian activists in Damascus, Homs, Aleppo and other cities did not say that there is a political dispute that necessitates refraining from defending our brothers who achieve a common achievement that raises the heads of all Arabs.
The Syrian people are a dear and dignified people, full of dignity, dignity and pride. A word of sympathy and consolation. Watching the Arab brothers flock to them and their planes landing in their country is more important to them than bread, medicine, housing and money.
I know this people very well, and I know that Syria, the homeland, will not be burned or drowned. This is Syria, the mother of every Arab. The homeland is for those who have no homeland. Syria is the holy land, the kind and warm people, and the civilization steeped in history. An earthquake, war, or disaster cannot erase it.
Your Highness, deafen your ear, even for a moment, to the voices of blind hatred, the voices that filled the space around you with calls to stop and cut aid to Syria in the most difficult disaster it is going through, and sayings that the Syrian regime benefits from the disaster and that aid saves the regime from the siege. The truth is that the children of Syria are languishing under the rubble and in the open.
These voices are now insulting to Qatar and to the image of its peaceful, loving and open people. Those voices that were stripped of humanity and blinded by hatred, blackness of the heart and sickness of the mind.
Deaf ears to the calls not to help the afflicted because they are in the “regime” areas. These are shameful and disgraceful calls, and hear the voice of the Arab blood that flows in your veins. Hear the voice of the facts that indicate that there are Arabs and non-Arabs. Come to the differences, renounce hatred and break the siege for the sake of Arab and human brotherhood, from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Jordan, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Mauritania, Libya, Lebanon, the Sultanate of Oman and Bahrain, while Qatar seems isolated, measuring its humanity with narrow political calculations. A victim from the opposition area, and this is a victim from the regime area.”
Your Highness the Emir: It is not too late, and the State of Qatar can suspend the political dispute, and rush now to Syria to offer a helping hand and assistance, or at least offer condolences for the victims, just like its Arab and Muslim brothers and the free countries of the world. Your blessed efforts to help in Turkey and northern Syria remain incomplete if they do not include assistance to all those affected by the earthquake, wherever they are or reside, and whatever the circumstances and differences. Your position is not permissible humanly, morally, legally and patriotic before God and the court of history and peoples.
One day, Arab brotherhood and one Arab blood will be victorious, so Your Highness contributed to making this day soon, and do not make sisterly Qatar a prisoner of a chorus of sick people who live on differences and are addicted to insults, grudges and provoking division.
This is the message of an Arab citizen who has no power or power and only possesses the word of truth and seeks nothing but God's approval.
Kamal Khalaf
Writer and Journalist
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