Mr. Shehabi, Turkey’s president Erdogan is directly threatening Europe. Are you surprised?
Shehabi: I am not surprised, of course! Erdogan’s behavior is well expected by us Syrians because we were the first to suffer from his Ottoman ambitions. As you know, the Ottoman Empire expanded into our country Syria after sacking Aleppo and also expanded westward into Romania, Austria and Hungary. We defended our city Aleppo against his piracy and looting and against his terror mercenaries.
What are generally the Syrian experiences with Erdogan?
Shehabi: I called him “The Aleppo-thief”. And this title became his identified name because it is very realistic and most representative of his true nature. He robbed more than 30 000 factories, our grain, wheat, cotton, oil and most importantly our historical monuments. He also gathered, harbored, trained, armed and sent tens of thousands of jihadi terrorists via his borders into our main cities.
What do you expect from Ankara?
Shehabi: We just want Turkey to withdraw its invading forces from our land and implement international laws for preventing the flow of terrorists and their weapons into our sovereign country. We don’t have any problems with the Turkish people, but we have a big problem with Erdogan and his ruling Islamist gang, for they wrongly believe they are the only people who know God.
How do you see the negotiations between Europe and Turkey? How do you see the so-called refugee deals?
Shehabi: Erdogan will continue to abuse and manipulate the sufferings of the refugees he helped create. We hope the European Union stands firm against him and votes punitive measures against his outlawed government.
Can we say: Turkey creates refugees in Syria and later on blackmails Europe?
Shehabi: Here are the facts: Most of ISIS fighters came to Syria through Turkish airlines. Erdogan’s troops used to walk side by side with them in many border towns in Northern Syria. Erdogan also facilitated the creation of other Al-Qaeda offsprings such as Al-Nusra-Front and Ahrar Al-Sham and he still regards the latter a legitimate Syrian opposition group, even when the group itself admits to embrace the well known al-Qaeda agenda and ideology. Moreover, Erdogan built dozens of training camps for jihadi mercenaries to serve his agenda in Syria.
