Syria: A litmus test for humanity

The comprehensive report titled “Syria Report: Insights, Proposals, and Solutions,” prepared in collaboration by the Cihannüma Association, the Human Rights and Freedoms (İHH) Humanitarian Relief Foundation, and the Digital Memory Association, was introduced to the public last Saturday at a well-attended event hosted by Istanbul Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University. The program began with an overview of the report by Prof. Dr. Abdülkadir Macit, Coordinator of the Cihannüma Theoretical Inquiries and Insights File, and featured addresses by Cihannüma Association President Selim Cerrah, İHH President Bülent Yıldırım, and Digital Memory Association President İzzet Şahin, who underscored the importance of the Syria issue for Türkiye and the contributions the study will offer to the field.

When my respected professor Prof. Dr. Abdülkadir Macit, with whom I have collaborated on many platforms, requested from me a text framed around “Syria: its past, present, and future” for the report, I set aside all my other work without delay and fulfilled my duty, given the importance of the subject. For Syria is not merely a neighboring country to us, but also a partner in a shared journey, a shared destiny, and a shared future. I believe the point emphasized in the famous hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)—“Jibril advised me so frequently about the rights of the neighbor that I thought the neighbor would be made an heir”—also holds true for the neighborhood of nations. Especially when that neighbor is a country like Syria, with whom we are intertwined as closely as flesh and nail…

Moreover, Syria is also a measure and—to use a common expression—a litmus test. Attentive readers will surely recall that I have written in this column before: I argue that whether a person possesses moral and conscientious standards should be measured by their stance on the Syria issue. For instance, the “sensitivity” displayed by those who whistled and looked the other way while a million Muslims were being killed in Syria holds no meaning for me when it comes to the Muslims in Palestine. And I always ask this question: “Is the blood of Syrian Muslims cheaper than that of Palestinian Muslims, that you supported the Baath regime to the end and remained silent about its actions?” I see the same ideological reflections in the statements of those who supported the Baath regime in Syria regarding the area now referred to as “Rojava.” I also believe that Baath apologists have no right to comment on the steps taken by the current administration in Syria’s new era. Likewise, I am of the opinion that the distortion by those who showed no reaction when the Baath regime did not even treat the Kurds in northern Syria as human beings, now framing certain steps taken to establish stability in Syria as “a war on the Kurds,” is nothing but ideological dishonesty. In short, Syria is a test of heart and humanity. You can see the copycats and the opportunists there very clearly.

In my section of the Syria Report, after describing the French mandate period that began after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, which fault lines France revived in Syria and Lebanon, the establishment and political trajectory of the Baath Party, some turning points in Hafez al-Assad’s Syria, and finally Bashar al-Assad’s era of power, I brought the discussion to the present:

“Beyond the current landscape of devastation, there are three hot crisis zones within Syria: 1) The Syrian Democratic Forces in the north, supported and invested in by the U.S. for years, 2) The Alawites in the western Coastal region under Iranian influence, 3) The Druze in the south, nurtured in every aspect by Israel and consistently used as a pawn to destabilize Syria. Due to the widespread support and backing found by the new administration under Ahmed Sharaa in the international arena, these fronts currently appear as ‘sleeper cells.’”

Since December 15, 2025, the date I submitted my text, critical and important developments for the well-being of the country have occurred in northern Syria. What is happening in the north is, of course, directly affecting the focal points in the west and the south as well.

The speed of transformation in Syria also helps me support an argument I frequently use when explaining the Islamic world, especially to young friends: “Do not lose hope; everything in the world can change in an instant. Look at Syria…”

With my wishes that the Syria Report brings many benefits to the stability of our dear neighbor Syria—and therefore to our own…