Saudi, Iranian, Turkish experts "agree to disagree on ISIL approach"

WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (KUNA) -- Four months of US airstrikes in Iraq and two months of the same in Syria have yet to achieve the US Administration's goal of rolling back ISIL's grip on one third of the countries' landmass, if the terror group's videos, recruitment efforts, and shows of brutality are anything to go by.
At a Middle East Institute panel here on Thursday, political analysts from neighboring countries heavily invested in the Syrian conflict were asked how they would approach the containment of ISIL, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, if they had an audience with the US president.
"The unfinished job [of rebuilding] Iraq created ISIL," stressed Abdulaziz Sager, the Saudi Chairman of the Gulf Research Center. He pointed to the Kingdom's 2004 proposal for an Islamic peacekeeping force following the US war in Iraq, saying it should be revisited. But in Syria, the current US airstrikes should also be targeting President Bashar Assad regime's forces, which fuel ISIL, Sager indicated.
Former Iranian diplomat and Princeton University Professor Hossein Mousavian agreed that "Islamic forces, not Western forces" are needed on the ground, but suggested they come from a "regional coalition" that includes both Riyadh and Tehran. "The US is not popular in the Muslim world, we should not increase negativity," he said.
Cengiz Candar, a former presidential adviser in Turkey and columnist for the "Radikal" newspaper, responded that Kurds in Kobani cheer when they hear US jets fly overhead. "They shout 'long live Obama,'" he said, adding he would advise the US president to "start to contact the PKK" - the Kurdistan Workers' Party - which is listed as a terrorist group by both Washington and Ankara. "It is time" for outreach to the PKK to fight ISIL, because they are already mobilized to that effect, and are also evolving politically, Candar emphasized. Viewing both groups as "terrorist" is too much of a "simplistic approach," he added, indicating that ISIL is far more deeply-rooted, influential, and organized than such a label. While Candar admitted to "introducing an unconventional approach" to fighting ISIL, Mousavian continued to urge cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Iran to battle extremism, even though "it won't happen overnight," he said.
The Iranian professor said the region must have recognition and "understanding of sectarianism," otherwise extremist groups will always arise. However he also cited bad governance in the Middle East, "US-supported dictatorships, and foreign intervention, which lead to extremist ideologies." For his part, Sager said there can be no defeat of ISIL or the Assad regime without a major role played by Turkey, which would include hosting training programs for the moderate Syrian opposition, and also the implementation of a no-fly zone over Syria.
But Mousavian was quick to sideline the Turkish government because it has expressed support for Hamas, the Al-Nusra Front, and the Muslim Brotherhood, he said.
"The real power fighting ISIL in Syria is Assad and the security establishment," he stated. "We need to be realistic." "We need to secure the integrity of Syria [and] respect the rule of majority" by moving to a transitional government that will lead to an UN-supervised election, he said.
The Middle East Institute, a non-partisan policy research center, hosted the panel as part of its 68th Annual Conference, looking ahead to "The Middle East in 2015." (end) ys.rk