CÜNEYT ÜLSEVER

Hurriyet Daily News

I think the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu analysis, Turkish foreign policy dreams, the “brother” Azeri President İlham Aliyev’s disliking Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, how our friend Italy turns skeptic about our European Union membership bid or the other foreign policy issues of Turkey which all have been released by WikiLeaks could be interpreted under the banner, “This is trivial.”

In light the leaks, the issue could be slid over by saying: “Turkey-U.S. relations were already limping. There is nothing new.”

However, the following excerpts posted on the Odatv website are hard to gulp down.

They are just allegations. However, let’s not forget that they’re allegedly from the ambassadors of an ally country. They were appointed to Turkey by U.S. presidents and they are behind these claims.

As for the allegations:

-Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül allegedly told U.S. diplomats about Davutoğlu, “He is dangerous.”

-In a document titled “Insight view” about Erdoğan and sent to the U.S. on July 26, 2007 by the U.S. ambassador of the period, the informer is a person who is close to the prime minister (perhaps his right-hand man). But the U.S. ambassador keeps his/her name secret.

-According to another document sent to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara on June 8, 2005, today’s Education Minister Nimet Çubukçu was appointed to her office for having good relations with Mrs. Emine Erdoğan and that is based on a conversation between the U.S. Embassy political affairs undersecretary and Şaban Dişli (former official of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the co-founder of the party) on June 7.

And of course, there are the dead serious claims:

According to another document sent by the U.S. Embassy to the U.S. on Sept. 15, 2008, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek talked to a group of investors in London and told them to sell their shares in the Doğan Media Group of Turkey because the company would be gone in the near future. In the document, it’s said that a little later Erdoğan slammed the Doğan Media Group and caused an 8 percent loss in the value of the company’s shares.

-Former Interior Minister Abdülkadir Aksu, under Erdoğan’s directives, pushed former Police Director Hanefi Avcı aside. Avcı had begun to pull public attention by claims of corruption about the very heart of the AKP… (on the other side), Aksu’s taking side with Kurds, his involvement in possible heroin trafficking and his son’s being a mafia member weakened Aksu’s position in the Cabinet in that period.

-Verified by two different sources on Dec. 23, 2004, Erdoğan allegedly has eight different bank accounts in Swiss banks.

-Again according to a “top secret” file by the U.S. State Department, several Turkish firms sell guns, bombs and bullets to Iran and buy plastic explosives in exchange. The names of the companies are clearly written in the document.

-In a document dated Feb. 23, 2010, the Balyoz case (Sledgehammer case) is assessed. U.S. Ambassador to Ankara James Jeffrey allegedly said that Erdoğan played the military card in order to win the elections and for this reason the Sledgehammer case has emerged as a political move. Jeffrey allegedly went on to say that this is mainly a political move but it rather hits below the belt. He believes the detention waves are thuggish.

Some parts of these allegations were previously published in the Turkish press. And some point out how the AKP pot is boiling.

However, the inclusion of these allegations in the crypto sent to U.S. is dead serious and interesting.

I think these allegations will give a more serious headache than a Turkish foreign policy assessment made through WikiLeaks.