Turkish Forum

Category: World

  • TURKEY’S DEAD MAN TALKING

    TURKEY’S DEAD MAN TALKING

    erdogan_angry

    It is a tale
    Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
    Signifying nothing.

     MACBETH, William Shakespeare

     

    A month ago I wrote that Turkey’s relentless prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was either heading for a psychotic break or an incident or statement so damaging to the nation that he would be forced to resign. If incessant lying in the face of overwhelming, documented truth, if using incredibly inflammatory, divisive  language in public discourse, if impugning the motives of all who disagree with his bestial domestic policy towards peaceful protesters including nations, international organizations, NATO, the European Union, and non-governmental organizations to name but a few, if repeated gassing and beating of unarmed, peaceful protesters, if sanctioning and encouraging police (and personal private thug) violence on the level of Pinochet’s Chile and Hitler’s Third Reich, if state-supported murder is glorified as self-defense, if he, the nominal leader of Turkey, stands shamed and defamed before the eyes of the world (except for America) then he (or even a relatively normal egomaniac) would have left long ago. But he’s still here. And for the right reasons, I was wrong. My excuse? This prime minister is not a normal egomaniac, nor is he a normal or even abnormal megalomaniac. He’s a dead man talking. And talking. And talking. And talking. Gibbering nonsense allegations and conspiracy rubbish. Sex and beer in the mosques. Foreign meddlers. Interest rate lobby. Drunks. Looters. Coup-plotters. Vandals. Plunderers. The Jews did it. His language, his thoughts, like a cancer consume him. His reality? Zero.

    He and his stooges still target people in the government-controlled media; public defaming is a specialty of this government. Erdoğan’s strong-arm street goons, in the worst tradition of Adolph Hitler, now assist his uniformed cop-goons in attacking peaceful protesters. And he is still talking. But that is all. He has lost control of the nation. Even the Kurds have joined the resistance. The very thought of Tayyip is lustily booed everywhere, from graduation ceremonies to race tracks. Athletic teams celebrate victories with Atatürk flags. Actors act out. Singers sing out. There is a frenzy of resistance music, art and caricatures. Agitprop Turkish-style fills the air and it is wonderful to behold. The brilliance of these kids is blinding. Normally rabidly partisan football fans have united in one team. Call it RESISTANCE fired by their joint rabid disgust with Erdoğan. Slogans are everywhere: “Everywhere Taksim, everywhere resistance,” “We are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers.” They carry Turkish flags emblazoned with his image. “Tayyip resign!” they shout. But Tayyip resists, too. But nothing works for Erdoğan anymore. He cannot move about in public. His appearance at a public arena requires the government to purchase all tickets to redistribute to staunch party members. No booing of Tayyip is allowed! Verboten! Yasak!

    Dead Man Talking must deeply believe that he and the shameless American ambassador, one Francis Ricciardone, indeed share “democratic values.” That, and last week’s express air delivery from the ever-generous America of 43 tons of pepper gas put a little pep in his step. FORTY-THREE TONS! The more to gas and blind you with my dear Turkish children. And the American ambassador calls this “having a conversation within your Turkish family.” Yes, a conversation, like this perhaps…Would you like to catch a gas canister in your eye socket today, my dear? No? Well how about a little brain damage instead courtesy of that model of democratic values, the USA? No?  Well then, how about some lunch? A few rubber bullets to chew on, perhaps? Or a friendly whack on the ear by a cop’s made-in-the-West club? Or a police boot in your mouth to aid digestion? Still no? Goodness, gracious, you protesters are sure hard to please.

    Such is the twisted mind of the American ambassador, a man who lives by spewing honeyed words and putrid thoughts. He is America’s talking marionette. He is the source, the taproot of Dead Man Talking. He feeds him. An earlier not-so-nice American ambassador, Eric Edelman, blew the whistle on the prime minister and his eight Swiss bank accounts. Dead Man Walking brushed it off as nonsense saying he got his wealth from gifts at his son’s wedding. Nice son. Nice father. Isn’t love grand?

    Dead Man Talking. His delusions consume him. They will not leave him. Nor can he leave us. Nor can he tell the truth, to himself, to anyone. His delusions and the darkness, the sneaky darkness are his best friends. For him, everything is at stake. He thought he had it made, this prime minister. His friends, toadies all, never told him bad news. But it is in them, these flatterers, that he will begin to see his end. He will see it in their eyes. One evening he will see the streets again crowded with Turkish youth. He knows them well. They’re the “drunks and plunders” who laughingly embrace his  slanderous words. They are the future. And the prime minister’s toadies know it. And the prime minister should ask them this simple question: Am I still the future? And then watch their eyelids flutter and their eyeballs search for the door.

    The prime minister’s private police force has too many targets in too many cities. Too many peacefully assembled targets that he can now attack only at great peril to his already vanishing prestige. Anyway, America and Brazil and Israel cannot manufacture enough gas to stay the flood of people willing to die for a new future. They, the people of Turkey, are disgusted by the hijacked, exploited Islam that suppresses human freedom and replaces true spirituality with money, money, and more money. The young people that the prime minister so recklessly defames, these kids that appear on the television screens, are saying that they want a real democracy. Not this Turkish one that ruthlessly plunders the environment and enriches an equally ruthless business-political oligarchy. They want a new system, one yet unknown. One that Dead Man Walking and his ilk all over the world have not one iota of awareness.

    The kids want one that cedes REAL power to the REAL people, all of them. One that controls the overwhelming greed inherent in this dying capitalistic system. One that remedies the materialistic and intellectual corruption that  propels nations to kill and plunder. One that destroys forever imperialism in all its formulations that has always ravaged the planet. One that truly emancipates the people from the yoke of the religious mongering tyrants and their effete, cunning western backers. One that enables all people to clearly distinguish (and separate) their spiritual beliefs from their politics. No more conniving CIA Factbooks disclosing country-by-country religious breakdowns. No more religious markers on identification cards or any official or governmental form. Spirituality is from the heart, not from a piece of paper.

    It’s Hitler-time in the Berlin bunker. And the dimensions of the full horror visited upon long-suffering Turkey over the past ten years will soon be revealed. What will Dead Man Talking shout about then?  Will anyone listen? His toadies? His media? His police? His army? His rich wedding guests? What kind of a tale will he tell? What is the sound of no hands clapping? What is the fury?

    Cem Ryan, Ph.D.
    Istanbul
    1 July 2013

     

     

  • The real cause of the Turkish protests

    The real cause of the Turkish protests

    Monday, Jun 3, 2013 11:15 AM EST

     

    They’re not about shopping malls or housing but what some believe is an increasingly dictatorial government

    By Stephen Starr

    EnlargeA protester runs to avoid tear gas during the third day of nationwide anti-government protest near the Prime Minister’s office at Besiktas area in Istanbul, late Sunday, June 2, 2013. (Credit: AP/Thanassis Stavrakis)

     

    ISTANBUL, Turkey — From every corner of this vast city they came to Taksim square, the scene of government attempts to replace a public park with a mall.

    The square has become the symbol for Turkey’s broadening protest movement as more and more people from all strata of society are drawn to the demonstrations to express their mounting frustrations with the government.

    Thousands arrived at the square on Saturday, every hour and from all directions. There were Greenpeace activists, football fans, supporters of opposition political parties as well as right- and left-wing groups.

    The streets were mostly for the young, but there were families and elderly couples, too. Riot police beat back surging crowds using wave after wave of tear gas.

    Student doctors and nurses roamed Taksim square, applying a solution of water and sodium bicarbonate to anyone with red eyes.

    Paper masks were handed out, though by Saturday evening, many protesters were better prepared and equipped with head-covering latex gas masks.

    Calls for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s resignation reverberated around Istanbul’s city streets and by 5 p.m., police were driven from the square by a shower of stones and bottles.

    Though most demonstrators left Taksim square overnight, some stayed sleeping on grass patches, keen to maintain control of the area and to savor in what had just been achieved.

    More than a shopping mall

    The anger in Istanbul runs deep, and today Erdogan is facing the greatest threat to his leadership since being elected 10 years ago.

    Bayram Balci, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Middle East Program, said the protests were a tool, a way to express people’s general opposition to “the progressive dictatorship of the prime minister.”

    “In the last months the prime minister started to adopt very conservative measures including talk of curbing abortion and limiting where people can drink alcohol,” he said.

    “People do not like this intrusion into their private lives and the project of Taksim was a pretext for them to manifest their dissatisfaction.”

    Legislation passed by the Turkish parliament on May 24 includes banning all alcohol advertising as well as the sale of alcohol at sports clubs, health centers, student dorms and gas stations. Shops cannot sell alcohol after 10 p.m. or within 100 yards of mosques.

    Furthermore, the morning-after pill can no longer be purchased without a prescription.

    Many people hold Erdogan solely responsible.

    “People feel like they are being put in chains,” said Onus, a sound and light engineer sitting outside an abandoned opposition rally in Kadikoy on Saturday evening. He put his hands together imitating being handcuffed. “People don’t like Erdogan because they feel he has put them in prison.”

    Many Turks are also disillusioned by the government’s stance on the war in Syria where Ankara has provided significant support for Syrian Muslim Brotherhood figures in the Syrian opposition.

    On May 11, the deadliest terrorist attack in modern Turkish history killed 52 people in Reyhanli, but the incident was largely unreported in the Turkish press following a temporary government court order banning media coverage.

    Analyst Balci believes that when Erdogan took office in 2003 he looked to implement important reforms to democratize the country but as his power and popularity grew he stopped consulting and engaging the Turkish people.

    He says the anger fuelling those filling the country’s streets and squares is directed at one person, not the broader Turkish government.

    “I think this is specifically against him. What is interesting is that President [Abdullah] Gul has presented his apologies as has vice-prime minister Bulen Arinc, but not Erdogan — he has repeated that the project to construct a mall will go ahead.”

    Some of Erdogan’s achievements have been lauded.

    He has modernized the country’s infrastructure by building modern highways and rail services between Ankara and Istanbul, significantly reducing travelling time between the country’s largest cities.

    Turkey’s government is also popular for turning around a failing economy, successfully paying back huge IMF loans and negotiating Kurdish militants to a cease-fire earlier this year.

    Furthermore, Istanbul is undergoing a major infrastructure expansion, with the world’s first inter-continental subway line set to open next October. Istanbul is also vying with Madrid and Tokyo to hold the 2020 Olympics — an honor that would perfectly illustrate Erdogan’s vision and legacy for Turkey.

    Few think the current protests will force Erdogan to resign, but his political capital has been dramatically damaged.

    “If I were his adviser I would advise him to abandon this project,” said Balci. “This is too bad for him. But his problem is that he is very proud — he has a big ego.”

    The Turkish government can point to the vandalized shops and banks along Istanbul’s iconic pedestrian Istiklal street as a reason not to bow to demonstrators’ demands. Some protestors also threw rocks and bottles at police lines.

    Erdogan can also count on support from other sections of Turkish society, particularly the conservative and rural-living Turks. It is widely thought he could put a million of his supporters on the streets at short notice.

    But with protests spreading to more towns and cities every day, Erdogan’s legacy may turn out to be very different from the one he once imagined.

  • ERDOĞAN ON THE HORNS

    ERDOĞAN ON THE HORNS

    They threw their caps
    As they would hang them on the horns o’ the moon,
    Shouting their emulation.
    Coriolanus, William Shakespeare

    _38421315_erdogan-ap-150, green election tie 2002

    The ferocious antics of the prime minister over the past three weeks—or has it been three years or eleven?—made me think about hamburgers. And then bulls. Ever dangerous, always charging blindly ahead, the same instinctive tactic wired into their incomplete animal brains, always completely predictable, always ending up on the table….. chopped meat.

    With boring redundancy Erdoğan has shouted the blame to everyone and everything but his own splendid self. Now angry all the time, he yelled his strange, twisted, deceit-filled story to the world. Like Coriolanus, another tragic hero not properly educated to power, Erdoğan followed down the same doomed path: “What his breast forged, that his tongue must vent.” And he did, and the world exploded in outrage as his country had before. The prime minister’s outrageous claims and preposterous intrigues, his and his advisors lies and subterfuges, it was all too, too much.

    The world is appalled. And what does the prime minister and his lackeys do next? Why they attack the world. What else? For no one understands democracy like the prime minister of Turkey. New York City police killed seventeen people in the Occupy Wall Street battle, Tayyip asserts
    in full or feigned ignorance of the facts. (None were killed.) And so it continues to this moment. What can you do with people like this? Such a bunch that gives even criminality a bad name.

    Now the beleaguered one claims that the police were correct in gassing most of central Istanbul. The lapdog Istanbul police chief earlier asserted that the police had won a victory greater than Gallipoli. Not only did the police gas unarmed, peaceful protesters but according to Erdoğan they had a “natural right” to do so. Why? Because they were fighting against “systematic violence.” One wonders what books Erdoğan has been
    reading to present such a bizarre argument. Perhaps he skimmed through his wife’s new book, The Psychology of Dictatorship? In this day, in this world with the sordid legacy of using gas as a weapon, what leader in his or her right mind would launch such an offensive attack against the citizenry? Wanton, widespread violence occupies his mind and he threatens more and harsher attacks, excuse me, defensive measures.

    Who talks to this man? Who recommended this horrific retaliation policy based on a ludicrous label of terrorism. This trick has been done already with the fantasy conspiracies that destroyed the Turkish military. It’s a nonsense. Everyone knows it. Who says to him, Look Tayyip, you are destroying yourself with all these garbage lies and threats. Don’t be a bull!

    Instead, these low-level operators shout their emulation and clap their hands, thrilled with the sounds of their own magnificence. “Don’t worry beloved leader,” they coo, “your people will believe only you and certainly not their lying eyes?” And just to be sure, they arrest doctors, lawyers, journalists, and threaten and fine television channels and draft legislation to control the social media, the great “menace” according to their beloved leader. And all of it in front of the world’s eyes-wide-open. Ah, it’s so tiresome writing about these people.

    They had planned to reach 2023, the centennial year anniversary of the establishment of Atatürk’s republic. Of course, all memory of Atatürk would have disappeared by then. And surely they would have reveled in its destruction. The journey had begun with Erdoğan’s first election victory in 2003.  He gave a balcony acceptance speech and wore a tie of green, Islamic green. I have never forgotten that moment. Nor have I forgotten the flood of rich and famous flocking to his favor. But that was then.

    And this is now. I will never forget these stirring days and the heroism of the youth of Turkey in their struggle for the future promised to them by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He also prophesied that they would have to fight for it. And so they now fight. And they know his fighting words by heart. And like good soldiers of Mustafa Kemal, they know the enemy. I will never forget the beautiful women in smart dresses getting gassed by the fascist police, not flinching, and emerging even more lovely. The polite, embattled young men, resolute and courageous in the face of brutal
    police attacks. Young people of all ages participating in this war of liberation from a religious fascist government. All of this will surely serve as a model for youth around the world who also suffer from the policies of arrogant men and women wearing thousand dollar suits. These young Turkish people are bringing a renaissance to their country, a flourishing spirit of gentility and grace the while being falsely accused of the vilest acts by a desperate regime. But the truth has been revealed through the overwhelming power of technology and the amazing facility of youth. And the government can only resort to a policy of unabashed lying. I will not forget any of these astonishing things. Certainly not the complete inability of the Turkish government and its supporters to understand this spontaneous combustion of youthful energy which is nonnegotiable. It is obvious these young people will continue for as long as it takes. And surely the process will continue to confound all the “experts,” so don’t bother watching the talking TV heads. Ah, the brilliant, unifying generality of it all. It resides outside the bounds of politics, religion, wealth, business, national borders, and surely government itself. It’s in the realm of hopes, expectations, peace, youth, friendship and, I’ll say it, love.
    What revolutionary group has ever established hot lines for injured animals? None. Except this one. And such attention to detail characterizes this movement and is why its success is inevitable. Lastly, how wonderful is the incredible resilience of the spirit and principles of Mustaf Kemal Atatürk, an unstoppable, singular man for the ages who remains both the stuff of dreams and the driving spiritual force to forge this better, this much better future. For all these people, the young, the older, the departed, I shout out loud my emulation and admiration. Your dreams are hanging on the horns of the moon. Seize them. No more words needed.

    Cem Ryan, Ph.D
    Istanbul
    19 June 2013

  • Erdogan’s response has been a political hara-kiri

    Erdogan’s response has been a political hara-kiri

    by EDITORIAL
    June 15, 2013 , 9 : 55 pmtayyip5
    Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has none but himself to blame for turning an apparently innocuous pro-environment demonstration into a crisis. And in doing so, Erdogan has demonstrated how inept he has been in coping with the consequences of democratic freedoms his reforms have given to Turkey. In a fit of hubris perhaps he condemned the demonstrators as “looters”, “anarchists” and “terrorists” and he was wrong. The people who had gathered at Taksim Square were demanding preservation of a park where the government had planned to allow construction of a shopping mall. It was a peaceful demonstration that protested uprooting of trees. Pulling down Erdogan or his government was not on their agenda. It could have been defused with absolute ease had Erdogan and his government been rational and seen the rationale of the demonstrators. Instead, hubris came into play, Erdogan felt insulted, panicked for no reason and saw seditious intentions which weren’t there.
    Turkish Prime Minister’s reading of the situation was wrong and unwarranted which only undermined his accomplishments and offered succour to a harmless impromptu demonstration. He committed a political hara-kiri and let the situation escalate by opting for high handed means to crush the demonstration. Overnight, Erdogan fell in popular esteem from a comfortable position of being a very popular leader to an autocratic zealot who isn’t least interested in listening to justified aspirations of the people. News pouring out of Istanbul suggests that ruling AKP is considering projecting President Abdullah Gul as the new face of the country. And if this happens Erdogan may even be replaced as the prime minister which analysts feel would probably be a good move to stem an escalating crisis snowballing into Turkish Spring.
    Still now Turkey has not become Egypt and Taksim Square is not Tahrir. But the belligerence with which Erdogan responded to the demonstration has not only eroded his support base among Turkey’s “conservative Anatolian population of the rural heartland” but has also put the country at a critical crossroad. Erdogan can justifiably claim credits for Turkey’s impressive economic growth; he has made the country an important bridge between Europe and Asia and has placed Turkey as an invisible partner of both Europe and the United States on several critical global issues. His high handedness in dealing with Taksim Square demonstration has, however, made Europe rethink over its partnership with Turkey. And that may, in long term, prove disastrous for Ankara.
    Erdogan’s defiant and belligerent response has not helped in containing the demonstrations. He is now seeing lengthening shadows of conspiracies which may or may not be true. But, on one fact there is no doubt. Turkish opposition has now found the handle which it has long been in search of to unseat an elected government. To the ruling party it is a snowballing threat which AKP isn’t very keen on overlooking. For the ruling party the options are few and replacing Erdogan is perhaps the best means to quell the popular anger which is fast turning into a conflagration across Turkey. Erdogan has chopped off the branch on which he was sitting.
  • IF THEY ARE NOT TURKISH, WHAT ARE THEY?

    IF THEY ARE NOT TURKISH, WHAT ARE THEY?

    Good question. I have already discussed the negative side of the proposition in my article They Are Not Turkish. But everything needs a name, even in a country like Turkey. In Turkey, people that drink beer are called drunks (ayyaşlar). People that love their natural environment, particularly trees, are called looters, pillagers or plunderers (çapulcular). Brave sons and daughters that serve in the military are called boiled sheep heads (kelleler). At least that’s what I learned from listening to the Turkish prime minister. In fact, I have learned much of my Turkish from listening to the prime minister. For example, in the past if I wanted to gain someone’s attention I would say, Pardon,” just like the French and English do. But I learned from him that it was much more effective to just shout ULAN!!!

    Yes, everything needs a name. After all, didn’t God command Adam to name every beast of the field and bird of the sky? Of course he did. So am I not a man? Of course I am. Having un-named AKP gives me a God-given responsibility to rename them, doesn’t it? Of course it does. It might even be a sin not to since we all must go about God’s work every day. I can’t just call them Non-Turks or Non-humans, can I? No, of course not. That would be disrespectful.

    At first I thought about animals or birds or fish. But there is something about the way animals and birds and fish behave that wouldn’t suit AKP. And I didn’t want to be insulting. So I thought a little lower and smaller, microscopically. Bacteria, perhaps? But much bacteria does good things, like causing fermentation to make beer, wine, whisky, rakı and even ayran. Obviously more research was required. And so I plunged into my library of science textbooks. And Eureka! like Archimedes I found it. An entire chapter about bad bacteria. And I found an appropriate one.

    It’s a streptococcus pyogene. It sounds a little like the pepper gas that is now part of the rich atmosphere of Istanbul. In fact, it’s a bacteria that causes a terrible disease called necrotizing fasciitis. It’s obviously a fascist kind of bacteria so that fits. Sadly, it results in more than 650,000 invasive infections per year with a mortality rate of 25%. Left untreated it kills completely. This horrid little thing is often called flesh-eating bacteria. Its progress is rapid and terrifying: reddening skin quickly turns to violet, swelling, blisters and pustules develop, the flesh under the skin dies, finally muscle and skin tissue is consumed. Surgery, usually amputation, is the only solution.

    So there you have it. They, the AKP members, are definitely not Turkish. But they are, in my scientific 0pinion, definitely streptococcus pyogenes, all-consuming fascists like their fellow bacteria specie. Their former political species was the A.K.P. (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) wherein, sadly, there was neither justice nor development. So the members, neither Turkish nor human nor animal nor vegetable nor mineral, are now consigned to a much more appropriate specie. It’s the least I could do. After all, everyone deserves an appropriate name, don’t they?

    Cem Ryan, Ph.D.
    Istanbul
    11 June 2013, the darkest day in the history of the Republic of Turkey

     

    Streptococcus_pyogenes
    Streptococcus Pyogenes
  • The Azerbaijan-Turkey-Israel triangle both in Tel Aviv and in the Muslim Middle East

    The Azerbaijan-Turkey-Israel triangle both in Tel Aviv and in the Muslim Middle East

    Gulnara Inanc
    Director, Ethnoglobus
    An International Online Information and Analysis Center
    (mete62@inbox.ru)
    The first ever visit by an Azerbaijani foreign minister to Israel and Palestine, a visit all sides called historic, underscored the growing strategic partnership between Baku and its two partners in the Middle East.  The first person Elmar Mammadyarov met in Israel was the chairman of the Knesset Commission on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Avigdor Lieberman, who had long lobbied for close cooperation and a strategic partnership with Azerbaijan.  In large measure as a result of his efforts, earlier attempts by the Armenian lobby to raise the so-called “Armenian genocide” in the Knesset were blocked.  Last year, in response to the latest such attempt, Israeli President Shimon Peres and A. Lieberman, who was then Israeli foreign minister, openly declared that because of the country’s strategic partnership with Azerbaijan, the issue of the “Armenian genocide” would not be discussed in the Knesset.
    Mammadyarov arrived in Tel Aviv on March 24th, the very day Armenians have declared a memorial day for the “genocide.”  Armenian media on that occasion put out information about a Knesset discussion of the “genocide,” but that did not happen.  Undoubtedly, it was very important for Azerbaijan to receive reassurance that the recognition of the so-called “Armenian genocide” would not be considered in the Knesset.
    Among the notable outcomes of the Azerbaijani foreign minister’s visit to Israel was Baku’s declaration on his return that Azerbaijan is ready to sign a broad agreement concerning the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. [1] Israel beyond any doubt is not in a position to promise something regarding that conflict or to resolve it in some way.  But Tel Aviv is in a position to seek the broader support of Jewish groups around the world regarding the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict.  And consequently, the growing ties between Azerbaijan and Israel open the way for progress in the talks just as was the case some five years ago.
    Earlier this year, the Jewish community of the United States held a conference on “Israeli Relations with the States of the South Caucasus.”  Avigdor Lieberman, with whom Foreign Minister Mammadyarov met in Israel, and President Shimon Peres have been devoting particular attention to the development of relations with the South Caucasus countries in general and Azerbaijan in particular. [2] Following his meeting with Lieberman, Mammadyarov went to Ramallah where the Palestinian authority declared its support for Baku’s position on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and on the issue of the so-called “Armenian genocide.”
    Azerbaijan supports the independence of Palestine and the division of Jerusalem, and in response to this support, it is seeking Palestinian backing on the two issues of greatest importance to itself.  A conference in Baku scheduled to be held later this summer can be considered part of the result of the Ramallah talks.
    Palestine enjoys authority and is at the center of attention of the Islamic world.  Azerbaijan, in turn, has grown into an economically and politically powerful country not only in the South Caucasus, but more broadly as well.  Rid al Maliki, the foreign minister of the Palestinian Autonomy, stressed this in his meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart, noting that Azerbaijan enjoys authority in the leading international organizations. [3] Therefore, the support of Ramallah is significant, because it brings with it the attention of the Islamic and international community.  Thus, Azerbaijan was able to achieve its goal of gaining Palestine’s support for its positions.  In view of this, it is worth recalling the declaration made by Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Prince Haled ben Saud ben Haled, that the international community must mount pressure on Armenia to secure a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict [4] and a second declaration by Iranian leader Ali Khamenei that “Karabakh is a Muslim land … something that is supported at the highest levels.”
    Both of these declarations can be seen as the result of Baku’s careful and balanced foreign policy.  Of course, one should focus attention on the fact that this historic visit to Israel took place after the Turkish-Israel rapprochement.  Interestingly, one of the clearest opponents of that rapprochement, A. Lieberman, nonetheless agreed with it.  The Israeli media suggested that he had not been informed about the plans for this new coming together.  Lieberman thus had to “close his eyes” and put out the red carpet for Mammadyarov.  Having lost its Arab partners after the Arab spring, Israel had no choice but to return to strategic relations with Turkey.  That, in turn, has increased the importance of the Azerbaijan-Turkey-Israel triangle both in Tel Aviv and in the Muslim Middle East.
    Azerbaijan’s geographic location next to Iran also increases its strategic significance, something that Israeli President Peres went out of his way to stress.  This does not mean that Baku offered or is planning to offer its territory as a place des armesfor a military operation against Iran.  Baku has repeatedly indicated that cooperation with Israel does not include that and is generally not aimed against Iran, even though many observers tend to see Baku’s cooperation with Israel as the former’s way of restraining Iran.
    Notes
    [1] See https://www.amerikaninsesi.org/a/elmar_memmedyarov/1649480.html (accessed 28 April 2013).
    [2] See http://izrus.co.il/dvuhstoronka/article/2012-02-28/17144.html#ixzz2QngVkiJZ (accessed 28 April 2013).
    [3] See  (accessed 28 April 2013).
    [4] See  (accessed 28 April 2013).
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