Category: Israel

BDP blames US & Israel for deadly Turkish airstrike

Mehdi Gholizadeh, Press TV, Ankara

Some of the main political parties in Turkey are pointing the finger at the US and Israel over a botched airstrike that had killed around 34 civilians in the southeast of the country last month.

The victims were targeted by Turkey’s F-16 fighter jets as they were initially believed to be members of the armed separatist group of Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, but were later confirmed to be a group of local smugglers.

The airstrike was widely believed to be the result of an intelligence failure.

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, the BDP, has called on the government to declare the source of intelligence that had led to the deadly attack. A senior member of the party has criticized the US ambassador to Turkey who had said the source of the intelligence should be kept secret.

Following the US ambassador’s remark, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, Republican People’s party, advised Turkish journalists to ask from the Israeli embassy about the source of the intelligence. He had earlier urged Ankara to openly declare whether it obtained the intelligence from Israel or the US.

The controversy over the reported role of Israeli and US drones in the deadly airstrike comes as some politicians have called for an immediate end to what they call Turkey’s intelligence reliance on Israel and the US.

Turkey uses Israel’s Heron drones and the US Predator drones for gathering intelligence in its fight against the PKK, but the credibility of the intelligence obtained by the drones has been questioned by some politicians in the country.

Turkish government has vowed that it will carry out an investigation into the airstrike, mainly by closely reviewing four hours of footage related to the airstrike.

via PressTV – BDP blames US & Israel for deadly Turkish airstrike.

January 29, 2012
Is Turkey the new home for Hamas? – Think Tanked – The Washington Post

By Allen McDuffee

Hamas is developing new relations with Turkey, according to new reports coming from the region. The arrangement includes opening an official Hamas office in Turkey in a matter of weeks and a reported Turkish pledge of $300 million to help re-build Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The new relationship isn’t good for Israeli-Palestinian peace, but it does say some things about regional dynamics, according to Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Elliott Abrams.

If Hamas is turning to Turkey, Abrams argues, it means that Syria (and Assad) is no longer a host for the organization’s leadership and Iran’s influence is severely weakened.

It’s not clear, however, what Turkey’s requests are. Abrams isn’t convinced that Turkey will put much pressure on Hamas to offer concessions on renouncing terror or curbing anti-Semitism, but if Hamas were to launch another series of attacks against Israel, “the Turks could find that their new alliance is an embarrassment, complicating relations not only with Israel but with the United States and the EU.”

But for Hamas:

This is a smart move for Hamas, of course, at least so long as Turkey’s star is rising and Erdogan is in charge. Far better a Sunni sponsor with growing influence than a Shia paymaster that is an international pariah under growing sanctions. One has to wonder how the Turkish role affects the internal dynamics in Hamas, where the Gaza hierarchy appears to be pushing aside the formerly dominant outsiders, led by Khaled Meshal from Damascus. Is Turkey supporting, indeed financing, this development? Will it push Hamas into elections, now scheduled for May 4th? Will it urge Hamas to join the PLO (well, little urging is needed for that one) and agree to negotiations with Israel?

By Allen McDuffee | 11:52 AM ET, 01/27/2012

via Is Turkey the new home for Hamas? – Think Tanked – The Washington Post.

January 29, 2012
Hamas and the Qatar-Turkey Agency of a Palestinian Spring ?

UN – 2011. The response to the Palestinian bid for recognition of it´s status as a State within the context of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly was, “that a Palestinian Solution only would be possible within a comprehensive solution for the problems in the Middle East “. Since then, the world has witnessed a series of unprecedented NATO aggressions that have brought the world to the brink of a global conflict. The cynical abuse of UNSC Resolution 1973-2011 on Libya to oust the Libyan government, murder the de facto Head of State Muammar Ghadafi, and the installation of several absolutely dependent proxy militia based governments, that have thrown the nation into state of self destruction, facilitated by a NATO that needs the oil, and the territory as possible staging area for a Syrian or Iranian campaign. The relentless covert war on Syria, and the war on Iran which may very well be imminent.(ibid.)

With a Fatah controlled Palestinian Authority that is rightfully accused for selling out on Palestine, and recent negotiations in Amman which were called unforgivable by the PFLP, and strongly criticized by the DFLP and other member organizations of the PLO, Palestinians could ask them selves, how much worse things actually could become.

Keeping in mind, that the sole beneficiaries of what is euphemistically called “The Arab Spring”, which has almost become a Franchise Commodity in style with “The Holocaust” – capital letters – Palestinians are well advised to be on their guards and hold their political leaderships responsible for guaranties, that non, including Fatah and Hamas should develop ambitions to letting Obama´s comprehensive solution be implemented by a NATO / Zionist Arab Spring in Palestine. The signs are strongly indicating that this may be the case.

The recent, more than friendly relations between Hamas and Turkey ought to be carefully scrutinized, and for a number of reasons. One being, that Turkey´s and R. Tayyip Erdogan´s political grand standing with respect to the Israeli act of piracy against a Turkish registered Gaza Flotilla vessel and the Erdogan governments cessation of Turkish Israeli trade, diplomatic and military co-operation only lasted a few weeks. By now, Turkey is back to business as usual, which includes military and intelligence co-operation with Israel. A second would be the strong Turkish – Qatari co-operation in the covert war against Syria. A Syria, which – and I feel sad that I should remind many Palestinians about it – is the sole Arab nation that consequently has been and is supporting Palestine.

When Hamas, short after entering the PLO is blasted by members of the PLO executive committee, for stating it´s solidarity with Syria, while shortly after declaring that Hamas will be sending a delegation to Amman, Jordan, for meetings with the Jordanian government and representatives from Qatar, there arises one simple question, which Hamas ought to answer to the People of Palestine.

Is Hamas planning to play a role in a ” Zionist / NATO organized Arab Spring ? ” It is a question that Palestinians ought to ask Hamas, and one Hamas ought to answer before it is sending a delegation to Amman on Sunday.

The problem is, that it may very well be that Hamas has been duped into an entrapment in glory; just like the PLO and Fatah were before the Oslo Accords. It may very well be that Hamas truly believes that it´s new found friends from Turkey, Jordan, and Qatar have the best of the People of Palestine in mind – but then, can anyone in a leading position at Hamas really be so naive to believe that Obama´s comprehensive solution for the Middle East, which includes the selling out on Syria would mean anything but the possibility that it would be Hamas rather than Fatah that would administrate the Zionist genocide on the People of Palestine ?

The People ought to ask the question, and Hamas ought to answer it before Sunday.

Dr. Christof Lehmann

via Hamas and the Qatar-Turkey Agency of a Palestinian Spring ? | nsnbc.

January 26, 2012
Israel Matzav: Turkey won’t let NATO use its territory to attack Iran

President Obama’s favorite Middle East leader will not allow NATO – of which his country is a member – to use his territory in an attack on Iran.

Turkey, a member of NATO, will not give the Alliance territory for a military strike on Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, RIA Novosti reports.

The official added that Turkey has been agitating NATO to avoid attacks on neighbors of Turkey and would continue the efforts. He concluded that the borders between Iran and turkey have been borders of peace and will remain that way.

We already knew that Turkey won’t allow their territory to be used against Iraq, and I guess this means they won’t allow it to be used against Syria either.

What could go wrong?

via Israel Matzav: Turkey won’t let NATO use its territory to attack Iran.

January 26, 2012
AFP: Turkey to become first Muslim nation to show Holocaust film

(AFP) – 9 hours ago

Turkey's broadcast of the film is the culmination of work by a group which tries to improve Jewish-Muslim relations (AFP/File, Andrei Nacu)

ANKARA — Turkish public television will show an epic French documentary about the Holocaust, the first broadcast of its kind by national media in a Muslim state, it was announced Wednesday.

A spokesman for Turkish public television TRT said the 1985 film “Shoah” would be shown on one of the network’s 14 channels, but did not say when.

The director of nine-hour-plus documentary, Claude Lanzmann, called the Turkish move historic.

“We should acknowledge the courage and determination of the Turks,” said Lanzmann, who spent 11 years working on the documentary. “Turkey is a country people don’t know and understand very badly.”

Turkey’s broadcast of the film is the culmination of work by the Aladdin Project, a Paris-based group which tries to improve Jewish-Muslim relations.

The group said in a statement the film would be shown Thursday, the day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, adding that it had never before been shown in its entirety in a Muslim country.

Consisting largely of Holocaust-survivor interviews, the film examines the killing of European Jews in Nazi death camps during World War II.

Its broadcast comes at a sensitive time in Turkey’s international relations.

Ankara hopes to eventually join the European Union, but it is embroiled in a spat with Paris over the French senate’s approval of a law making it a crime to deny that the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces in World War II was genocide.

Ankara’s relations with Israel were damaged in 2010 after Israeli commandoes stormed a Turkish aid ship bound for the Gaza Strip in an operation that led to the deaths of nine Turkish activists.

via AFP: Turkey to become first Muslim nation to show Holocaust film.

January 26, 2012
Exports to Turkey rise to equal exports to Germany

Meitav: Exports to Turkey rose 42% to $1.85 billion in 2011, while exports to Germany totaled $1.94 billion.

Israeli exports to Turkey in 2011 equaled exports to Germany, according to an analysis by Meitav Investment House Ltd. of Central Bureau of Statistics data, which show that exports to Turkey totaled $1.85 billion in 2011, 42% more than in 2010.

“The deterioration in diplomatic relations with Turkey has not affected exports,” says Meitav. “In the past year, exports to Turkey rose so much that they equal exports to Germany.” Israeli exports to Germany totaled $1.94 billion in 2011.

Israeli exports to Turkey totaled $132.1 million in December 2011, 51% more than in the corresponding month.

Israeli imports Turkey rose 20.6% from 2010 to $2.1 billion in 2011, resulting in a trade deficit of $321 million.

Meitav also noted a change in the mix of exports to the EU, which is Israel’s largest market, supplanting the US. “Whereas the US was Israel’s largest export market in 2010, the EU (the 27 EU member states; not the 17 countries that make up the Eurozone) rose to first place, accounting for a third of Israeli export of goods. The change occurred because exports to the US fell by 2% a year in the past two years, while exports to the EU rose by 20% a year, despite the shekel’s appreciation against the euro since 2009.”

The UK, the Netherlands, and Germany are Israel’s top exports destinations in the EU. Exports to the UK rose 53% to $10 billion. Exports to China tripled in 2010-11 to 6% of total exports in 2011 from 2% in 2009, reaching $237 million last year.

Israeli exports to Egypt and Jordan rose 26% in 2011.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on January 22, 2012

via Exports to Turkey rise to equal exports to Germany – Globes.

January 23, 2012