Turkish Forum

Category: North Africa

  • Tunisia, Turkey Boosting Tourism Cooperation

    Tunisia, Turkey Boosting Tourism Cooperation

    Tunisia (Tunis) – Tunisia’s Tourism Minister Slim Tlatli had a meeting with Mr. Zafar Caglayan, Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade, which turned on reviewing bilateral co-operation, Global Arab Network reports according to state-run Tunisian News Agency (TAP).

    tunisia tourismThe two sides highlighted joint will to hoist economic relations to the level of their political relations and the cultural and historic affinities binding the two countries.

    Mr. Slim Tlatli briefed his guest on Tunisia’s tourist sector and its objectives for the next five-year period, in light of the new development strategy ordered by the Head of State, stressing Tunisia’s will to further strengthen co- operation with Turkey, notably regarding reinforcement of tourist flow, management of the sector and vocational training in this field.

    For his part, Mr. Caglayan indicated that the quality of bilateral relations militates in favour of a more important economic and tourist co-operation, specifying that it falls on the two countries’ economic operators to explore the best ways that would ensure a mutually fruitful co-operation.

    It is worth reminding that Tunisia annually receives 14,000 Turkish tourists, while 29,000 Tunisian holiday-makers visit Turkey each year .

    On the other hand, TAP reported that Co-operation between Tunisia and Turkey and means to strengthen it were the focus of the talk that Development and International Co-operation Minister Mohamed Nouri Jouini had, on Thursday with Turkish State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafar Caglayan. The talk provided the opportunity to point up the importance to hoist co-operation to higher levels, qualitatively and quantitatively.

    Mr. Mohamed Nouri Jouini stressed the similarity of the two countries’ economic policies characterised by their openness and efficiency. Such a convergence, he said, is a stimulus to intensify partnership between the two countries’ businessmen, underlining that Tunisia wishes to attract larger number of Turkish investors, particularly in the buoyant sectors.

    For his part, Mr. Zafar Caglayan commended the level of bilateral relations, underscoring the opportunities of the two countries, notably in the fields of trade, investment and creation of joint projects.

    The Turkish minister specified that the strong participation of the two countries’ businessmen in the second Partnership Council’s meeting illustrates the two sides’ will to entrench and diversify co-operation in the two countries’ interest.

    (TAP)

    Global Arab Network

  • How deep does Turkey’s African initiative go?

    How deep does Turkey’s African initiative go?

    Turkey has long ignored many parts of the world, particularly Africa. Today, Turks are rediscovering Africa, which is not too far from Turkey, and which they had established close ties with during the Ottoman period.
    Despite the fact that the Gülen movement went to the continent in the mid-1990s, opening various education institutions and dialogue and culture centers across the continent, the year when Turkish foreign policy woke up to Africa was 2005. Then-Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül had declared 2005 the Year of Africa for Turkish foreign policy, as the first step in Turkey’s foreign policy initiatives. The progress made in Africa since then cannot be ignored. Although it is on the brink of taking its very first steps in many African countries, Turkey’s success, its welcome in many places across the continent and its gains are substantial.

    I personally have always nurtured a special interest in Africa. So, I tend to seize every opportunity to pay a visit to the unfortunate countries of a continent that has suffered centuries of indescribable sorrow in the unrelenting grip of Western colonialism. I have visited Sudan, Tanzania, South Africa, Egypt and Algeria, some on multiple occasions. When my dear friend, Mustafa Günay, the secretary-general of the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), invited me to attend the Turkey-Uganda Business Forum in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, between Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, I saw it as an opportunity for me visit the continent again and eagerly flew to Uganda with some 50 businessmen. TUSKON establishes bridges of commerce between Turkish and African businessmen using the infrastructure laid by Turkish schools spreading the light of science in Africa and elsewhere and making Turkish presence known around the world. There is a long list of contributions TUSKON has made to the economy of Turkey as well as those of its target countries.

    Since its establishment, TUSKON has added great value to our economy and Turkish foreign trade by encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form the backbone of the Turkish economy, and paving the way for Turkish foreign trade and investors entering new markets. I am sure that we will see the foundations laid by TUSKON, the business ties it mediated, and the global business network it established pay off by producing gains that will soon increase exponentially. Indeed, this organization embodies a mentality that seeks to ensure gains not only for Turkey, but also for partner countries and their societies, and that never approves of exploitation or abuse in theory or in practice. Accordingly, this underlying principle and the win-win philosophy it adopts help TUSKON boost the business volume not only of Turkey, but also its partners. By contributing to the welfare of these countries, it puts a grateful smile on the faces of the local people. As you know, this is an attitude that African countries and their peoples rarely experience from the white race, which some call Muzungu with a mixture of respect and fear.

    As Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister Bülent Arınç — who has made a habit of visiting the Turkish schools in the countries he visits and encouraging the teachers in their work– noted as he visited the Turkish Light Academy, a boarding school with some 450 students, in Kampala, Turkey is greatly indebted to these schools who provide education at great self-sacrifice, even in countries that do not have a single Turkish embassy or diplomatic representative office, and to the young Turkish volunteers and idealistic educators from Anatolia working in these schools.

    As part of the African initiative that started in 2005, Turkey established its first embassies in 15 African countries. The first Turkish Ambassador to Kampala was appointed in March 2010.

    As part of this initiative, Turkish Airlines (THY) launched direct flights to many African countries and cities, including Kampala. Until very recently, i.e. 2007, Turks had to fly aboard a foreign airliner from İstanbul to Germany or the UK and wait several hours there before finding another flight to Cape Town. Today, they can reach many African destinations directly from İstanbul with THY.

    The truth one can discover if s/he is objective and fair is that many of Turkey’s foreign policy initiatives, including the opening of Turkish embassies in many African countries and THY’s adopting new destinations on the continent, are reliant on the infrastructure created by the Turkish schools and businessmen inspired by the Gülen movement in terms of economic, cultural, social and human potential. Indeed, when Turkish diplomats freshly appointed to these newly established embassies go to their respective countries, they find that the people make their experience and networks easily available to them. In return, the people whom these diplomats will provide service to, in most places besides a few Western countries, are no one but the sacrificial and generous Turkish businessmen and their families who had migrated because of suggestions by Mr. Fethullah Gülen, who lends all kinds of support to the Turkish volunteers and educators.

    Turkey’s African initiative has a great chance of success. Why? Because the foundations of this initiative had already been laid by the Turkish volunteers long before 2005. A very solid and effective infrastructure for Turkey to improve its ties with these countries in many areas is already in place and extremely robust. Undeniably, this applies to the Pacific region, the Baltic region, Central Asia and Latin America, as well. On this road paved with pure sincerity for serving humanity as the sole goal and without abuse or exploitation, I personally believe in my heart that God will grant countless favors to Turkey and the countries to which Turks are providing services.
  • Turkey and Russia: Cleaning up the Mess in the Middle East

    Turkey and Russia: Cleaning up the Mess in the Middle East

    There has been no magic hand guiding Turkey and Russia as they form the axis of a new political formation. Turkey, once the ‘sick man of Europe’, is now ‘the only healthy man of Europe’, notes Eric Walberg.

    The neocon plan to transform the Middle East and Central Asia into a pliant client of the US empire and its only-democracy-in-the-Middle-East is now facing a very different playing field. Not only are the wars against the Palestinians, Afghans and Iraqis floundering, but they have set in motion unforeseen moves by all the regional players.

    The empire faces a resurgent Turkey, heir to the Ottomans, who governed a largely peaceful Middle East for half a millennium. As part of a dynamic diplomatic outreach under the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey re-established the Caliphate visa-free tradition with Albania, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Syria last year. In February Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Ertugrul Gunay offered to do likewise with Egypt. There is “a great new plan of creating a Middle East Union as a regional equivalent of the European Union” with Turkey, fresh from a resounding constitutional referendum win by the AKP, writes Israel Shamir.

    Turkey also established a strategic partnership with Russia during the past two years, with a visa-free regime and ambitious trade and investment plans (denominated in rubles and lira), including the construction of new pipelines and nuclear energy facilities.

    Just as Turkey is heir to the Ottomans, Russia is heir to the Byzantines, who ruled a largely peaceful Middle East for close to a millennium before the Turks. Together, Russia and Turkey have far more justification as Middle Eastern “hegemons” than the British-American 20th century usurpers, and they are doing something about it.

    In a delicious irony, invasions by the US and Israel in the Middle East and Eurasia have not cowed the countries affected, but emboldened them to work together, creating the basis for a new alignment of forces, including Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran.

    Syria, Turkey and Iran are united not only by tradition, faith, resistance to US-Israeli plans, but by their common need to fight Kurdish separatists, who have been supported by both the US and Israel. Their economic cooperation is growing by leaps and bounds. Adding Russia to the mix constitutes a like-minded, strong regional force encompassing the full socio-political spectrum, from Sunni and Shia Muslim, Christian, even Jewish, to secular traditions.

    This is the natural regional geopolitical logic, not the artificial one imposed over the past 150 years by the British and now US empires. Just as the Crusaders came to wreak havoc a millennium ago, forcing locals to unite to expel the invaders, so today’s Crusaders have set in motion the forces of their own demise.

    Turkey’s bold move with Brazil to defuse the West’s stand-off with Iran caught the world’s imagination in May. Its defiance of Israel after the Israeli attack on the Peace Flotilla trying to break the siege of Gaza in June made it the darling of the Arab world.

    Russia has its own, less spectacular contributions to these, the most burning issues in the Middle East today. There are problems for Russia. Its crippled economy and weakened military give it pause in anything that might provoke the world superpower. Its elites are divided on how far to pursuit accommodation with the US. The tragedies of Afghanistan and Chechnya and fears arising from the impasse in most of the “stans” continue to plague Russia’s relations with the Muslim Middle East.

    Since the departure of Soviet forces from Egypt in 1972, Russia has not officially had a strong presence in the Middle East. Since the mid- 1980s, it saw a million-odd Russians emigrate to Israel, who like immigrants anywhere, are anxious to prove their devotion and are on the whole unwilling to give up land in any two-state solution for Palestine. As Anatol Sharansky quipped to Bill Clinton after he emigrated, “I come from one of the biggest countries in the world to one of the smallest. You want me to cut it in half. No, thank you.” Russia now has its very own well-funded Israel Lobby; many Russians are dual Israeli citizens, enjoying a visa-free regime with Israel.

    Then there is Russia’s equivocal stance on the stand-off between the West and Iran. Russia cooperates with Iran on nuclear energy, but has concerns about Iran’s nuclear intentions, supporting Security Council sanctions and cancelling the S-300 missile deal it signed with Iran in 2005. It is also increasing its support for US efforts in Afghanistan. Many commentators conclude that these are signs that the Russian leadership under President Dmitri Medvedev is caving in to Washington, backtracking on the more anti-imperial policy of Putin. “They showed that they are not reliable,” criticised Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi.

    Russia is fence-sitting on this tricky dilemma. It is also siding, so far, with the US and the EU in refusing to include Turkey and Brazil in the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme. “The Non-Aligned countries in general, and Iran in particular, have interpreted the Russian vote as the will on the part of a great power to prevent emerging powers from attaining the energy independence they need for their economic development. And it will be difficult to make them forget this Russian faux pas,” argues Thierry Meyssan at voltairenet.org.

    Whatever the truth is there, the cooperation with Iran and now Turkey, Syria and Egypt on developing peaceful nuclear power, and the recent agreement to sell Syria advanced P-800 cruise missiles show Russia is hardly the plaything of the US and Israel in Middle East issues. Israel is furious over the missile sale to Syria, and last week threatened to sell “strategic, tie-breaking weapons” to “areas of strategic importance” to Russia in revenge. On both Iran and Syria, Russia’s moves suggest it is trying to calm volatile situations that could explode.

    There are other reasons to see Russia as a possible Middle East powerbroker. The millions of Russian Jews who moved to Israel are not necessarily a Lieberman-like Achilles Heel for Russia. A third of them are scornfully dismissed as not sufficiently kosher and could be a serious problem for a state that is founded solely on racial purity. Many have returned to Russia or managed to move on to greener pastures. Already, such prominent rightwing politicians as Moshe Arens, political patron of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, are considering a one-state solution. Perhaps these Russian immigrants will produce a Frederik de Klerk to re-enact the dismantling of South African apartheid.

    Russia holds another intriguing key to peace in the Middle East. Zionism from the start was a secular socialist movement, with religious conservative Jews strongly opposed, a situation that continues even today, despite the defection of many under blandishments from the likes of Ben Gurion and Netanyahu. Like the Palestinians, True Torah Jews don’t recognise the “Jewish state”.

    But wait! There is a legitimate Jewish state, a secular one set up in 1928 in Birobidjan Russia, in accordance with Soviet secular nationalities policies. There is nothing stopping the entire population of Israeli Jews, orthodox and secular alike, from decamping to this Jewish homeland, blessed with abundant raw materials, Golda Meir’s “a land without a people for a people without a land”. It has taken on a new lease on life since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev made an unprecedented visit this summer, the first ever of a Russian (or Soviet) leader and pointed out the strong Russian state support it has as a Jewish homeland where Yiddish, the secular language of European Jews (not sacred Hebrew), is the state language.

    There has been no magic hand guiding Turkey and Russia as they form the axis of a new political formation. Rather it is the resilience of Islam in the face of Western onslaught, plus — surprisingly — a page from the history of Soviet secular national self-determination. Turkey, once the “sick man of Europe”, is now “the only healthy man of Europe”, Turkish President Abdullah Gul was told at the UN Millennium Goals Summit last week, positioning it along with the Russian, and friends Iranian and Syrian to clean up the mess created by the British empire and its “democratic” offspring, the US and Israel.

    While US and Israeli strategists continue to pore over mad schemes to invade Iran, Russian and Turkish leaders plan to increase trade and development in the Middle East, including nuclear power. From a Middle Eastern point of view, Russia’s eagerness to build power stations in Iran, Turkey, Syria and Egypt shows a desire to help accelerate the economic development that Westerners have long denied the Middle East — other than Israel — for so long. This includes Lebanon where Stroitransgaz and Gazprom will transit Syrian gas until Beirut can overcome Israeli-imposed obstacles to the exploitation of its large reserves offshore.

    Russia in its own way, like its ally Turkey, has placed itself as a go-between in the most urgent problems facing the Middle East — Palestine and Iran. “Peace in the Middle East holds the key to a peaceful and stable future in the world,” Gul told the UN Millennium Goals Summit — in English. The world now watches to see if their efforts will bear fruit.

    Eric Walberg writes for Egypt’s Al-Ahram Weekly. You can reach him at .

    , 30.09.2010

  • More Arab tourists visit Turkey after abolishing visa requirements

    More Arab tourists visit Turkey after abolishing visa requirements

    Arab Tourists in Turkey(DP-News-World Bulletin)

    Abolishing visa requirements with some countries has driven an exceptional rise in the number of tourists to Turkey, particularly from Arab countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Libya, recent data revealed.

    According to data the Tourism Investors Association (TYD) shared with Cihan News Agency, the overall number of tourists from Arab countries to Turkey has risen by almost 50 percent in the first six months of this year over the same period of 2009, a direct result of recently improving relations with countries in the region.

    Speaking about the increasing interest of Arab tourists in Turkey, TYD President Turgut Gur says people from Middle Eastern countries tend to prefer vacation hubs such as Istanbul and Antalya; however, the Black Sea region is gradually becoming more popular with these same Arab tourists.

    “There has been a remarkable increase in the number of Arab tourists visiting Turkey particularly after the elimination of visa requirements with some countries in the region. One can assume that Arab tourists feel more comfortable in Turkey than in any European country or in the US due to certain cultural and religious similarities,” he suggested.

    Along with the elimination of visa requirements, the government’s recent interactions with Israel, due to the ongoing Gaza blockade, and the spread of Turkish soap operas among the Arab population, via satellite TV, has created a positive image for Turkey in the region.

    According to Gur the existing Arab tourist potential for Turkey could certainly increase even more if Turkey knows how to “take advantage of it.” “We need to improve our relationship with Arab tourists with such incentives as employing more Arabic-speaking people in tourism facilities,” he suggested. Gur had earlier said he expects the number of Arab tourists to reach 1 million this year.

    Businesses attune themselves to Arab tourists’ preferences
    Having seen the growing interest in and curiosity about Turkey, tour operators, hotel owners and business owners are looking to hire new employees who can speak Arabic as they want to provide better service and attract as many as Arab tourists as they can, Cuneyt Mengu, the owner of the Mercan tourism agency says. He remarked, “We see that businesses are trying to prepare themselves for this new trend in the Turkish tourism market.”

    Some shops include product labels in Arabic, while restaurants are preparing menus to suit the tastes of Arab customers. In a unique example, following the recent flocking of Arab tourists to the region, the Trabzon Governor’s Office earlier started a program to train people who can speak Arabic to work at tourist facilities on the city’s Uzungol Plateau, famous for its scenic lake, as well as fresh fish and green scenery. Some Arab entrepreneurs are even considering buying land to build new hotels in the region, stated officials.

    “Most Arab tourists that we have served in the past,” Mengu continues, “say they are happy to see people speaking Arabic in Turkey.” Noting that they are happy with the current interest from Arabs, Mengu says their company enjoyed a 15 percent increase in the number of Arab tourists in first six months over the same period of last year.

    “We believe the market will see an increase in this number by the end of the year. I call on Turkish entrepreneurs to make good use of such potential,” he added.

    Turkish Association of Travel Agents (TURSAB) President Basaran Ulusoy said that Turkey’s potential to attract Arab tourists should be capitalized upon since “these people stay for relatively longer and spend more than average.”

    “Turkey is one of the safest and most attractive vacation destinations for the Arab world. Geographical proximity is one other advantage for us,” he said. According to Ulusoy Turkish travel agents have been successful in hosting Arab tourists by using effective advertising campaigns.

    , 11/07/2010

  • Ex-spy is BP’s Lawrence of Arabia

    Ex-spy is BP’s Lawrence of Arabia

    By Glen Owen
    Last updated at 3:48 AM on 06th September 2009

    He is the modern Lawrence of Arabia who used his relationship with Colonel Gaddafi to help to secure a £200,000-a-year job with BP.

    The career of ex-MI6 agent Sir Mark Allen, the driving force behind the suspected ‘deal’ to return Abdelbaset Al Megrahi to Libya, reads like an espionage novel, taking in Middle East spy schools, falconry and secret meetings in Pall Mall gentlemen’s clubs.

    Our investigation has discovered how Sir Mark, 59 – who resigned from MI6 to join BP in 2004 – used the contacts made during a life in the shadows to build a new career in business.

     

    adsiz-2Sir Mark Allan, a modern Lawrence of Arabia, was the driving force behind the suspected ‘deal’ to return Abedlbaset Al Megrahi to Libya

    It reveals that he:

    • Led the diplomatic drive to lift sanctions against Libya, teaming up with a top CIA agent for private meetings with Colonel Gaddafi.
    • Chaired a secret meeting with Gaddafi’s spy chief in The Travellers Club in London, which included discussion of the Megrahi case and led to the Libyan leader being allowed to trade again with the West.
    • Resigned from MI6 six months later to join BP and was cleared by the Cabinet Office to start working for the oil giant immediately.
    • Is a friend of Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who backed his unsuccessful attempt to head MI6.

    The Mail on Sunday tracked Sir Mark to his secure £1million apartment in Westminster but he refused to talk about the role he may have had in securing Megrahi’s return.

    Last week it was revealed that he lobbied Mr Straw to speed up an agreement over prisoner transfers – which had been expected to lead to Megrahi’s return – to avoid jeopardising a trade deal with Libya worth up to £15billion to BP.

     

    Allen’s book, Falconery In Arabia which was published in 1980

    Yesterday Mr Straw admitted the agreement had played a ‘very big part’ in his decision to include Megrahi in the transfer deal.

    In 2003, Sir Mark, then head of MI6’s counter-terrorism unit, joined forces with Steve Kappes, now deputy director of the CIA, to lead secret talks with Gaddafi’s regime to end international sanctions.

    The two men embarked on shuttle diplomacy, flying around the world to meet senior Libyan figures, including Gaddafi.

    Pulitzer prize-winning US author Ron Suskind, who has investigated British and American dealings with Gaddafi, said Sir Mark had several meetings with the Libyan leader in summer 2003.

    ‘He played a key role in charming Gaddafi out of his international isolation,’ he said. ‘His job was to make it clear to Gaddafi that anything could be put on the negotiating table, including Megrahi.’ At that point, Megrahi had been in a Scottish jail for two years.

    A deal to end sanctions was sealed in December 2003 at The Travellers Club, where Sir Mark thrashed out an agreement with Gaddafi’s external intelligence chief Musa Kousa.

    In return for the lifting of sanctions – and, sources say, assurances from Britain about Megrahi’s future – Gaddafi promised to abandon plans for weapons of mass destruction. Britain and America resumed relations the next month.

    In May 2004, Sir Mark was the favourite of Mr Straw, then Foreign Secretary, to succeed Sir Richard Dearlove as Head of MI6. But the following month, after it was announced that the job had gone to John Scarlett, Sir Mark resigned to take up a special adviser’s job with BP. 

    Unlike Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain’s special representative to Iraq who joined BP at the same time, Sir Mark was told by the Cabinet Office’s Advisory Committee on Business Appointments that he could start work immediately.

    Sir Mark, who was knighted in 2005, immediately used his Libyan contacts in BP’s drive to win gas and oil contracts in the country, flying with the then BP boss Lord Browne to meet Gaddafi in the desert.

    The BP deal with Libya was announced in May 2007. But by November it had still not been ratified because of delays in finalising prisoner transfers which had been arranged between Tony Blair and Gaddafi in tandem with the BP deal. The sticking point was debate in the British Government over whether to exclude Megrahi.

    Sir Mark made two calls to Mr Straw, asking for the agreement to be speeded up. Within six weeks of his second call in November 2007, Mr Straw had written to Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill to say Megrahi would be included.

    In the Seventies, Sir Mark studied at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies, a British ‘spy school’ in a village near Beirut.

    He was posted to Cairo in 1978, where he developed a love of falcon-hunting with Bedouins.

    In 1980 he published Falconry In Arabia, with a foreword and photos by Wilfred

    Thesiger, the late writer-explorer who devoted his life to roaming deserts in the spirit of Lawrence of Arabia.

    A BP spokeswoman refused to comment yesterday.

  • Old Ottoman Friend, New “Voice of Africa”?

    Old Ottoman Friend, New “Voice of Africa”?

    Several events marked 2008 as a milestone year for relations between Turkey and Africa.

    At a January 2008 Summit, the African Union upgraded Turkey to “strategic partner” of Africa. In May, high-level representatives from 45 African countries attended the Turkey-Africa Foreign Trade Bridge, where Foreign Trade Minister Kursad Tuzmen told reporters: “Our goal is to bring the total volume of trade to approximately $20 billion this year. Our target for 2012 is $50 billion.” In August, Turkey hosted the first Africa-Turkey Cooperation Summit at Istanbul, cozying up to the African Union and declaring a number of common geopolitical interests. Abdellah Gul became the first Turkish president to pay an official visit to the sub-Saharan countries of Tanzania and Kenya in January of 2009. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan promised to open 15 new embassies on the continent in the next few years.

    What are the reasons for this sudden flurry of Turkish courtship? With crisis-hit imports and exports falling fast, Turkey has clear economic incentives for strengthening economic ties with a promising alternative export market like Africa. But there is also a new political alliance brewing, one that Turkey and Africa are hoping will be mutually beneficial, a possible model of south-south diplomacy based on trust and reciprocity.

    In 2008, even as Turkish businesses were seeking out opportunities in Africa, Turkish politicians were energetically campaigning to win African support for Turkey to become a two-year member of the United Nations Security Council. President Abdellah Gul repeatedly promised African leaders and audiences that Turkey would be the “voice of Africa” at the Security Council, paying special attention to African issues. Many Africans feel that Africa is underrepresented in international bodies like the UNSC and the AU jumped on board for Turkey’s candidacy. Thanks in part to the overwhelming support of the African Union, Turkey triumphed, joining the 15-member bloc last January for the 2009-2010 period.

    The first opportunity for Turkey to stand up for Africa has now arrived, with the International Criminal Court’s issuing of an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir (an unprecedented ICC indictment of a sitting head of state).

    The African Union opposes indicting Bashir, as does the Organization of Islamic Countries, of which Turkey is also a member. The head of the AU Peace and Security Council said in January that the indictment process should be delayed for a year while officials negotiate peace in western Sudan. “There is a solidarity shown toward the president of Sudan, unanimously,” said Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria. AU official Jean Ping warned that the arrest warrant for Bashir could threaten the ailing peace process in Sudan.

    Undeterred, the ICC issued the arrest warrant on March 4 against Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, actual implementation of the arrest warrant is unenforceable so long as Bashir confines himself to friendly countries. The United Nations Security Council could also delay implementation with a vote. So far six of the fifteen UNSC members have declared they will vote in favor of suspending the warrant against Bashir, while seven members declared they are voting against suspension. Turkey and Japan are the only two undecided voices, and their votes could determine whether the warrant is suspended or not.

    So why hasn’t Turkey, the new “voice of Africa”, declared its intention to block the warrant against Al Bachir, by voting for a suspension? The AKP government already has ties to the Sudanese president, having hosted him twice last year in spite of protests from liberal intellectuals, and high-level officials have expressed concern that the arrest of Bachir would have a destabilizing effect on war-torn Sudan.

    On the other hand, Washington deployed top-level diplomatic channels to ask for a Turkish vote against the suspension no fewer than three times in three months, according to Hurriyet. In America, the crisis in Darfur is seen as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, and the arrest of Al Bashir is perceived as a promising step forward. Turkish-American relations are currently reaching an all-time high. With American President Barack Obama choosing Istanbul for the site of his highly symbolic first speech in a Muslim city, as well as sponsoring Turkish membership in the EU, Turkey might have a hard time saying no to the new leadership in Washington.

    Source: www.lesafriques.com, 16 April 2009