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  • Balancing Hearts and Heads : Turkish Americans typically vote Republican

    Balancing Hearts and Heads : Turkish Americans typically vote Republican

    Turkish Americans typically vote Republican. This time, they are divided over which White House candidate should get their ballot.

    By Bahar Kader and Melis Özpinar | NEWSWEEK
    Published Nov 1, 2008

    Engin Inel Holmstrom, a Turkish-born American citizen, has made up her mind: she will vote for Barack Obama. Holmstrom, a 72-year-old retired sociologist, has been living in the United States for about 50 years. She supports the Democratic candidate, she says, because the world needs peace and America has to face its mistakes in Iraq. To her, a John McCain-win would mean the continuation of the current Bush administration and serve as a recipe for disaster.

    Not all Turkish Americans are as certain as Holmstrom. For the first time, the community-which has typically tended to vote Republican-is divided over which candidate to choose. On the one hand, they feel closer to the Republicans because they feel the GOP has a more balanced approach to Turkish arguments on issues such as the Armenian genocide allegations and the dispute over Cyprus. On the other, they believe a Democratic leader will be better placed to solve the financial crisis and work toward achieving a more peaceful world. Call it a case of heads for McCain, hearts for Obama. “Economic improvement can only be achieved with Obama,” says Saduman Curbuz, president of the North Texas Turkish American Association. Nonetheless, he says, his group eventually decided to back McCain because of the candidate’s support for Turkey.

    Almost 400,000 Turkish American live in the U.S., about 100,000 of them are expected to vote on Nov. 4. For many, say Turkish community leaders, the candidates’ views on the Cyprus and Armenia issues will be decisive. Pro-McCain Turks say that Obama has made more promises to Armenian, Greek and Greek Cypriot lobbies than previous Democratic presidential contenders-among them, supporting passage of a U.S. Congressional resolution stating that the Ottoman Empire carried out genocidal attacks against Armenians in 1915. They also reject Obama’s reference to Turkey as an “invader” of Cyprus after Ankara’s 1974 military intervention on the island. “If Obama is elected Turkish-US relations can be fundamentally damaged,” says Kayaalp Buyukataman, the president of Turkish Forum, a grassroots organization with 300,000 members worldwide. Buyukataman, a McCain supporter, believes the 2008 White House election will be very important for future Turkish-U.S. relations.

    Kaya Boztepe, president of the Federation of Turkish-American Associations based in New York, also believes that most Turkish Americans will continue to tilt Republican. However, other members of the community argue that this bloc will be less solid than in the past. Among them is lawyer Ayla Simon, who feels that Obama will step back from his support of the Armenian genocide resolution if he wins the vote. “The White House makes those who are elected to live there realistic for political reasons,” says Simon. “Obama will also support Turkey [to promote] world peace.” Lincoln McCurdy, president of the Turkish-American Coalition (TCA), is also among those who are not concerned about Obama’s comments on Turkey’s need to acknowledge the Armenian genocide. “[Former U.S. president Jimmy] Carter had also made comments against Turkey in his General Assembly meeting speeches; but, when he came to the White House he was reluctant to make similar comments and he worked to lift military sanctions.”

    While the Turkish vote may not play a decisive role in any of the battleground states, Turkish Americans are flexing their political muscle in other ways. The community donated close to a billion dollars to the candidates during the primaries and is becoming increasingly active in its lobbying of the Congressional caucus on U.S.-Turkish relations led by Florida Democrat Robert Wexler. According to McCurdy, this is the first time Turkish Americans have played such a strong political role. “Two states where the highest amount of donations obtained from Turkish Americans during the primaries were Texas and South Carolina,” he says. “It is not a coincidence that 10 of the senators in the Turkish Caucus came from Texas and nine from South Carolina.” Turks may not have drawn as much attention in the U.S. as ethnic blocs like Jews and Greeks, he says, but that could change after this election.

    This article was adapted from a feature in the inaugural issue of Turkiye NEWSWEEK, which launched in Turkey as NEWSWEEK’s newest local-language edition on Oct. 27, 2008. Turkiye NEWSWEEK is published in collaboration with the Ciner Media Group.

    © 2008

  • Azerbaijani-Turkish-American Foundation set up in Washington

    Azerbaijani-Turkish-American Foundation set up in Washington

    Baku. Nijat Mustafayev – APA-ECONOMICS. Azerbaijani-Turkish-American Foundation (ATAF) has been established with support from Ahmet Erentok, chairman of Azerbaijan Turkey Business Association (ATIB).
    ATIB’s International Projects Advisor Louette Ragusa was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of ATAF that is based in Washington.
    ATAF’s main objective is to coordinate lobbying activities of Azerbaijani and Turkish companies in the U.S., and provide them with legal and consulting services in market penetration.
    The US companies aspiring to do business in the region will also benefit from these services after a cooperation agreement is signed between ATIB and ATAF.

  • Syria hits out at ‘terrorist’ US

    Syria hits out at ‘terrorist’ US

    Syria’s foreign minister has accused the US of an act of “criminal and terrorist aggression” over what it says was a helicopter raid on its territory.

    Walid Muallem said Sunday’s attack saw four US aircraft travel eight miles inside Syrian airspace from Iraq and kill eight unarmed civilians on a farm.

    Unnamed US military officials have said the attack targeted and killed a high profile al-Qaeda operative.

    But the White House has not confirmed or denied the alleged raid.

    Walid Muallem: We put the responsibility on the American government

    A US official was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying that its forces had mounted a “successful” raid against foreign fighters threatening US forces in Iraq.

    He said the raid was believed to have killed “one of the most prominent foreign fighter facilitators in the region”.

    The BBC’s Kim Ghattas in Washington says the person targeted was Abu Ghadiyah, an Iraqi from Mosul.

    He was the leader of a network which smuggled fighters into Iraq and had been put on a US Treasury Department black list in February for funding and arming insurgents, says our correspondent.

    The military official quoted by AFP said: “Look when you’ve got an opportunity, an important one, you take it”.

    “That’s what the American people would expect, particularly when it comes to foreign fighters going into Iraq, threatening our forces.”

    The US has previously accused Syria of allowing militants into Iraq, but Mr Muallem insisted his country was trying to tighten border controls.

    ‘An opportunity’

    Speaking at a news conference in London, Mr Muallem said the raid on the town of Abu Kamal had killed a father and his three children, a farm guard and his wife, and a fisherman.

    Mr Muallem said the raid was “not a mistake” and that he had urged the Iraqi government to investigate.

    “We consider this criminal and terrorist aggression. We put the responsibility on the American government,” he told reporters following talks with UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

    He added: “All of them [the victims] are civilians, Syrian, unarmed and they are on the Syrian territories.

    “Killing civilians in international law means a terrorist aggression.”

    Asked if Syria would use force if a similar operation was mounted, he said: “As long as you are saying if, I tell you, if they do it again, we will defend our territories.”

    Referring to the US presidential election, he said: “We hope the coming administration will learn the mistakes of this administration.”

    Mr Muallem and Mr Miliband were scheduled to hold a joint press conference, but Mr Miliband withdrew. The UK government has declined to comment on the raid.

    Exclusive BBC footage of the site of the alleged raid

    BBC

  • Former Bush spokesman endorses Obama

    Former Bush spokesman endorses Obama
    The former press secretary of President George W. Bush says he backs Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama for the November election.
    25 Ekim 2008 Cumartesi 04:28
    will be voting for Barack Obama,” Scott McClellan said, according to the transcript of an interview to be broadcast on CNN’s Larry King Live on Friday.

    McClellan also said he has always planned to support a candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done.

    McClellan, who was Bush’s chief spokesman from July 2003 to April 2006, is the second former administration official to back Obama in a week after Bush’s first secretary of state Colin Powell.

    On Sunday, Powell in an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press endorsed Obama, saying ‘I think that Senator Obama brings a fresh set of eyes, fresh set of ideas to the table’.

    Earlier this year McClellan sharply criticized President Bush for the Iraq war in his book, ‘What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception’.

    The US-led invasion of Iraq has left a heavy civilian casualty.

    He wrote in his book, “History appears poised to confirm what most Americans today have decided that the decision to invade Iraq was a serious strategic blunder. The perception of this catastrophe was made worse by previous decisions President Bush had made, including, first and foremost, the failure to be open and forthright on Iraq and rushing to war with inadequate planning and preparation for its aftermath.”

    After the book released, the White House said Bush was surprised and saddened about it.

    Meanwhile, The New York Times in a Thursday editorial endorsed the Democratic presidential hopeful, saying Obama had ‘met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change’.

    The Times posted its endorsement on its website on Thursday evening and was to publish it in Friday editions of the newspaper.
  • Turkey, the Region and U.S.-Turkey Relations: Assessing the Challenges and Prospects

    Turkey, the Region and U.S.-Turkey Relations: Assessing the Challenges and Prospects

    Event Summary

    Turkey has weathered exceptionally turbulent times in recent years and continues to face serious domestic and foreign policy challenges. Following the so-called “e-coup” warning of a possible military intervention, civil-military tensions climaxed during the summer of 2007. A year later, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government was nearly shut down by the Constitutional Court. The AKP’s landslide electoral victory in July 2007 was followed by another crisis over the presidency. In addition, PKK extremist attacks have been sharply on the rise. How should the next U.S. administration manage Turkish-U.S. relations? Where is Turkish domestic politics going? What is Turkey’s foreign policy outlook?

    Event Information

    When

    Tuesday, October 28, 2008
    9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

    Where

    Multi-Purpose Room
    University of California Washington Center
    1608 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
    Washington, DC
    Map

    Contact: Brookings Office of Communications

    E-mail: events@brookings.edu

    Phone: 202.797.6105

    On October 28, the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe and the SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research will host a conference to examine Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy challenges and prospects. The conference will feature a keynote address by Professor Ahmet Davutoglu, chief foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. After the keynote address, Ibrahim Kalin, founding director of SETA; Nonresident Fellow Omer Taspinar, director of the Turkey Project at Brookings; Visiting Fellow Mark Parris, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey; and Talha Kose of George Mason University will moderate a series of discussions featuring a distinguished group of Turkish and American experts, officials and scholars.

    After each panel, participants will take audience questions. A buffet lunch will be served from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m.

    Participants

    9:00 am — Welcome and Opening Remarks

    Omer Taspinar

    Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy

    Ibrahim Kalin

    SETA

    9:15 am — Keynote Address

    Ahmet Davutoglu

    Chief Advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Republic of Turkey

    10:45 am — Panel One: U.S-Turkish Relations: What Will the New President Bring to the Table?

    Moderator: Mark R. Parris

    Visiting Fellow, Foreign Policy

    Cengiz Candar

    Radikal (Turkey)

    Ian Lesser

    German Marshall Fund

    Suat Kiniklioglu

    Member of Turkish Parliament

    1:00 pm — Panel Two: Turkey’s Challenges and Opportunities and Its Region: Iraq, Iran, the Caucasus and the EU Process

    Moderator: Talha Kose

    George Mason University

    Steven Cook

    Council on Foreign Relations

    Kemal Kirisci

    Bogazici University and Carleton University

    Taha Ozhan

    SETA

    3:00 pm — Panel Three: The Domestic Scene: The Continuing Battle for Turkey’s Soul

    Moderator: Ibrahim Kalin

    SETA

    Mustafa Akyol

    Turkish Daily News

    Bulent Ali Riza

    Center for Strategic and International Studies

    Omer Taspinar

    Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy

    4:45 pm — Closing Remarks<!–

    –>

  • US helicopter attack on Syria kills eight

    US helicopter attack on Syria kills eight

    Correspondents in Damascus, Syria | October 28, 2008

    US MILITARY helicopters launched a rare attack yesterday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the Syrian Government condemned as “serious aggression”.

    A US military official said the attack by special forces had targeted a network of al-Qa’ida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Americans had been unable to shut down the network in the area because Syria was out of the US military’s reach.

    “We are taking matters into our own hands,” the official said.

    The cross-border raid came just days after the commander of US forces in western Iraq said US troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an “uncontrolled” gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

    A Syrian government statement said the US helicopter gunships attacked Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, 8km inside the Syrian border. Four military helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction and fired on the workers inside, killing them. Four children were among the dead, the Syrians reported.

    A resident of the nearby village of Hwijeh said some of the helicopters landed and the US troops left the aircraft and fired at a building. He said the helicopters flew along the Euphrates River into the area of farms and several brick factories. Another witness said four helicopters were used in the US attack.

    Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, there have been some instances in which US troops crossed the 600km Syria-Iraq border in pursuit of militants, or US warplanes violated Syria’s airspace. But yesterday’s attack was the first conducted by aircraft and on such a large scale.

    Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the US and Iraqi charges d’affaires to protest over the strike.

    “Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this attack and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi Government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch an immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria,” a government statement said in Damascus.

    Syrian state television broadcast footage showing blood on the floor of the construction site.

    The area attacked is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to support the Sunni insurgency.

    The network of foreign fighters sends militants from North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East to Syria, where elements of the Syrian military are in league with al-Qa’ida and loyalists of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, a US military official said.

    While US forces have had considerable success in shutting down the “rat lines” in Iraq, the Syrian area has been out of reach, the official said.

    US major general John Kelly said last week that Iraq’s western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries, but Syria was a “different story”.

    He said the US was helping construct a sand barrier and ditches along the border.

    The White House in August approved similar raids by US special forces from Afghanistan crossing the border into Pakistan to attack al-Qa’ida and Taliban fighters there.

    Most of the foreign fighters in Iraq enter through Syria, according to US intelligence. Foreign fighters carrying cash have been al-Qa’ida in Iraq’s chief source of income, contributing more than 70 per cent of the operating budgets in one sector in Iraq, according to documents captured on the Syrian border last year.

    Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused the US earlier this year of not giving his country the equipment needed to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. He said Washington feared Syria could use such equipment against Israel.

    Although Syria has long been viewed by the White House as a destabilising country in the Middle East, in recent months Damascus has been trying to change its image and end years of Western seclusion.

    President Bashar Assad has pursued indirect peace talks with Israel, mediated by Turkey, and says he wants direct talks next year. Syria has also agreed to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon, a country it used to dominate, and has worked harder at stemming the flow of militants into Iraq.

    AP

    Source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au, October 28, 2008