Turkish Forum

Tag: Davos

  • Would ‘Washington Post’ writer David Ignatius put his arm on President Obama during a debate?

    Would ‘Washington Post’ writer David Ignatius put his arm on President Obama during a debate?

    Phil Weiss

    […]

    And yes, while Ignatius has been forward-thinking/realist since, he can be justly scored, I think, for putting his hand on the Turkish Prime Minister to stop the debate so everyone could go to dinner the other night at Davos. It’s easy to say this in retrospect, but there was no sense on Ignatius’s part of the Moment. Ignatius should have extended the time to let both men finish their points, Peres and Erdogan. Let the stomachs grumble. As it is, he appeared to dis the P.M.–and as we see, appearance is everything in these matters–and failed to recognize that when you give a stage to a man defending the slaughter of 450 children, the placement of the salad fork should not be the highest concern, a structural problem with the Establishment, in my humble opinion.

    […]

    …and I'm to blame?

    Source: www.philipweiss.org

  • Turkey’s Opposition CHP backs PM in Davos

    Turkey’s Opposition CHP backs PM in Davos

    Turkey’s CHP backs PM in Davos, blames for using issue for elections

    What was done against Turkish prime minister during a Gaza session in Davos was injustice, Deniz Baykal, the leader of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) said on Sunday, but added the issue is being used by the premier as a material for upcoming local elections.

    Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan had stormed out of the tense Gaza session with Israel’s President Shimon Peres on Thursday in Davos after the moderator, Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, refused to give him floor.

    Source:  Hurriyet, 01 Feb 2009

  • “A New World Leader”

    “A New World Leader”

    Yet Another Crisis in Turkey-Israel Relations

    Emrullah Uslu

    In an earlier EDM analysis it was observed that since Israel’s Gaza offensive began, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s harsh criticism of the operation has made him the champion of the man in the street in the Muslim world (see, EDM, January 7, 15). Despite the fact that Turkish diplomats and ministers have tried in the last three days to repair the “Gaza damage” (see, EDM, January 27), Erdogan condemned Israeli policies in Gaza in the presence of Israeli President Shimon Peres in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 29. In response, Peres raised his voice, pointed his finger at Erdogan, and fiercely defended his country’s incursion into Gaza:

    What would you do if rockets were fired at Istanbul every night? …Do you understand the meaning of a situation where hundreds of rockets are falling a day on women and children who cannot sleep quietly, who need to sleep in shelters? What is the matter with you? You don’t understand, and I am not prepared for lies (Jerusalem Post, January 30).

    Erdogan wanted to respond to Peres but the moderator unsuccessfully tried to end the panel. Erdogan, however, had a minute of response in which he slammed Peres back by saying:

    You are raising your voice, because I know it is a sign of expressing a guilty feeling. When it comes to killing, you know very well how to kill. I know very well how you killed children on the beaches. Two of Israel’s Prime Ministers personally told me—if asked I could reveal their names—that they feel happy when they enter into Gaza… (“The Great Game Revisited,” , January 29).

    After he left the panel Erdogan said that his anger was toward the moderator but he did not step back from his remarks on Israeli policies on Gaza. Later it was reported that Peres phoned Erdogan and apologized about raising his voice and explained that “I raised my voice because I am told that it was difficult to hear if you do not speak loudly” (Yeni Safak, January 30).

    The heated debate in Davos immediately resonated in Turkey. The people of Turkey, who had already demonstrated their anger toward Israel over the Gaza crisis (see EDM, January 7), showed their support for their prime minister. Within a few hours, 97.5 percent of the respondents (36344 votes) to an opinion poll in the Internet said they supported Erdogan, while only 1.7 percent (620 votes) said that Erdogan’s response was not right (www.haber7.com, January 29). Thousands of people went to the airport to welcome Erdogan when he arrived in Istanbul at 2:20 AM in the morning. TV channels began live broadcasting upon his arrival. Erdogan said at a press conference that:

    I do not want to be a leader who made his decision on Turkish-Israeli relations at a time of anger. We should know that Turkey should not determine its policies with the attitude of who says what. The other side should think “what happens if we lose Turkey?” Turkey is a big country and should act with this perspective (NTV, January 30).

    After his press conference Erdogan delivered a speech to thousands of joyful people carrying signs saying “welcome conqueror of Davos” and “a new World leader.” Erdogan told them that “I understand the feelings of you who came here in the middle of the night. Turkey should not make its decisions on the basis of who says what if Turkey takes this step or that step. The other sides should think about what happens if they lose Turkey” (NTV, January 30). While Erdogan was outlining Turkish-Israeli relations on the basis of the idea that “the other side [Israel] should think what happens if it loses Turkey,” an Israeli official outlined Israel’s position: “Erdogan’s actions in Davos show that he doesn’t want to miss an opportunity to further harm Turkish-Israeli relations. …Israel’s strategic relationship with Turkey is important to us, but it is no less important to Turkey.” The official warned that Israel was growing increasingly tired of Erdogan’s tirades, and was unlikely to make any more efforts to “chase after the Turks” (Jerusalem Post, January 30).

    Political observers in Turkey and around the world wonder why Erdogan stormed off the stage. The first reason may be found in his psychological makeup. Even he himself admits that he is not one to use diplomatic language. When he feels he is being attacked, he responds fiercely. Second, and more important, if Erdogan had not responded to Peres’s “loud and finger-pointing response,” it could have meant his political demise in Turkey. Not only would the opposition parties use Peres’s angry response against him but majority of his admirers, who see him as a straight- talking, fearless leader, would abandon him permanently. Erdogan’s strident criticism of Israel may have put him in a situation from which he cannot step back. An opinion poll by the Genar poling company from January 9 to 19 showed that 71.9 percent of the respondents approved of Erdogan’s stance toward Israel; 59 percent supported the idea of sending Turkish troops to Gaza for a peace-keeping mission; 59.4 percent felt that volunteers should be allowed to go to Gaza; and 63.2 percent of those who approved of the volunteers wanted to go Gaza themselves (www.haber7.com, January 30).

    It will be interesting to see how Turkish and Israeli diplomats will manage to normalize relations again, but on the domestic level, Erdogan has become a hero of the masses. With this popularity one can assume that Erdogan is already assured of victory in the municipal elections in March.

    On the international level, Erdogan’s condemnation of Israel may harm Turkish foreign policy positions, but in the streets of the Arab world Erdogan is becoming a “new Nasser.” A Turkish TV channel reported that Palestinians would organize rallies after Friday prayers to show their appreciation for what Erdogan said (Ulke TV, January 30).

    Source:  Eurasia Daily Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation – January 30, 2009 — Volume 6, Issue 20

  • Serge Sargsian, Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Davos

    Serge Sargsian, Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet in Davos

    Published: Friday January 30, 2009

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey meets with President Serge Sargsian of Armenia on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Jan. 29, 2009. Press office of the President of Armenia

    Yerevan – The president of Armenia and prime minister of Turkey met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum taking place in Davos, Switzerland, this week.

    According to The Associated Press, Mr. Sargsian said that talks with Mr. Erdogan were “very useful.” Speaking to reporters following their meeting, Mr. Sargsian said, “I’ve seen a willingness of the prime minister to solve our issues. I think this is a positive signal.”

    According to Reuters, Mr. Erdogan said that talks between the two countries could yield a roadmap for relations if Yerevan shows a “sincere” attitude. The Turkish prime minister during a panel session at the forum said, “It would be a shame if all these efforts are made a victim of [the Armenian] diaspora’s works.” This was not the only time Mr. Erdogan tried to drive a wedge between Armenia and the diaspora. According to Today’s Zaman, Mr. Erdogan also had the following to say: “The Armenian diaspora is plotting. But we can see very clearly and sharply that their efforts are aimed at utilizing [this issue]. This is obvious. But I also see that the current administration in Armenia doesn’t take part in this,” Mr. Erdogan stressed.

    Relations between Armenia and Turkey began to thaw after Mr. Sargsian invited Turkey’s President Abdullah Gül to Yerevan to watch the World Cup qualifying match between the two country’s national soccer teams in September 2008.

    Source:  The Armenian Reporter,  January 30, 2009

  • Poor Richard’s Report

    Poor Richard’s Report

    Geopolitical Diary: The World’s Pivot
    January 30, 2009Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan created a stir at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday with a lengthy condemnation of Israel’s recent actions in the Gaza Strip.

    Erdogan’s speech was clearly prepared beforehand — read directly from papers he was holding — so this was no off-the-cuff comment that could be written off. And sitting right next to the Turkish prime minister the whole time was none other than Israeli President Shimon Peres. After Peres delivered a counterpoint, Erdogan went on what detractors would probably label a rant, which ended with a brief argument with the moderator about time limits before he abruptly walked off the stage, having said, “I do not think I will return to Davos.”

    Back in Turkey, the response was mixed: Some were surprised by their leader’s actions, and some were thrilled to see him lambaste both Israel and the European elites at Davos. Indeed, it is a matter for debate both within and outside Turkey just where Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party are taking Turkish policy in the near future. There are those who see his bold criticisms of Israel as a clear bid to seize a leadership position for Islamic sentiment throughout the Middle East. Others see Turkey asserting itself in order to counter, or perhaps collaborate with, a resurgent Russia. Still others see Turkey pushing to join, or perhaps utterly reject, the European Union. The one thing that is clear is that Turkey is moving more assertively than it has in decades.

    It has been almost 90 years since the world has seen Turkey as a place that projects any power on its own. Since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Turks have been extremely insular, dabbling only rarely in events beyond their borders. Granted, Turkey was a key participant in the NATO alliance during the Cold War, given that it shared borders with the Middle East, Iran, the Soviet bloc (Bulgaria) and the Soviet Union itself. It has been a long time, however, since Turkey pursued an activist foreign policy — and most of the world has forgotten just what that means.

    Turkey occupies on some of the most valuable real estate in the world. The Anatolian plateau is high and easily defensible, and as a peninsula it also supports a thriving maritime culture. Both are excellent assets for growing a successful state. But Turkey’s most important feature is its critical location. It sits astride the land routes connecting Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East — not to mention the straits connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. It is the only country in the world that is positioned to project influence readily into all of these regions.

    A deeper look reveals that the territory that comprises modern-day Turkey has been at or near the center of the human story for thousands of years. It was the home of the Hittite empire some 3,300 years ago, and afterward its Aegean coast was part of Classical Greece. Not only was Anatolia a key component of the Roman Empire, but Byzantium — based in what is now Istanbul — was Rome’s immediate political, cultural, religious and economic successor. That entity in turn was succeeded by the Ottomans, who crafted what was at the time the world’s greatest empire — which almost unilaterally enabled humanity to emerge from the Dark Ages, even at times conquering a good portion of what would eventually become Western civilization. For about half of the past two millennia, Anatolia has commanded the world’s most powerful economic and military forces.

    The bottom line is this: Any time in human history that the Anatolian Peninsula has not been a leading force in geopolitics has been an aberration. The land that links Europe to the Eurasian steppe to the mountains of Asia to the Mediterranean basin and the deserts of Arabia is geographically destined to play a major role on the global stage. If the world has a pivot, it lies in Turkey.

    And although the direction of its movement remains up for debate, Turkey — after more than 90 years of quiescence — is moving again.

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  • DAVOS & ERDOGAN IB DEPKA FILES

    DAVOS & ERDOGAN IB DEPKA FILES

    Summary of DEBKAfile’s Exclusive Articles in Week Ending Jan. 28, 2009
    Gaza ceasefire too fragile to acclaim end of warfare
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis     24 Jan.: Israeli leaders insist the IDF left Hamas seriously crippled – which is undeniable; but the second half of the proposition that Hamas had “lost its appetite for striking Israel targets for a very long time” – is over-optimistic, give the considerations listed here:

    1. Hamas is in no state to reach a clear decision because its leadership is divided on this very issue.
    The Gazan faction headed by prime minister Ismail Haniya would accept Egypt’s proposals for shelving armed warfare for now and healing the quarrel the Palestinian Authority chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, whereas Hamas’ Damascus faction led by Khaled Meshaal rejects any terms but the unconditional reopening of Gaza’s crossing and an end to its blockade.

    2. Jerusalem is beholden to Cairo as the first major Arab power to support a battle with an Arab force, and was thus bound to respect its wishes to teach Hamas – and Iran – a harsh lesson but stop short of finally crushing the Palestinian extremists.

    3. Until last week, Egypt enjoyed solid Saudi backing. But then, at the Arab League summit in Kuwait on Jan. 19, the Saudi king changed face and decided to appease the Iran-led radical Arab camp.

    4. American and Egypt mechanisms to staunch Hamas’ access to smuggled Iranian and Syrian arms are still tentative.

    This and the divisions in the Arab world have encouraged Tehran to persist in rearming Hamas and the Hamas-Damascus faction to maintain its intransigent posture, a contest which crackles with inflammatory potential.

    Egypt cracks the whip for Hamas in long-term truce talks
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report         25 Jan.: Egyptian intelligence minster Gen. Omar Suleiman gave Hamas no leeway when its delegation began long-term truce talks for Gaza in Cairo Sunday, Jan. 25. Accept our terms, he said or take your chances on a new Israel government after the Feb. 10 general election.

    Here are the conditions Cairo put before the Palestinian Islamist organization:

    1. Hamas must pledge to halt all smuggling into the Gaza Strip, including arms.

    2. and 3. It must accept a long-term truce for Gaza and a half-kilometer off limits zone behind the border…

    4. Hamas would have no access to the Gaza crossing facilities.

    5. The verbal abuse of Egypt must stop forthwith.

    Suleiman made it clear that financial aid for rebuilding the Gaza Strip was contingent on Hamas burying the hatchet with Mahmoud Abbas and accepting a power-sharing deal with his Palestinian Authority.

    Iranian arms ship intercepted by US warship has sealed double holds
    DEBKAfile Exclusive Report     25 Jan.: The Iranian ship boarded by a US Navy Coast Guard team on the Red Sea last week before it could smuggle arms to Hamas is now disclosed by DEBKAfile’s military sources to have tried to trick the searchers by enclosing its rocket cargo in secret compartments behind layers of steel.

    The Iranian freighter Nochegorsk was intercepted in the Bab al-Mandeb Straits last week by the new US Combined Task Force 151. The Americans decided not to give the Israeli Navy a chance to seize the vessel and tow it to Eilat for fear of a Tehran ultimatum to Jerusalem sparking Iranian attacks on Israeli naval craft patrolling the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea.

    Iran maintains two warships in those waters as well as a military presence in the Eritrean port of Assab.
    The US and Egyptian governments are in a fix. To break the Iranian ship’s holds open and expose the rockets destined for Hamas, the facilities of a sizeable port are needed. It would have to be Egyptian because the other coastal nations – Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia – are hostile or controlled by pirates.
    And the US and Egypt are hesitant about precipitating a full-blown armed confrontation with Iran. The new Barack Obama administration is rather set on smoothing tiesTehran through diplomatic engagement.

    The option of towing it to a Persian Gulf port would be opposed by the Gulf emirates hosting US bases.
    Moreover, Tehran would be close enough to mount a naval commando operation to scuttle the ship before it was searched. Therefore, the US government is expected to let the Iranian arms ship sail through the Suez Canal out to the Mediterranean for lack of other options.

    Two Guantanamo inmates on al Qaeda video25 Jan.: The two men reaffirmed their dedication to jihad on a video posted in an al Qaeda website shortly after President Barack Obama signed a directive to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba within a year. One was a Saudi identified as Saeed Shihri, one of al Qaeda’s top leaders in Yemen.

    DEBKAfile adds: He was transferred to Saudi Arabia in 2007. Against a pledge not to revert to terrorism, Shahri won a big Saudi grant for his “rehabilitation.” He did indeed build a big house and take a wife, but on the quiet resumed his affiliation with al Qaeda.

    The second man on the video, Abu al-Hareth Muhammed al-Oufi, is an al Qaeda field commander. Another 245 prisoners await their release in the camp. According to the US Defense Department, as many as 61 former Guantanamo Bay detainees, about 11 percent of 520 inmates transferred or released so far, have rejoined al Qaeda’s active ranks.

    Hamas wartime rockets missed US anti-Iranian missile radar near Beersheba
    DEBKA-Net-Weekly Exclusive     26 Jan.: Following orders from Tehran, the Palestinian Hamas used the cover of the 22-day Gaza conflict to aim rockets at the American Forward-Based X-band Transportable (FBX-T) anti-missile radar system lodged at Israel’s big Nevatim air base east of Beersheba, DEBKA-Net-Weekly disclosed lat week.

    Destruction of the FBX-T, which was installed last November to intercept incoming Iranian Shehab-3 ballistic missiles, would have crowned Hamas’ offensive with success. But they missed.

    Cont. Next Column



    		 Our military sources reveal that the American X-band radar, which can track the path of any missile fired in the Middle East, worked hard during Operation Cast Lead, feeding the Israeli command with accurate advance information on the missiles and rockets aimed from Gaza at southern Israel and their trajectories.

    It also tracked the rockets fired twice at Nahariya and Kiryat Shemona from Lebanon and kept watch for possible missile action from Syria and Iran.
    But the American radar facility at Nevatim also kept Washington abreast of Israel’s aerial, naval and missile activity in the course of the conflict.

    Major Israeli reprisal pending for Palestinian roadside bomb which killed Israeli soldier 27 Jan.: An Israeli soldier was killed and three others injured, one seriously, Tuesday, Jan. 27, by a large roadside bomb detonated from Gaza against a routine Israeli military patrol near the Kissufim crossing.

    Eight hours later, an Israeli air strike killed a Hamas operative involved in the attack riding a motorbike near Khan Younis. Defense minister Ehud Barak warned Israel would respond to the Palestinians’ unacceptable breach of the ceasefire.

    Our sources say Hamas initiated the clash for the benefit of US president Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell the day before he arrives for his first visit to the region. The time-lag between the Palestinian attack and Israel’s response exposes Jerusalem’s commitment to consult with Washington and Cairo before taking further action in Gaza. The understandings with the US, reached by Israel’s war troika, the prime minister, defense minister and foreign minister Tzipi Livni, are proving now too ungainly and unclear to fit the realities of Gaza. They tie Israel down for launching the necessary response for stamping hard on Hamas’ war initiatives.

    Hamas is determined to belie Israel’s claim of restored deterrence strength from Operation Cast Lead and assertion that Hamas would need a very long time to revert to violence.

    US military chief confirms interception of Gaza-bound Iranian arms ship28 Jan.: Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm, Mike Mullen said Jan. 28 the US Navy had intercepted a Cypriot-flagged ship in the Red Sea last week and searched it with the captain’s permission for Iranian arms bound for the Gaza Strip.

    The Iranian arms ship on its way to the Gaza Strip for Hamas was first revealed exclusively by DEBKAfile on Jan. 20 and tracked further on Jan. 23 and Jan. 25.

    The Navy had done all it could do legally but was not authorized to seize the weapons,” said Mullen, adding he would like authority to act in such cases.

    DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that it is bound for Latakia, where it will dock alongside the Russian guided missile destroyer Admiral Chabanenko.

    In the Suez Canal, the Iranian vessel’s captain called Tehran for instructions and was told to proceed to this Syrian port. Upon entering the Mediterranean on Jan. 26, the Iranian ship was blocked by Israel missile ships from access to the shores of Gaza.

    Israeli air force bombs Philadelphi corridor in three waves 28 Jan.: Israeli towns and communities within rocket and missile range of the Gaza Strip were once again on tense alert after the Israeli air force struck the Philadelphi corridor border tunnels before dawn Wednesday, Jan. 28. Punishment was promised Hamas after a large roadside bomb blew up an Israel border patrol jeep outside Gaza early Tuesday, killing one Israel soldier and injuring three, one seriously, one week into the Gaza ceasefire.

    Several smuggling tunnels caved in under the aerial bombardment. Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell may find himself landing Wednesday in the middle of another Gaza war.

    Two Qassam missiles aimed at Sderot early Thursday shatter ceasefire 29 Jan.: Israeli air raids struck a Hamas target in Khan Younes, inflicting at least 10 Palestinian casualties Thursday, Jan. 29, after two missiles were aimed at Sderot from Gaza early Thursday, Jan. 29.

    Overnight, the Israeli Air force struck a missile workshop in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
    DEBKAfile’s military circles report that in the 48 hours since a roadside bomb from Gaza killed an Israeli soldier and injured three, Hamas has reverted to its tit-for-tat cycle in an effort to demonstrate who makes the rules.

    I n expectation of a major Gaza flare-up, defense minister Ehud Barak canceled his trip this week to Washington for talks with US defense secretary Robert Gates. Wednesday, as Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell met with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem, Hamas fired two Qassam missiles and several mortar rounds into southern Israel for the first time since the 22-day conflict was halted by ceasefires.

    In Damascus, meanwhile Hamas and other radical Palestinian leaders rejected Cairo’s plan for a long-term truce, demanding the reopening of all the Gaza crossings first.

    But Hamas’ rejection has taken Cairo’s diplomatic initiative back to square one. The Egyptians believe that a good military hiding by Israel will bring the Palestinian Islamist extremists back to the negotiation table in a more reasonable frame of mind.

    Turkish premier storms out of Davos after run-in with Israeli president

    29 Jan.: At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday, Jan. 29, reproached Israeli president Shimon Peres over the Gaza offensive, saying “You kill people,” continuing the abuse he has leveled against Israel in recent weeks.

    Israeli president Shimon Peres said, raising his voice, Israel’s 22-day offensive was launched in reaction to eight years of rocket fire. Turning to Erdogan, who had said Israel had made Gaza an “open air prison,” Peres asked: “Why did they fire rockets? There was no siege against Gaza. There was never a day of starvation in Gaza.”

    The former Norwegian prime minister, Khell Magne Bondevik, said he had never seen Shimon Peres so passionate. I think he felt Israel was being attacked by so many in the international community. He felt isolated.”