Tag: European Parliament

  • MONKEYS IN WONDERLAND

    MONKEYS IN WONDERLAND

    Silivri is sunflower country, vast undulating sun-filled land that rolls down to the Marmara Sea about 72 kilometers west of Istanbul. Silivri Prison squats therein on spoiled high ground 72 million light-years beyond the rule of law. Here, in the best of fascist traditions, the so-called Ergenekon coup case is being tried in a converted gymnasium. Think Stalin. Think Hitler. Think Pinochet. Think Turkey. Think Auschwitz.

    silivri prison

    The charges are vague. The proof is a hodge-podge of illegal wiretaps, secret witnesses (think Spanish Inquisition), prosecutorial leaks to pro-government newspapers, planted and otherwise tainted evidence illegally obtained. Concern about the provenance of such evidence is ignored by the court. The dossiers against the accused—journalists, labor leaders, lawyers, writers, retired military officers, all defenders of the republic established by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—number in the hundreds, the pages therein in the hundreds of thousands. Think Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. The defendants on trial still do not know the specific charges against them. Some have been incarcerated for more than two years. There is no notion of habeas corpus. The case reads as if assembled by an infinite number of monkeys banging away on computers while juggling scissors and paste pots. The chief prosecutor, allegedly a lawyer, has the appropriate last name of Öz.

    When I attended the session on 13 August the chief prosecutor was somewhere on the yellow brick road and thus absent, as were all his assistants. So the three judges interrogated the accused. This in itself is incredible. These are the same judges that are supposed to render a verdict of guilt or innocence. How can they be impartial if they are also helping the prosecutor make the case? How can they remain open-minded and just if they are emotionally involved in the prosecution? This is wildly prejudicial and trashes any notion regarding the presumption of innocence. More importantly, by directly interrogating the defendants, the judges have already accepted the validity of the evidence. Defense counsels were challenging the legality of the evidence but to no avail. The judges had already de facto accepted it. To whom should evidentiary appeals be made? Zeus? Telephone numbers and snippets of alleged conversation were read into the record. Do you know this man? No? Do you remember this telephone number? No. Amazingly, a listing of the prescription medications taken by an army general not even charged appeared in the dossier. What a fiasco! No corroborating evidence or witnesses were called. The session was just one long boring rendition of irrelevancies, immaterialities, and hearsay. On droned the three judges, See-No-Legal, Hear-No-Legal, Speak-No-Legal. An embarrassing travesty. Think Emile Zola’s J’Accuse.

    In Chile, Pinochet executed all opposed to his regime in the football stadium in Santiago. In Turkey, a slower political genocide is unfolding, this one in a prison exercise hall. The victims? The heirs of the Turkish secular republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Turkish army, the supposed defender of Atatürk’s masterpiece has been neutered. It quietly licks its wounds and feathers its nest in incompetent solitude.

    Yes, a political genocide of epic dimension is raging throughout the land. It reeks of injustice. But who cares? It is aided and abetted by the west. But who cares? We know where the traitors are. But where are the patriots? It’s the most disgusting of monkey business. Anyone care for a banana?

    Cem Ryan
    Istanbul

  • A Heart of Darkness Envelopes Turkey: A Letter to President Obama (20 July 2010) English/Turkish

    A Heart of Darkness Envelopes Turkey: A Letter to President Obama (20 July 2010) English/Turkish

    JAMES C. RYAN, Ph.D.

    [Letterhead Redacted]

    20 July 2010

    The Honorable Barack H. Obama 
    President of the United States
    The White House 
    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW 
    Washington, DC 20500 
    USA

    Dear Mr. President:

    Truth is still on the march in Turkey; the lies and treachery of the present government are in plain sight. But justice is dead. You westerners have killed it by your support of the AKP regime of  Recep Tayyip Erdoĝan. Mr. President, you recently referred to so-called democracy in Turkey as a “Muslim Democracy.” Religion and democracy don’t go together, Mr. President. And you, above all people, should know it. You spoke so glowingly about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the Turkish Grand National Assembly in May 2009. When you speak of Atatürk and democracy in the same breath, as you did, you must always emphasize three words—SECULAR, SECULAR, SECULAR.   

    This is my fourth letter to you since your inauguration, one every six months. I have yet to receive the courtesy of the slightest acknowledgement of their receipt by the White House. I know if the letters had contained threats to you, your secret service agents would have knocked my door down in the middle of the night. I also know that when I sent you campaign contributions in 2008 I received not only e-mail thank-yous, but an international telephone call from your headquarters to verify that I was a valid international contributor. Is this what defines your administration’s standards of courtesy and openness, Mr. President, money? I hope not, but I think so. But perhaps you have read my letters but acknowledging them brings you embarassment because you have so thoroughly embraced the AKP regime. So be it, Mr. President. But what about common courtesy?

    So-called “democracy” remains in critical condition in Turkey. Forget Erdoĝan’s pathetic antics about Gaza. Forget about his cozy relations with Iran, Sudan and other gangster “Islamic” regimes. They are of utmost embarrassment to the Turkish people but mean nothing compared to the civilian coup that he has engineered. Like Hitler in the thirties, all was done under the veil of “democracy.” And under that same veil, the jails are bursting with leftists opposed to the brutality of the Erdoĝan regime. Where Hitler used the SA brownshirts to do his dirty work, Erdoĝan hides behind the veils and headscarves of his AKP women. Turkey’s highest court ruled that Erdoĝan and his party are the center of anti-secular activities against the Turkish nation. In America that would be called treason. Like Hitler, Erdoĝan has destroyed the legal system by packing the courts with his own judges and prosecutors.

    You should be particularly worried to know that the Turkish army has been completely compromised by a hoax called Ergenekon. Not only does Erdoĝan now have the police force and the gendarmes, he has the army too. And you are now well aware of the trigger-happy, loud-mouthed incompetence of the Turkish prime minister in the foreign affairs arena. Turkey is on the march, BACKWARDS, to the gloriously incompetent days of the Ottomans. This is what your gloriously incompetent CIA along with numerous gloriously treasonous Turks have accomplished. Erdoĝan and his ilk champion this as some Islamic rennaissance. This is utter nonsense.

    If you read the books I sent to you with my first letter you know this. The only “enlightenment period” was due entirely to one man, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Described and defamed as just “another ruthless general” in a recent article in the lamentable Economist, Atatürk used the energy generated by the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923) to lift Turkey from the Middle Ages mentality of the Ottomans to modern times, and in many ways beyond. For example, he gave women the right to vote in 1930 and to stand for election in 1934, decades before many European countries (France, Italy, Greece, Switzerland). It is this grand achievement, by history’s most remarkable soldier-statesmen-educator, that has been destroyed by Erdoĝan and his fellow Islamo-fascist thugs. And these same thugs, who publicly proclaim women’s inferiority to men, bring their bizarrely dressed wives to receive warm welcomes in the White House.

    Oh the horror wrought by American support! A heart of darkness envelopes Turkey, Mr. President: extrajudicial wiretapping and surveilance, unconstitutional imprisonments, the trashing of human rights protections, wanton abuse of press freedom protections, corruption and theft by the ruling AKP of epic proportion, and the destruction of the Turkish army. No wonder the Economist magazine feels free to debase Atatürk. Good job, all you westerners. Bad job, Mr. President.

    But there is a force rising, Mr. President. And there are many, many Turks who refuse to take the garbage dealt to them by the AKP over the past seven years. And the force is energized by the words of Kemal Atatürk. You may not know or remember them Mr. President, but you should mark them well. As I told you in my earlier letters, I remind you again. The day of reckoning is coming. The day is near. Read his words, they describe Turkey today:

    You, the Turkish youth! Your primary duty is to forever protect and defend Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic. This is the mainstay of your existence and of your future.

     This foundation is your most precious treasure in the future, as well, there may be malevolence, within and abroad, which will seek to deny your birthright. If one day you are compelled to defend your independence and the republic, you shall not reflect on the conditions and possibilities of the situation in which you find yourself, in order to accomplish your mission. These conditions and possibilities may appear unfavorable. The adversaries who scheme against your independence and your Republic may be the representatives of a victory without precedent in the world. By force or by ruse, all citadels and all arsenals of our dear fatherland may have been taken; all of its armies may have been dispersed and all corners of the country may have been physically occupied. More distressing and more grievous than all these, those who hold and exercise the power within the country may have fallen into gross error, blunder, and even treason. These holders of power may have even united their personal interests with political ambitions of the invaders. The nation itself may have fallen into privation, and may have become exhausted and desolate.

     You, the future sons and daughters of Turkey! Even under such circumstances and conditions, your duty is to redeem Turkish independence and the Republic! The strength you shall need exists in the noble blood flowing through your veins.

    Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
    From The Great Speech
    20 October 1927

    Mr. President, in the above speech, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave his heirs, the Turkish people, the right, indeed the duty, to defend the principles of Atatürkian democracy. Not Moderate Islamic democracy! Not Muslim democracy! Just democracy, Mr. President, the same kind of democracy as yours.

    Yes, there is a force rising, Mr. President. There is a new Kemal rising, Mr. President. You should know this, Mr. President. And you should know him. On election day he will throw the treasonous AKP into the Mediterranean as the older Kemal did to the western occupiers. You and America would be wise to abandon your support for the current Islamo-fascist government and, for once, leave Turkey alone. Or you better know how to swim in deep, turbulent waters.

    With my deep respect,

    James C. Ryan, Ph.D.
    Istanbul, Turkey

    PS  My previous three letters and a brief bio are attached.

    CEM RYAN

    [Turkish Translation Follows]

    TÜRKÇE ÇEVİRİSİ

    20 Temmuz 2010
    Saygıdeğer Barack H. Obama
    Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Başkanı
    Beyaz Saray
    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
    Washington, DC 20500
    ABD

    Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı:

    Gerçek hala marş halindedir Türkiye’de; şimdiki hükümetin yalan ve ihanetleri açıkça görülmektedir. Fakat adalet öldü. Siz batılılar öldürdünüz onu, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’ın AKP rejimini destekleyerek. Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, geçenlerde Türkiye’deki sözde demokrasiyi “Müslüman Demokrasi” diye adlandırdınız. Din ve demokrasi beraber olmaz sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Ve siz, herkesten önce, bunu bilmelisiniz. Mayıs 2009’da Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi’nde Mustafa Kemal Atatürk hakkında övgüyle konuştunuz. Yaptığınız gibi, Atatürk ve demokrasiden aynı anda bahsederken, her zaman üç sözcüğü vurgulamanız gerekir: LAİKLİK, LAİKLİK,LAİKLİK

    Cumhurbaşkanlığı görevinize başladığınızdan bu yana, her altı ayda bir olmak üzere, bu size yazdığım dördüncü mektubum. Beyaz Saray’dan mektuplarımın alındıklarına dair, nezaketen de olsa, henüz en ufak bir bilgi almış değilim. Biliyorum, eğer mektuplar size yönelik tehdit içerselerdi, sizin gizli ajanlarınız gece yarısı kapımı çalarlardı. Ve gene biliyorum ki, 2008’de size seçim kampanyası için bağış gönderdiğimde, sadece elektronik postayla teşekkürler değil, aynı zamanda sizin merkezlerden uluslararası geçerli bir destekleyici olduğumu kanıtlamak amacıyla uluslar arası telefonlar aldım. Sizin yönetiminizin nezaket ve açıklık standartlarını tanımlayan bu mudur, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı? Umarım değil, ama ben öyle düşünüyorum. Belki de mektuplarımı okudunuz ama onları aldığınızı kabul etmek size mahcubiyet verecektir çünkü AKP rejimini öyle sıkıca kucaklamışsınız ki! Öyle olsun, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı! Fakat sıradan nezakete ne oldu?

    Sözde “demokrasi” Türkiye’de kritik bir durumdadır. Bırakın Erdoğan’ın Gazze hakkındaki hazin davranışlarını. Bırakın İran, Sudan ve diğer gangster ister “İslamî” rejimlerle samimi ilişkilerini. Bunlar Türkler için son derece utanç verici fakat yapılmakta olan sivil darbeyle mukayese edildiğinde bunların hiç bir anlamı yok. Otuzlardaki Hitler gibi, yapılan her şey “demokrasi” kılıfı altındadır. Ve aynı kılıf altında hapishaneler Erdoğan’ın gaddar rejimine muhalefet eden solcularla dolup taşmaktadır. Hitler kirli işlerini yaptırmak için kahverengi gömlekli SA’larını kullanırken, Erdoğan da kendi AKP’li kadınlarının örtü ve türbanlarının arkasına saklanmaktadır.Türkiye’nin en yüksek [Anayasa] mahkemesi Erdoğan ve partisinin Türk milletine karşı laiklik karşıtı eylemlerin odağı olduğuna hükmetti. Buna Amerika’da vatan hainliği denir. Hitler gibi, Erdoğan da kendi hakim ve savcılarını mahkemelere doldurarak hukuk sistemini çökertti.

    Özellikle bilmeniz gerekir ki Türk ordusu Ergenekon denilen bir komplo ile ciddi olarak zayıflatılmıştır. Şimdi Erdoğan sadece polis gücü ve jandarmaya değil, orduya da hakim olmuştur. Ve şimdi Türk başbakanının dışişlerinde her yere şiddetle saldırmak için eli tetikte olan ve ağzı kalabalık beceriksizliğinin de iyice farkındasınızdır. Türkiye marş halindedir, GERİYE DOĞRU, Osmanlı’nın şanlı-şöhretli yetersiz günlerine doğru. Bu sizin şanlı-şöhretli yetersiz CIA’nızın sayısız şanlı-şöhretli hain Türklerle birlikte başardıklarıdır.Erdoğan ve taifesi bunu İslamî Rönesans olarak savunuyorlar. Bu tamamiyle saçmalıktır.

    Eğer size ilk mektubumla birlikte gönderdiğim kitapları okuduysanız bunu bilirsiniz. Tek “aydınlanma dönemi” tamamiyle bir Tek Adam, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ten sayesindedir. Acınası Ekonomist dergisindeki yeni bir makalede “bir diger insafsız general” diye tanımlanmış ve karalanmış olan Atatürk, Türk Ulusal Bağımsızlık Savaşı’ndan (1919-1923) ortaya çıkmış olan enerjiyi Türkiye’yi Osmanlı’nın Ortaçağ zihniyetinden modern çağlara ve birçok bakımdan daha da ötesine taşımak için kullanmıştır. Mesela, 1930’da kadınlara seçme hakkını ve 1934’te de seçilme hakkını vermiştir, birçok Avrupa ülkesinden (Fransa, İtalya, Yunanistan, İsviçre) on yıllarca önce. İşte, tarihin en olağanüstü asker-devlet adamı-eğitimcisi tarafından gerçekleştirilmiş bu muhteşem  başarı, Erdoğan ve onun İslamo-faşist çete arkadaşları tarafından ortadan kaldırılmaktadır. Ve kadının erkekten aşağıda olduğunu açıkça ilan eden bu aynı çete, garip şekilde giyinmiş eşlerini nezaket ve içtenlikle karşılanmak üzere Beyaz Saray’a getirirler.

    Ah, Amerikan desteğiyle gelen dehşet! Karanlığın yüreği Türkiye’yi sarıyor, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı: mahkeme kararı olmadan yapılan dinlemeler ve takipler, anayasaya aykırı tutuklamalar, insan haklarının tahribi, basın özgürlüğünün ahlaksızca ihlali, iktidardaki AKP’nin büyük miktarlardaki yolsuzluk ve  hırsızlıkları, ve Türk ordusunun yıpratılması. Ekonomist dergisinin Atatürk’ü aşağılamak hakkını kendinde görmesi sürpriz değil. Aferin, siz tüm batılılara. Kötü iş, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı.

    Fakat yükselen bir güç var Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Geçen yedi yılda AKP’nin onlara vermeye çalıştığı çöpü almayı reddedecek daha çok, bir çok Türk var. Ve bu güç Kemal Atatürk’ün sözlerinden  enerji alıyor. Onları bilmiyor ya da hatırlamıyor olabilirsiniz, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, fakat onlara iyice dikkat etmelisiniz. Daha önceki mektuplarımda  size söylemiş olduğum gibi, size tekrar hatırlatıyorum. Hesap günü geliyor. Gün yakındır. Atatürk’ün sözlerini okuyun, bugünkü Türkiye’yi tanımlıyorlar:

    Ey Türk Gençliği!

    Birinci vazifen, Türk istikllini, Türk Cumhuriyetini, ilelebet, muhafaza ve müdafaa etmektir. Mevcudiyetinin ve istikbalinin yegane temeli budur.

     Bu temel, senin, en kıymetli hazinendir. İstikbalde dahi, seni, bu hazineden mahrum etmek isteyecek, dahili ve harici, bedhahların olacaktır. Bir gün, istiklal ve Cumhuriyeti müdafaa mecburiyetine düşersen, vazifeye atılmak için, içinde bulunacağın vaziyetin imkan ve şeraitini düşünmeyeceksin! Bu imkan ve şerait, çok namüsait bir mahiyette tezahür edebilir. İstiklal ve Cumhuriyetine kastedecek düşmanlar, bütün dünyada emsali görülmemiş bir galibiyetin mümessili olabilirler. Cebren ve hile ile aziz vatanın kaleleri zaptedilmiş, bütün tersanelerine girilmiş, bütün orduları dağıtılmış ve memleketin her köşesi bilfiil işgal edilmiş olabilir. Bütün bu şeraitten daha elim ve daha vahim olmak üzere, memleketin dahilinde iktidara sahip olanlar gaflet, dalalet ve hatta hıyanet içinde bulunabilirler. Hatta bu iktidar sahipleri şahsi menfaatlerini, müstevlilerin siyasi emelleriyle tevhit edebilirler. Millet, fakr ü zaruret içinde harap ve bitap düşmüş olabilir.

     Ey Türk istikbalinin evladı! İşte, bu ahval ve şerait içinde dahi vazifen, Türk İstiklal ve Cumhuriyetini kurtarmaktır. Muhtaç olduğun kudret, damarlarındaki asil kanda mevcuttur. 

    Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
    Nutuk’tan
    20 Ekim 1927

    Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, yukarıdaki söylevde Mustafa Kemal Atatürk varislerine, Türk Milletine, Atatürk demokrasisinin ilkelerini savunma hakkını, doğrusu görevini vermiştir. Ilımlı İslam demokrasisinin değil! Müslüman demokrasi değil! Sadece demokrasi, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı, sizin demokrasinizle aynı olan.

     Evet, bir güç yükseliyor, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Yeni bir Kemal yükseliyor, Sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Bunu bilmelisiniz, sayın Cumhurbaşkanı. Ve  O’nu tanımalısınız. Seçim günü hain AKP’yi Akdenize dökecektir, aynı Gazi Mustafa Kemal’in batılı işgalcilere yaptığı gibi. Sizin ve Amerika’nın şimdiki İslamo-faşist hükümeti desteklemeyi bırakmanız akıllıca olur, bir kez olsun, Türkiye’yi rahat bırakın. Ya da derin sularda, çalkantılı sularda yüzmesini bilseniz iyi olur!

    Derin saygılarımla,

    James C. Ryan, Ph.D.
    İstanbul, Türkiye

    Not: önceki üç mektubum ve kısa bir öz geçmişim ilişiktedir.

    Published in Turkish by Aydınlık Dergisi
    1 Ağustos 2010                                                                
    AMERİKALI BARIŞ GÖNÜLLÜSÜ OBAMA’YI UYARDI
    Hesap günü geliyor, AKP’yi destekleme artık!

    CEM RYAN

  • Iran and Turkey: Friends Today, Rivals Tomorrow?

    Iran and Turkey: Friends Today, Rivals Tomorrow?

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    Monday, 21 June 2010 23:37

    Written by RFE/RL

    0 Comments
    By Robert Tait (RFE/RL) -- It is the friendship Western policymakers wish they could have prevented: Turkey -- secular, Western-leaning, and a key member of NATO -- drawing close to a resurgent theocratic Iran whose nuclear program and geopolitical ambitions present a full-frontal challenge to the established international order. Suspicions that Turkey is abandoning the Western orbit for a closer alignment with its Muslim Middle Eastern neighbors were reinforced last month when the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, flew to Tehran to sign a nuclear fuel-swap deal -- brokered along with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva -- aimed at blocking further UN sanctions against Iran's uranium enrichment program. Coming on the back of flourishing trade ties, the move -- ultimately unsuccessful -- was seen as a manifestation of Erdogan's growing affinity for Iran and its president, Mahmud Ahmadinejad, whom he had previously described as "a very good friend." The image of a new Tehran-Ankara axis was further enhanced by Israel's deadly interception of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid flotilla on May 31, which led to the deaths of nine Turks and drew international condemnation. The incident created the impression of a united Turkish-Iranian front against Israel and in support of Hamas, the Islamist group that runs Gaza. The growing warmth is a far cry from the frosty, mutually suspicious relations that endured for years between the two neighbors following the 1979 Islamic Revolution which ousted the Western-backed shah from power in Iran. Yet, according to some analysts, there may be a sting in the tail. Trigger Suspicions Far from being the gateway to a long-standing alliance, Turkey's new engagement with the Middle East and vocal support for the Palestinians could trigger Iranian suspicions and eventually restore the formerly competitive relationship between the two countries. Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian-born analyst with the MEEPAS think tank in Israel, believes Turkey's new Middle East-centered foreign policy -- which includes rapprochement with Iran's close ally, Syria -- is a threat to Tehran's desire to be the Islamic world's dominant power. "Both countries are rivals for the same title, which is leader of the Islamic world," Javedanfar says. "And the Iranians have a set of economic and political advantages to offer any country who wants to side with them, and the Turks have another set of advantages which are far more than the Iranian ones. 86FF5EFB C746 4AF7 BD26 779BD1A441D7 mw800 s"I can best describe it as the Turkish government being able to offer business class seats to any potential customer who wants to ally itself with Turkey, and the Iranians can offer a coach or economic class. I think the majority of people are going to be attracted to the business class rather than the other one, unless they have to." If that assessment comes as a relief to Western diplomats fretting over Turkey's supposed defection, there may be a sobering corollary. Javedanfar fears the results of any renewed Iranian-Turkish rivalry will be greater efforts by the leadership in Tehran to acquire a nuclear-weapons capability. "When it comes to economic power, when it comes to military power, when it comes to diplomatic position, Iran is inferior to Turkey," Javedanfar says. "So they are going to look at areas where they are superior and the only other one where they can gain an edge over the Turks, one of the very few areas, is the nuclear program. "Turkey is not a nuclear power. Therefore, Iran would have even more of a reason and an excuse to become a nuclear power in order to gain an edge over their Turkish rivals." Likely Launch Pad The prediction may seem far-fetched, yet hardly more so than an article published earlier this year by the Jahan News website -- believed to be linked to the Iranian intelligence services -- that identified Turkey as the likely launch pad for a future war against Iran. Written by Farid Al Din Hadad Adel, grandson of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the article asked: "Which country can hope for the entry of its European and American friends into the arena of war, if it enters into war against us? The answer is clear. Turkey is the only option for the advancement of the West's ambitions." The Islamic regime has a history of suspiciousness towards Turkey. In 2005, the Revolutionary Guards closed Tehran's newly built Imam Khomeini Airport for "security reasons" because a Turkish company had been awarded the contract to run it. The airport was only reopened after the contract was canceled and awarded to an Iranian consortium. In the same year, the Turkish mobile-phone operator Turkcell was stripped of a $2 billion contract giving it a stake in a private Iranian mobile network. Murat Bilhan, vice chairman of the Istanbul-based think tank TASAM and who served as a Turkish diplomat in Iran, believes continuing Iranian disquiet over its Western neighbor has recently surfaced in its rejection of Ankara's offer of mediation in relations with the United States. Even the recent nuclear swap deal may have been accepted only because of Brazil's role, he suggests. "Iran feels itself a little split off from the Western connections because it's in the hands of Turkey," says Bilhan. "They feel rivalry, as a competitor, and they would not like Turkey to be stronger than Iran. That's the feeling in Iran, in Iranian statesmen, in Iranian decision makers, policy planners, and such. "So Turkey, for Iran, is, in a way, not a threat but something to get along [with], to share the same geography, not to create any problems, but not to be overwhelmed by." Afraid Of Iran A further source of potential friction could be Turkey's increasing closeness to Arab states in the Persian Gulf, most of which fear Tehran's nuclear activities, Bilhan says. "There are some contradictions in the Turkish position in the sense that Turkey should be aware that the Arab nations in the Persian are too much afraid of Iran and they just feel threatened by the Iranian existence and Iranian ambitions in the region, especially their nuclear ambitions," Bilhan says. "So when Turkey supports the Iranian position, it might contradict its own Arab policy because the Arabs have enmity towards Iran." Turkish officials argue that Turkey's geography and shared Muslim heritage make it uniquely qualified in the Western alliance to win Iran's trust. In private, they admit that negotiations with the Islamic regime can be fraught -- citing the Iranian political system's diverse power centers. They also say the two countries still have important differences, notably over Iraq. "We are not defending Iran, we are looking after our own interests" one Turkish official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RFERL. "We don't want to see a nuclear Iran in the military sense at all. Our aim in that is the same as other countries. It's just our approach that's different." He added: "On Iraq, we don't see eye-to-eye with Iran at all. We want an all-inclusive government in Iraq made up Shi'ites, Sunnis, and Kurds, whereas Iran only wants a Shi'ite government. We are not always in parallel with Iran on many issues. "But I don't think they should see us as a rival. The fact that we can talk to almost everyone, in contrast to them, means Iran should use us to try and get back into the international community. That's what we are trying to do."

    RFE/RL

    Copyright (c) 2009. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

  • Wait and See Game for Turkey’s Enforcement of UN Sanctions on Iran

    Wait and See Game for Turkey’s Enforcement of UN Sanctions on Iran

    Dorian Jones | IstanbuL

    21 June 2010

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    Photo: AFP

    Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flashes the V-sign for victory as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks on after the Islamic republic inked a nuclear fuel swap deal in Tehran (File Photo – 17 May 2010)

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    This month, Turkey voted against the United Nations Security Council’s fourth round of sanctions against Iran. With Turkey’s Islamic rooted government increasing its economic ties with Iran in the past few years, fears are arising that the pivotal Western ally is in danger of swinging eastward because of resistance in Europe to its bid for membership of the European Union.

    Despite growing international tensions over Iran’s nuclear energy program, the Turkish government has forged ahead with energy deals with Iran, expanding its dependency on energy with the nation.

    These deals put Turkey in a precarious situation: to enforce or not to enforce the UN sanctions imposed on its neighbor Iran.

    Turkey has long been seen as a bridge between East and West. But its belief that sanctions are ineffective and that there are dangers in pushing the Islamic republic into a corner is likely to change its relationship with Western nations.

    Earlier this month Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu expressed concern over the existing sanctions against Iran.

    AP

    “Turkey and Iran’s trade volume is around $10 billion,” he says. “And it can rise to $30 billion if sanctions are lifted.”

    Iran’s energy resources are seen as important by Ankara to break its dependency on Russian energy.

    Iran expert Gokhan Cetinsayar of Sehir University says that in addition to its dependency on gas, there are other trade initiatives with Iran that are economically key to Turkey.

    “75,000 trucks going on between Turkey and Iran every year,” said Cetinsayar. “Now there are energy deals. You know how important the Iranian natural gas and all other agreements and initiatives are economically important for Turkey.

    With large families usually depending for their livelihoods on cargo trucks, its estimated as many a million Turkish people depend on Iranian trade.

    With its increasing economic ties with Iran, there are growing fears that Turkey will balk at enforcing the UN sanctions against Iran.

    Turkish foreign minister spokesman Burak Ozugergin says Turkey has already paid a heavy economic price for UN policies with another of its neighbors, Iraq.

    “At the beginning of the 90’s, the Turkish volume of trade with Iraq was around the 15 to 20 percent mark of our total volume of trade. The next year, after the imposition of sanctions, this trickled down to almost zero,” said Ozugergin. “Money is not everything. But at least if it did work then we might be able to say to our public, ‘look it was for a good a cause.’ But can we really honestly say that looking back? For Iran again we don’t think it will help to solve the nuclear issue and perhaps may work against it.”

    The new sanctions on Iran are expected to cut into the present $10 billion trade volume. It could possibly undermine its energy policy as well. But political scientist Nuray Mert of Istanbul University say some western nations may now not be able to depend on Turkey.

    “I was inclined to think that at the end of the day Turkey will join the club when it comes to realization of these sanctions,” she said. “But nowadays I can see the government is planning to avoid these sanctions. Because now we have Turkey signing a lot of economic agreements, against the policy of sanctions.”

    For now Turkey has remained circumspect over enforcing new sanctions. One foreign ministry official said “you will have to wait and see.” Analysts say Iran would probably reward any breaking of sanctions with lucrative energy deals. But the political cost could be high because of Turkey’s aspirations for joining the EU. The coming weeks will see Ankara facing a difficult a choice.

  • Operation Mini Cast Lead

    Operation Mini Cast Lead

    By Gideon Levy

    Palestinian Native AmericanLike in “Mini-Israel,” the park where there is everything, but smaller, Israel embarked yesterday on a mini Operation Cast Lead. Like its larger, losing predecessor, this operation had it all: the usual false claim that is was they who had started it – and not the landing of commandos from helicopters on a ship in open sea, away from Israeli territorial waters. There was the claim that the first act of violence came not from the soldiers, but the rioting activists on Mavi Marmara; that the blockade on Gaza is legal and that the flotilla to its shores is against the law – God knows which law.

    Again came the claim of self defense, that “they lynched us” and that all the dead are on their side. Once more the use of violence and excessive and lethal force was in play and once more civilians wound up dead.

    This action also featured the pathetic focus on “public relations,” as if there is something to explain, and again the sick question was asked: Why didn’t the soldiers use more force.

    Again Israel will pay a heavy diplomatic price, once which had not been considered ahead of time. Again, the Israeli propaganda machine has managed to convince only brainwashed Israelis, and once more no one asked the question: What was it for? Why were our soldiers thrown into this trap of pipes and ball bearings? What did we get out of it?

    If Cast Lead was a turning point in the attitude of the world toward us, this operation is the second horror film of the apparently ongoing series. Israel proved yesterday that it learned nothing from the first movie.

    Yesterday’s fiasco could and should have been prevented. This flotilla should have been allowed to pass and the blockade should be brought to an end.

    This should have happened a long time ago. In four years Hamas has not weakened and Gilad Shalit was not released. There was not even a sign of a gain.

    And what have we instead? A country that is quickly becoming completely isolated. This is a place that turns away intellectuals, shoots peace activists, cuts off Gaza and now finds itself in an international blockade. Once more yesterday it seemed, and not for the first time, that Israel is increasingly breaking away from the mother ship, and losing touch with the world – which does not accept its actions and does not understand its motives.

    Yesterday there was no one on the planet, not a newsman or analyst, except for its conscripted chorus, who could say a good word about the lethal takeover.

    The Israel Defense Forces too came out looking bad again. The magic evaporated long ago, the most moral army in the world, that was once the best army in the world, failed again. More and more there is the impression that nearly everything it touches causes harm to Israel.

    https://www.haaretz.com/2010-06-01/ty-article/operation-mini-cast-lead/0000017f-db60-db22-a17f-fff155150000, 01.06.10

  • GAZA FLOTILLA: NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION IN UK!

    GAZA FLOTILLA: NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION IN UK!

    GAZA FLOTILLA: NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION IN UK!
    GAZA FLOTILLA: NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION IN UK!

    Date: Saturday 5th June

    Assemble 1:30pm outside Downing Street, LONDON, UK

    March to Israeli Embassy

    with speakers from the Flotolla

  • End the Siege of Gaza
  • Freedom for Palestine