Tag: Recep Tayyip Erdogan

12th president of Turkey

  • UNSC failure a strong message to Turkey on its faulty foreign policy

    UNSC failure a strong message to Turkey on its faulty foreign policy

     

     

    Turkey’s failure to secure a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) election, with a mere 60 votes out of 193 countries this year, has indicated an erosion of Turkey’s international standing, as well as relaying a strong message of the disapproval of the country’s foreign policies, particularly in the Middle East. Five non-permanent seats on the UNSC were up for grabs in Thursday’s election, during the 69th session of the UN General Assembly in New York and Turkey failed in its bid against New Zealand and Spain in the Western Europe and other countries group. Apart from New Zealand and Spain, Angola, Malaysia and Venezuela succeeded in gaining a non-permanent seat on the UNSC, to serve for two years, starting on Jan. 1, 2015. Thursday’s embarrassing failure with only 60 votes in favor is a far cry from its success with a record 151 votes back in 2008 for the same seat. Turkey’s non-permanent seat for 2009-2010 was considered by then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a reflection of the country’s increasing weight in international politics and the confidence that the international community had in Turkey. Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has spent the past week in New York strongly lobbying for votes from the 193 members of the General Assembly. Çavuşoğlu hosted a reception in one of New York’s iconic hotels for politics, Waldorf Astoria, the night before the vote. At a parliamentary group meeting of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said: “No one should have any doubt about it [Turkey’s success in obtaining a seat]. I was in contact with our foreign minister, who is in New York. The election will be on Thursday. If we are elected, it will be the first time that a country is elected for a second time, after a five-year break.” Turkey was competing against New Zealand and Spain for two seats available in the Western countries group. In the first run, New Zealand succeeded in grabbing one of the seats. In the first ballot, Turkey received 109 votes and in the second round the number of votes reduced to 73. In the final ballot, Spain made it and Turkey was able to gather only 60 votes. Speaking to journalists in New York, Çavuşoğlu said Turkey could not abandon its principles for the sake of getting more votes. Turkey has been on the receiving end of harsh criticism, particularly from the Western world on its insistence on removing the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, turning a blind eye to the foreign fighters crossing into Syria via Turkey to join the extremist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and its reluctance to contribute to the US-led campaign against ISIL. On his Twitter account, Çavuşoğlu congratulated Angola, Venezuela, Malaysia, New Zealand and Spain for having been elected as non-permanent members to the UNSC for 2015-2016. “In a tremendous upset, Turkey lost a contest in the United Nations General Assembly, exposing increasingly contentious frictions with some of its neighbors and world powers,” stated Newsweek magazine on Thursday on its website. Newsweek reported that in the past few days, according to several diplomatic sources, Egypt and Saudi Arabia campaigned intensely against Turkey’s membership. Turkey’s relationship with both countries has been derailed due to President Erdoğan’s support for the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which is considered a terrorist organization in these countries. Turkish diplomats in New York were telling journalists that about 160 countries promised Turkey to support its bid to secure a seat before the election on Thursday. The countries cast their votes in a secret ballot. Retired Ambassador Ünal Çeviköz said the result was no surprise. Speaking to Today’s Zaman, Çeviköz said Turkey has increasingly moved away from the international community, become isolated and reduced its chances to gain such a position. He said that in 2008 Turkey’s relations with its neighbors and its position globally were very positive and the country followed a proactive foreign policy. Çeviköz pointed out that Turkey’s name is now being used constantly with negative incidents. “Turkey has followed a foreign policy that alienated itself from the Western world. Following the Arab Spring, Turkey’s relations, not only with its allies in the West, but with Arabs and Muslim neighbors have not been in good shape. What has changed is Turkey’s position — because Turkey is going against the international community, going against the current,” he said. Çeviköz stressed that the Gezi Park incidents of last year and the Dec. 17 graft probe have contributed to the loss of prestige for Turkey, as signs of shifting authoritarianism. He said Turkish officials are acting as if the international community is at fault, rather than admitting their own faults. “The most important issue is the battle against ISIL at this time. Turkey, unfortunately, is not able to give a message that it stands with them [the coalition],” Çeviköz said. Former Ambassador and former deputy of the opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Deniz Bölükbaşı pointed out that Turkey lost due in part to not knowing the rules in the UN and becoming a candidate again, even though Turkey retained a seat a short time ago. Bölükbaşı pointed out that the Dec. 17 graft scandal and certain anti-democratic steps have caused Turkey to lose prestige in the eyes of the world. Stressing that the non-permanent seat in the UN is not an indication of prestige, Bölükbaşı said the AK Party government needs to show some success in the foreign policy area with such symbolic steps. “Turkey did not expect only 60 votes,” Mehmet Seyfettin Erol, an academic at Ankara’s Gazi University and head of Ankara’s International Strategic and Security Research Center, told Today’s Zaman on Friday. “There is a message to Turkey and its foreign policy here [with the UN vote], regarding the disapproval of these policies. Whether Turkey is going to get this message and what will be its reaction to it will be important,” said Erol. “Turkey is experiencing problems with the West on the Middle East issues. Back in 2008, Turkey’s relationship with the West was much more healthy and positive. At this time, there are serious differences of interest between Turkey and the West on ISIL, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [PKK], Syria and Iraq policies. I see the decrease of votes in the UN from 151 in 2008 to 60 votes this year as a reflection of the crisis between Turkey and the West,” Erol added. Loğoğlu urges Erdoğan and Davutoğlu to apologize to Turks Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Adana deputy and a veteran diplomat Faruk Loğoğlu told Today’s Zaman on Friday that the embarrassing result for Turkey was inevitable due to the loss of prestige for Turkey with the AK Party government’s policies. “No one has told the tale of Turkey’s successful foreign policy by Erdoğan and Davutoğlu at the UN General Assembly and the international community reacted to the AK Party’s policies that are damaging regional and global peace and stability, by saying, ‘No, we don’t believe you any more’.” He stressed that it was unrealistic to expect votes from the West to Turkey, “as a country which doesn’t respect democracy, the rule of law and human rights.” Loğoğlu also said the Arab world does not want Turkey anymore, either. Loğoğlu said he condemns Erdoğan and Davutoğlu for putting Turkey in such an embarrassing position and urged both leaders to apologize to the Turkish people. Spanish El Pais daily reported on Friday that Turkey has become a victim of its hesitant attitude toward ISIL and an aggressive foreign policy in the Middle East. The daily said: “What is important in the UN is not as much about having friends as having fewer enemies.” Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy welcomed the news of Spain’s win and said on Friday that the result shows the international community’s trust in his country. (Cihan/Today’s Zaman)

  • Kopani What does it mean for the United States? (Radikal Newspaper)

    Kopani What does it mean for the United States? (Radikal Newspaper)

    Kopani What does it mean for the United States? (Radikal)

    Today, the global coalition against the United States Isidor retired Gen. John Allen and assist coordinators Brett McGurk Ankara ‘, or they come. ISID for two days in the fight against Turkey ‘s military contribution will discuss can provide. Negotiations will be conducted with a wide range, but with the impact of developments in Turkey Kopani will be the first item on the agenda. Meet Washington in terms of freedom of Tolga penned Kopani issue. Here in the United States in terms of Article 10 Kopani!

    1) USA, Kobani’nin when the ISID forces began to attack?
    Isidor targets in Syria first started to hit on September 22. The siege lasted Isidor Kopani. HDPE Co-chairman Selahattin Demirtas was in Washington that week. Both the White House and the American Foreign Ministry has held talks with. Kobani’nin is about to fall, the support needs to be told. And Americans, has started its operations in Syria six days later, on September 27, Kobani’nin the first time in an air strike against Isidor held.

    2) Kopani Isidor how much weight to place holds on coalition attack?
    Isidor carrying out operations in Iraq and Syria in the region of the United States Army CENTCOM October 6, 2014, a memo sent to reporters. Accordingly, 22 September-6 October 2014 from a total of 95 air strikes in Syria and held them in place with a laser to mark targets men. Work together in Iraq as the Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga forces in Syria is not a black. Kirby just called to say: “This matter will be honest with you, where air power has limits. And we are currently in Syria, land, eager, talented, do not have an active partner. “Every day 7-10
    For these operations, the Pentagon spends millions of dollars. However, cooperation with ground forces in Iraq, Syria is not yet able to sit.

    3) So these attacks Isidor fell to the Kobani’de enough?
    No. Kirby also clearly said it at a press conference yesterday. “These attacks will not solve it. Kopani to save the city. We know that, “he said. What’s missing? collaborate on land where the air while attacking the United States, smart missiles to hit targets on the ground, laser mark on the man. Work together in Iraq as the Iraqi Army and the Peshmerga forces in Syria is not a black. Kirby just called to say: “This matter will be honest with you, where air power has limits. And we are currently in Syria, land, eager, talented, do not have an active partner. “Every day from 7 to 10 million dollars the Pentagon spends for this operation. However, cooperation with ground forces in Iraq, Syria is not yet able to sit.

    4) Kobani’yi pyd’y defending against Isidor (Democratic Unionist Party) connected YPG (People’s Defence Association) Do not be a partner of the United States?
    Clearly not. Because since 1997, the number of terrorist PKK connection with the ypg’y makes punishable under U.S. law. Moreover, together with its allies have Turkey. But do not communicate? It had. FP magazine published an article in the latest US’s former ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, a back channel diplomacy conduct by intermediaries PYD every 6 months since 2012 in Paris confirmed that contact. But for now, that’s all. He also regularly briefed Turkey. But yesterday, I spoke on the phone with a senior Kurdish politician. Kobani’de intensified in the last 48 hours in case of the continuation of the American attack me in this situation may change, he said. “YPG power between the United States and has been a military coordination committees” I said. No, I still have not. The task of marking targets on land already started to hit the United States Kobani’yi the day to help the Kurdish city of the Free Syrian Army troops was doing. “Which,” I said. “Northern Storm Brigade” he said.

    5) Kobani’de Turkey to establish a safe zone possible? Much discussed this issue in Turkey. But the idea of establishing a safe zone in Syria Washington thinks is not an option at the moment. Yesterday, all the spokesmen of the city, in the daily press conference gave the same answer to this question. First, Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon spokesman, said: “It (the buffer zone), our military options currently on the table as we think not,” he said. Then it came to White House spokesman Josh Earnest. He said, “This (the buffer zone) of the Turks several times expressed themselves something they and we talked with them about it. However, we think our currently nothing, “he said. Journalists are still not satisfied with the same questions asked in the State Department briefing. There is also a spokeswoman Jen Psai repeat the same thing again: “This option (the buffer zone) has not ruled out in no time. Only applications currently do not intend to. ”

    6) Good singing is also a spokesman for Secretary of State John Kerry to come out yesterday why “this idea is worth a closer look,” he said?
    Spokesman of the job of politicians is to collect words anyway. Kerry actually said those words. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond held a joint press conference at the ministry building had. Came the question. He said, “The idea of the buffer zone in the middle for a while. Worth checking out. Worth a look too close, “he said. So much in a press conference to discuss the issue of the buffer zone was because of those words. But in fact the issue is this: Americans, coalition military support against the Turks Isidor not use all their power to persuade
    They’re trying. Kerry, Turkey as well as other related issues in these negotiations also represents management’s soft face. Turkey at a time on this issue clearly before the public will be rejected Kerry’s job to facilitate the negotiations will not be applied even if the idea of holding pot. Indeed, Kerry Washington Administration in the eyes of today’s Turkey Turkey
    thesis by standing closest to. Indeed, the protocol has changed. You know, President Obama and Vice President Biden with a prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, not even once they contact. President Erdogan level relationships are established. Whereas on paper in executive Prime Minister. But Kerry, Mevlut Cavusoglu discussion with Foreign Minister Davutoglu and the whole story is ilişkisiyleyürütüy. Kerry and Obama in the last 48 hours of contact time traffic, this is clearly visible.

    7) the United States safely in the Turks would not be the cause of the arguments that will be used when describing what will happen?
    Official reasons given as to say. Business of the international law have size, land power necessary to use this situation in the region, other countries, irritable and Isidor against coalition weakens and so on … But beyond that … State Department Spokesman Jan Psai in yesterday’s raid at a meeting of business the most crucial part implicitly touched fact: “There are many challenges in its implementation. Including security guarantees, “he said, and was declared a safe zone when the Syrian government’s emphasis on the difficulty of obtaining the guarantee would attack here
    did. Set up a safe zone However, the necessary use of force, you’re going to make it, is not it? But Psai, this explanation has been clearly with the following: “We do not maintain safe zone against Assad.” Kirby’s where it stands at the briefing at the Pentagon was the same. “What are the risks of establishing buffer zone” the statement said. Kirby responded exactly as follows: “I’ll just say this. Our focus on Isidor apply pressure. “So. Assad is not the goal of the buffer zone Isidor, so also we do not consider this idea.
    8) Americans Assad met this job be?
    The official rhetoric of the American Administration, Management with legitimate non-Assad made absolutely clear that the direction of cooperation. Indeed, even in air strikes in Syria, the United Nations advance through their representatives, in general terms, did not receive a letter full partner outside the regime. However, no state wants to carry out a foreign policy options will narrow. I mean, no rational state. I these lines, the famous military academy in Vermont at Norwich University, I was invited “Grand Strategy of the United States entitled” I’m writing from the conference. America’s leading academics working in the school of war, and some names from the Pentagon, two days Isidor kind of have to deal with regional threats. One of the most heated topics of the conference and what do you know? Libya, Operation, what a big mistake that Gaddafi’s overthrow of how big a chaos that today in Syria karşıklıg a cause of Africa and the Middle East of weapons shedding post-Gaddafi Libya, which is, and in 1990 the first Gulf War ‘In topple Saddam’s risk seeing avoided the elder Bush – Brent Scowcroft (then-National Security Advisor) – James Baker (the then Foreign Minister) of a trio of American history ever best national security team to be one of. Do not forget. Obama, the son of former President Bush that they opposed arrived in Iraq. Continuity is essential in the American state of course. But from the conference in Norwich
    One of the conclusions in the American state to the president of a business is to provide the widest possible options. Come 2016. Hillary Clinton to the White House as a Democrat or a Republican to be elected any. And national security team also went to the new President “Sorry, can not talk with Assad. President Obama banned it in time “to say. Do you! Of course it will not. And of course, the American government, which is legally mobility units will be installed in 2016 after Assad Rejimi’yl the ground for a possible relationship
    to start preparing well in advance.
    9) For Syria, Turkey and the United States that deep differences in priorities, while the motion was echoed in Washington, how? ‘That differences in the shade of these priorities. Vice President Biden’s more like Turkey in Syria Isidor help organizations accusing senior I met who had no history of Harvard speech to an American official göreankara Assad’s first priority, second priority to prevent the strengthening of the Kurds. ISID the first priority of the United States, the second priority Assad, third priority to protect the Kurds. Note the following aspects were relieved Washington of course. Will last for years in an operation that can provide a huge cost and logistical advantages NATO base at Incirlik, thanks to this decision may be made available. But the issue before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 rated motion contrast, the decision to give consent to the use of Turkey’s Incirlik does not mean that. Ropes in the government. And in Washington, the Ankara government of this permit, in her words, a broader solution used as a leverage to talk thinks. There is a poll they are talking about. Isidor 80 percent of the people of Turkey against the United States conducted attacks in Syria and Iraq agreed to support. But that said, there is one situation in Syria … Erdogan-Obama Administration since the beginning does not act in accordance with public opinion. The same as the people of Turkey, 70 percent in Turkey, Syria, carried out by an overwhelming majority would approve interventionist policies, but nothing was changing me? Positive ministers there, of course. For example, during the 2003 permit the United States met with Ambassador Robert Pearson. Emphasized two points: 1) a positive sign this memorandum. Because the United States is open to cooperation areas. 2) Two of the capital’s politics are not clear, but the continuation of talks is important.
    10) What about the American public’s view on the subject? Is Washington Kopani policy affected?
    Was two weeks ago. Kobani’nin with the situation in the Kurdish-Americans were talking. “So far, we ‘Hevalno (friends) Tighten your teeth, seroma (Apo) speaks’ they said. Youth were your inhibitions. But if it falls Kopani hevalno will listen. We say to the Americans, “he said. Just like Demirtas, arriving in Washington the Kurds in Turkey or not the Kurds living in the United States. Kobani’nin human tragedy in the American media and think-tanks in Washington has created a great sensitivity. Latest from the Center for American Progress (CAP), written by Michael Werz and Max Hoffman, Washington’s Kobani’de should take immediate action, the Kurds in Syria, saying that the Allies needed one of these articles. Beyond that people in America Kobani’nin donation campaign has even begun. With a personal fortune of $ 1.1 billion, one of the nation’s leading rich, the owner of Chobani yogurt
    Hamdi Ulukaya (42) one of them. Talked on the phone earlier in the day. And Isidor Kopani Kurdish region of Syria under siege for a donation of $ 2 million, he said. Assistance to civil society organizations working in the area to do. Who said. “Which is yet unclear. Who is active on the field talking to them, “he said. “Others Do you want to participate in this donation,” I said. “Everyone in this case I want to help a human eye look. We insanıyız Anatolia. Political aspect of the event, who does not interest me what game to play. Everyone in shabby condition. It is impossible to remain indifferent. Or the audience will stay there for a massacre, and we will live a life of remorse or it will save the people, “he said.

  • Turkey’s ISIL conundrum

    Turkey’s ISIL conundrum

    AMANDA PAUL

    a.paul@todayszaman.com

    September 30, 2014, Tuesday

    Since the release of the 46 Turkish hostages held by the Islamic State (IS) almost two weeks ago, Turkey has finally shifted up a gear and seems on the verge of taking a bigger role in the fight against the IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

    President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has made several statements saying that Turkey is “in” and that “Turkey will do whatever is needed in the anti-ISIL fight.” Turkey has always been “ loud” on the need to fight against terrorist activities. ISIL, the world’s deadliest terrorist organization, is operating right on the other side of Turkey’s border and has already demonstrated itself to be a threat to Turkey’s security. Moreover, Turkey — which frequently brags about how it is a crucial regional power — will not want to play second fiddle to the group of Arab nations already bombing the IS.

    Turkey also needs to clean up its image following numerous accusations that it was in cahoots with the IS, including not taking enough steps to prevent it from recruiting fighters in Turkey or to secure the border. In other words, trash the story that was published in The Wall Street Journal on Sept. 15 titled “Our non-ally in Ankara.”

    Turkey has four key objectives: Bury ISIS; prevent the resurgence of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; shut down any possible Kurdish self-rule aspirations by creating a buffer zone inside the Syrian border; and have a say in Syria’s future.

    It seems unlikely that Turkey will take part in the airstrike campaign. I doubt whether this is necessary, anyway, with numerous countries already bombing the IS in Iraq and Syria. Whether Turkey would give support to the forces fighting the terrorists on the ground, including training, intelligence and equipment, is also questionable. Turkey is loath to do anything that may result in the IS retaliating with a terrorist attack on its territory. This fear is justified and reflected by the increasing numbers of European states — including Germany, France and the UK — which have warned their citizens against traveling to Turkey.

    Turkey is expected to have a key role in counter-terrorism including taking steps to block the funding of the IS from those sources in Turkey that have reportedly been dealing with the IS and stepping up measures to stop the flow of foreign fighters crossing from Turkey into Syria and Iraq, as well as offering humanitarian assistance. Turkey has already taken steps to strengthen its border. Ankara has boosted security while also imposing a curfew and ending its “open-door policy.” Turkish tanks and armored vehicles have taken up positions on a hill overlooking the besieged Syrian Kurdish border town of Kobane.

    When it comes to İncirlik Air Base, this is currently still a no-go, although the US has made clear they would like to use it. So far its use is reportedly restricted to humanitarian and logistical operations. Yet this may change in the event that Turkey gets the green light to create a buffer zone inside Syria, protected by a no-fly zone — although the IS do not use planes. Such a move would in part help stop the flow of refugees but clearly it could also serve to curb growing Kurdish self-rule aspirations, which Ankara fears could heat-up Turkey’s Kurds and possibly ruin the current cease-fire with the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) and the ongoing Kurdish peace process. Turkey has tried to prevent Turkish Kurds from crossing the border to help Syrian Kurds, prompting accusations of cooperation with the IS. So with this situation reaching boiling point, Ankara needs to take action. Faced with a common enemy, Turkey needs to strike a deal with the Kurds more than ever before.

    The Turkish Parliament is set to renew the agreement authorizing cross-border military operations into Syria, although Ankara is unlikely to do this without US agreement. While the US is currently opposed to the creation of a buffer zone, if Turkey’s territorial integrity is under threat, under international law it may intervene, but not further than a few kilometers.

    Having a buffer zone would give Turkey a bigger stake in Syria’s future, possibly reducing fears that an IS defeat would strengthen the Assad regime. This is also important given that the US does not seem to have long-term strategy beyond defeating the IS. There is no guarantee that another such group would not emerge in the future; hence, it is crucial that the roots of the region’s problems are addressed, rather than just sticking on another band-aid.

  • Turkey – The Last Chance to Save the State of Kemal Ataturk

    Turkey – The Last Chance to Save the State of Kemal Ataturk

    ZZ ZZZBy Prof. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

     

     

    When on May 27th 1960 the first coup d’ état was staged in Turkey, the President of the country Celal Bayar, the Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, several ministers, and many Democratic Party members were arrested. At the same time, the Milli Birlik Komitesi (National Unity Committee) forced 235 generals and more than 3000 commissioned officers to retirement. In addition, no less than 500 judges and public prosecutors and 1400 university faculty members were removed in an effort to purge the corrupt regime that Celal Bayar and Adnan Menderes had tried to install for no less than 14 years ever since the ominous Democratic Party was incepted in 1946 as a tool of political perversion and coercion, and as a means of destruction of the state of Kemal Ataturk. Some of the arrested were sentenced to death, whereas others were condemned to life imprisonment only to be later released. The fact that there is now a Celal Bayar University at Manisa demonstrates that Turkey is populated by people whose memory is short.

     

    Shoot Erdogan dead now!

     

    In the next coup d’ état, President Erdogan must be shot dead at once. The Turkish army generals and colonels and the Turkish statesmen, who will stage it, and the businessmen, academics and journalists, who will support it, will have to arrest even fewer officers, judges, and public prosecutors. In striking contrast with the 1960 coup d’ état, the forthcoming one must offer people the chance to express their indignation for the disastrous manner in which Turkey’s affairs have been managed by the AKP (Justice and Development Party) gangsters over the past 12 years. In full coordination with the army and from the very first moment, Turkish patriots, secular activists, and supporters of the national interests of the country must take to the streets along with the tanks and the soldiers, block the offices of the present unrepresentative government, destroy the headquarters and offices of AKP, arrest and execute the villainous AKP cadres on the spot where they may appear, and at the same time, prevent Erdogan’s corrupt and fanatic followers from appearing in public.

     

    All telephone lines, fixed and mobile, and Internet connection must be blocked, and radio stations and TV channels closed down before the establishment of the new national order, and until the national purgatory administration takes over. All embassies must be kept under garrison, and foreign diplomats must be severely isolated from what will be going on in the streets, the barracks, and the governmental buildings. The members of the right and center-left secular parties of the opposition and their youth organizations must immediately form militias ready to cooperate with the army, isolate AKP strongholds, and implement the new order across Turkey.

     

    Effectiveness in eliminating the guilty and the ignorant, the dangerous and the ominous will matter greatly, and this means that the ruling AKP figures and their first-degree relatives must all be executed without trial and within the hour. With them dead, and with their pictures displayed on the only governmental TV channel allowed to operate managed by a new administration and put under army control, AKP lunatics will have little chance to fight for anything. A second level of purge must eliminate within less than a week hundreds of thousands of present AKP supporters, radical sheikhs and imams, all pro-AKP journalists, whereas some thousands of newly built mosques must simply be rapidly ruined and irreversibly turned to nice small parks.

     

    Contrarily to what happened in 1960, when a coup put at last an end to the chaotic situation that lasted 14 years, today’s Turkish generals and colonels must understand that the country cannot afford to wait for 14 years of nefarious self-destruction carried out by an ignorant, pseudo-Islamic, villainous political class (AKP) that hates Turkey, before they decide to stage the much needed coup d’ état; (2002 + 14) 2016 is unfortunately a faraway horizon. In very little time, Turkey will have already gone beyond the point of no return. There is no parallel that can be drawn between 1960 and 2014. What makes now the difference is the very wide array of critical international implications that all take place around Turkey; precipitated developments are expected to occur in the next few months and this imposes a immediate regime change in Ankara.

     

    Turkey – one location encircled by fire

     

    In the present conjuncture, Turkey faces a multifaceted explosive situation in

     

    1 – its southern borders (Assad’s Syria / the fake Caliphate / PKK being strengthened through its contacts with the fake jihadist state / North Iraqi Yazidi refugees threatened to extinction by the fake jihadists / North Iraqi Turkmen persecuted by the so-called Kurdish militias of Barzani and Talabani / North Iraqi Aramaean Christians facing existential threat at the hands of the fake jihadists / the North Iraqi so-called Kurdish Regional Government, its aspirations for independence, and the Israeli support for this case / the final decomposition of Iraq / Iran’s involvement in Iraq)

     

    2 – its eastern borders (the possibility of a nuclear Iran / the eventuality of an Israeli attack against Iran’s nuclear plants / the Azeri, Gorani (pseudo-Kurdish) and Baluch minorities’ struggle to achieve independence and secession from Iran / the thorny relations with Armenia that harbors a racist anti-Turkish irredentism while being a close ally of the Zionist state / the spectrum of an Azeri-Armenian war over Nagorno-Karabakh / Israel’s infiltration in Azerbaijan which is the result of calamitous mistakes perpetrated by earlier AKP administrations, and of Erdogan’s pathetic ignorance of, and idiotic approach to, foreign policy / the downgrading spiral of the Azeri – Iranian relationship which is the result of Zionist influence over Baku / the troublesome relations between Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Russia / UK-Saudi-incited terrorism in Daghestan and other parts of the Russian Caucasus region / the consideration of EU and/or NATO membership extension to Georgia and Azerbaijan as part of the Anti-Russian policies of the West)

     

    – its northern borders (Russia, Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Lugansk People’s Republic, Donetsk People’s Republic, Ukraine, Transnistria, and Moldova – in fact, there are ongoing, overt or covert, hostilities in all 7 states located north of Turkey and on the northern shorelines of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov)

     

    – its south-western borders (war between the two Cypriot states may be the result of the Anti-Turkish pact made between Israel and South Cyprus, due basically to the deterioration of the Turkish-Israeli relationship which was another irrelevant foreign policy choice made by the disastrous AKP administration – this time the pretext for war can be fabricated via Oil and Gas exploration efforts across NE or NW Cyprus’ coastline)

     

    – its western borders (the current situation in the Balkans being already complicated among Albania, Kosovo and Serbia, among Sanjak, Montenegro, Bosnia and Serbia, among Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria, as well as between Turkey and Greece)

     

    When conflicts occur and strengths are pulled all around a specific country, the basic notions of geo-strategics signal the end of the country’s territorial integrity, and therefore the only possible option left to the local center of power or administration is partly expansion and forceful annexation of an adjacent territory up to the point of definite balance change in the direction of the expansion.

     

    For today’s Turkey the most appropriate direction for partly expansion and annexation of adjacent territory is the South, and the chaotic lands beyond its southern frontiers, so in the present article I will focus on this subject.

     

    Turkey’s Syrian policy – Historical depth and missed opportunities

     

    It was quite silly for the successive Erdogan administrations to cooperate with the criminal Western powers that fomented discord, strife, civil war, and utter genocide in Syria; and it was silly, because it had already been clear that the same powers intended to do exactly the same to Turkey itself – simply at a later stage. But it was even more idiotic to cooperate with the West and in parallel prepare other, particular plans, thinking that the Western agents, who are all over the place in Turkey because of AKP governmental inadequacies, will not take good note of them.

     

    For Turkey’s national interests, Ankara should have either acted unilaterally before 2012 invading Syria (after a theatrical episode that could have been fabricated and staged on this purpose) or blocked decisively every Western effort to penetrate Syria and threaten the Alawi regime of Bashar al Assad that has been enthusiastically supported by the Aramaean Christian minority.

     

    The Western bias over Syria finds at its antipodes the Western bias over Armenia. And a shrewd Turkish foreign minister should have exploited the matter – contrarily to the inconsistencies that characterized all persons who held this position after 2002. Either one of two things happens:

     

    Either Turkey is an independent state unrelated to the Ottoman Empire, and it cannot therefore interfere in Syria’s affairs, but in this case all accusations about the so-called Armenian Genocide must be removed as irrelevant and inadmissible

     

    Or Turkey is the successive state form of the Ottoman Empire, and it can be reproached for what happened to the Ottoman Armenians, but in this case, Ankara has the right to interfere and arrange the affairs of its former province.

     

    If Erdogan’s Syrian policy failed, this is due to a detrimental mistake of conceptualization. In the first place, all AKP cadres never realized how their minds have been prefabricated in a calamitous, self-destructive manner that prevents them from either thinking out of the box or realizing how self-destructive they are for any place they may govern. In fact, the formation of AKP in Turkey consists in a Western effort to colonize Turkey via the bogus ideology of Islamism, which is a byproduct of the Freemasonic Western Orientalism. The fake ideology was composed in the Orientalist ateliers of France and England during basically the 19th c. and thence projected onto the targeted populations that the Western countries wanted to destroy. Kemal Ataturk totally blocked this system, throwing it out of Turkey, but after 1946, due to Western Intelligence, started a slow process of infiltration of which the AKP cadres are the unfortunate and unconscious product.

     

    It is well known that, at the time of its inception, Islamism was a vicious theoretical opposition to the Ottoman Empire. Who else may have planned more schemes to dissolve the Government of Islam (Caliphate) than the Western colonials? And who contributed to the ultimate fall and destruction of Islam more than the ignorant Arabic speaking mob that – from Khartoum to Damascus and from Algiers to Madinah – supported the schemes of the enemies of Islam? The colonization process, which started in Egypt (1798) and Algeria (1830) and involved the diffusion of Islamism and several other false ideological systems, misconceptions and systematized ignorance, was planned by the villainous Freemasonic class of Western Europe and North America to be completed with Turkey’s islamization. By fervently supporting the rise of AKP, the Western powers wanted to capture Turkey – the only part of the Ottoman Empire that had remained thanks to Kemal Ataturk unaffected by the Islamist abomination and free of the colonial falsehood and biases.

     

    Since its inception, AKP was contaminated with the colonial ideology of Islamism; worse, it was also plagued with a certain dose of Pan-Arabism, another vicious theory and excruciating distortion of the historical reality.

     

    Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Jordanians, Iraqis, Kuwaitis, Qataris and Emiratis are not Arabs. They are Arabic-speaking Aramaeans. By ascribing themselves to Pan-Arabism and Arab Nationalism, the different colonial and postcolonial governments of the aforementioned eight (8) states simply blocked and canceled forever a normal nation building effort in their realms, thus preventing themselves from becoming emancipated nations. In fact, they destroyed themselves, and we see now the results of the useless and worthless existence of these fake states over the past nine (9) decades.

     

    Kemal Ataturk did in Turkey exactly what the various local administrations did not do in the aforementioned eight (8) states. And Turkey was successful in becoming a fully-fledged nation in less than 15 years (1923-1938).

     

    But by ascribing themselves to Pan-Arabism and Arab Nationalism, the idiotic AKP elites, fake journalists, and bogus-intellectuals, they destroyed Turkey’s chances in the region. One may contend that AKP administrations did not promote Turkey’s arabization in any sense; this may appear correct, but it is not. In fact, they contributed to the arabization of Turkey’s foreign policy, by accepting the existence of the colonial fake states at face value (which cannot be accepted), and by dealing with them, as if these states were normal and not mere technical entities.

     

    The fake, so-called Arab states, these lowly and pathetic realms of false emirs, bogus-kings, bloody tyrants, blind intellectuals like Michel Aflak, ignorant imams, and uneducated (and therefore stupidly fanaticized) mobs were fabricated by the West only for later use and stage management. These fake technical entities were produced in the 1920s (as Egypt earlier and their NW African counterparts later) in order to serve their colonial masters’ plans in the 2010s. The only proper policy that Turkey could have had in regard with these eight (8) realms was Kemal Ataturk’s policy for Turkey itself. Turkey should therefore have promoted the diffusion of Aramaic Syriac language in these countries, while contributing to a nation-building effort in which the natives in the different modern Arabic vernaculars would abandon their jargons and learn their real historical language, Aramaic, that their forefathers had forgotten because of their acceptance of Islam, which brought about a linguistic arabization.

     

    By learning Aramaic Syriac, while keeping Classical Quranic Arabic as their religious language, Syrian, Iraqi, Lebanese, Jordanian, Palestinian, Kuwaiti, Qatari and Emirati Muslims would feel that they are one nation along with their Christian compatriots who preserved Aramaic Syriac as their native language. This would have minimized if not eliminated the division between Sunni and Alawi denominations in Syria, in total opposition to the Western divisive and corrosive policies that target the ultimate destruction of those realms.

     

    Turkey’s Iraq policy

    Even more importantly, in Iraq, the proper nation-building effort with Aramaic Syriac as national language would have strengthened the Shia Mesopotamian identity and the anti-Iranian stance which had characterized these populations for many long centuries when they wholeheartedly sided with the Ottoman Sunni Sultan against the Iranian Shia Shah – something that the Satanic, Freemasonic governments and diplomats of France, England, Holland, Canada, Australia, and America did their ingenious best to obscure and conceal.

     

    In Turkey, there is a tendency to believe that, before the rise of AKP to power, the successive governments disregarded and were detached from the country’s southern neighbors and, after the rise of AKP to power, the Islamist administrations, in opposition to the earlier foreign policy, implemented a rapprochement. This fantasy was highly promoted by the global mass media, so one can already be sure that it pleased the powers-that-be. In general, by shifting the interest and the mindset of the average people from the true to the mythical, the Freemasonry-controlled global mass media make sure that the essential is always kept secret and concealed.

    What is important to assess with respect to the aforementioned options of Turkish foreign policy toward Turkey’s former provinces and current neighbors is that both axes of policy were very wrong and dramatically ineffective.

     

    Turkey’s geostrategic position as a bridge between worlds makes it versatile. Sometimes the territory of Turkey can be the location of a very strong and powerful government that controls faraway lands (Hattushilis III, Antiochus Epiphanes, Justinian I, Suleyman Magnificent). Sometimes, the same territory can be divided into small states and principalities (9-7th c. BCE, 1st. c. BCE, 11th – 12th c. CE). This is of seminal importance.

     

    Any historical government with its seat on Turkey’s present territory is successful and prolongs its duration, only if it expands its ideology, Weltanshauung, and world vision among the people inhabiting the surrounding lands. As long as both types of Turkish administrations, those before and those after 2002, did not act according to the aforementioned, both policies are pure failures.

     

    Turkey’s ideal time for expansion was back in the mid 90s; by hesitating to implement a series of measures that would lead to territorial expansion, the Turkish military and statesmen heralded the country’s implosion. Yet, immediately after the first Iraq war (comically re-baptized Gulf war by the global mass media), Turkey should have created the necessary pretext for the invasion of Mosul, Arbil and Kirkuk. Then, the Turkish army should have advanced to Baghdad irreversibly annexing the largest part of Iraqi territory first and later the rest, before fully absorbing it and restructuring it all. Any opposition to Turkey, by its NATO allies would be untenable due to the fact that, through its annexation to Turkey, Iraq would automatically become NATO member state territory.

     

    In Mesopotamia (which is the correct name instead of the fake modern term ‘Iraq’), Turkey’s nation-building effort should have been based on

    – strong alliance with the Turkmen of Kirkuk and establishment of a well-supported return policy addressed to all the Turkmen who were forced to flee due to the colonial & postcolonial persecution and to the arabization policies carried out about by the fake kingdom and the bogus republic of Iraq

    – total commitment to the success of a return policy established for all Aramaean Christian and Mandaean populations that were forced to exile in the last three decades of the Ottoman Empire and during the calamitous decades of ‘royal’/’republican’ rule. In this regard, the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Qudchanis Patriarchate of the ‘Nestorian’ Christianity / in Konak / Hakkari is a must.

    – full support of a nation building effort for all ethno-religious groups in the Zagros Mountains and the Transtigritane plains that have been viciously misnamed ‘Kurds’ by the colonial gangsters of England, France and America, whereas they are not one nation but many, namely Yazidis, Shabak, Bahdinani, Faili, Hawleri, Sorani, Gorani, Ahl-e Haq

    – comprehensive education for the Sunni dialectal Arabic speaking group that should be offered compulsory, 12-year, primary & secondary education in Aramaic Syriac in order to be fully incorporated into one nation with the Christian Aramaeans of Iraq and Syria

    – similar formative policy applied to the Shia dialectal Arabic speaking group that should be offered compulsory, 12-year, primary & secondary education in Aramaic Syriac in order to be fully incorporated into the Aramaean Syro-Mesopotamian nation

     

    Global mass media portray Turkey as a worthless ally for US, NATO

     

    In spite of the aforementioned failures, oversights, and missed opportunities, Turkey is facing now a major challenge. Following the emergence of the fake Caliphate, the evil establishment of AKP did neither specify nor make clear what policy they intended to pursue for what is by definition an existential threat for the state of Kemal Ataturk.

     

    The fake Caliphate (however it may be named, ISIL, ISIS, IS, etc., etc., etc.) controls more than half of Turkey’s southern borderline, yet the unrepresentative AKP regime in Ankara has nothing to say. The lack of freedom of press in Turkey under the AKP regime is impressive; this is due to the tolerant stance of the army and to the decision of the top army officers to take distance from the government. No one fights against, rejects or denounces the calamitous AKP non-policy which risks dismembering Turkey.

     

    While avoiding to focus on the essential, Murat Yetkin, writing for Hurriyet ), demands that Turkey does not turn out to be a base for the impotent and worthless Muslim Brotherhood, which by definition is not a group of terrorists but a bunch of idiots who were totally unable to run the country because of their fake religious faith and disproportionate ignorance. This article looks like an irrelevant understatement in view of Turkey’s troubles in the South.

     

    Yet, it is not the Islamic Brotherhood that controls a territory almost one third (1/3) the size of Turkey at the southern borders of the country, but the fake Caliphate. The immediate destruction of the fake Caliphate of the monkeyish Muslims should have been the target no 1 for all Turks.

     

    AKP’s unreasonable, suspicious, and self-catastrophic reluctance to make of Turkey a major contributor into the US-led effort against the fake Caliphate becomes the reason for fiery anti-Turkish publications in the Wall Street Journal, yet the Turkish army has nothing to say…

     

    A certain historical depth is added to the present attitude of the Turkish administration, which means that serious lobbies are hidden behind a text that states the following: “the reality [is] a Turkish government that is a member of NATO but long ago stopped acting like an ally of the U.S. or a friend of the West. Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis Ricciardone declared this week that the Turkish government “frankly worked” with the al-Nusrah Front—the al Qaeda affiliate in Syria—along with other terrorist groups. Ankara also looked the other way as foreign jihadis used Turkey as a transit point on their way to Syria and Iraq. Mr. Ricciardone came close to being declared persona non grata by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government last December”. https://www.wsj.com/articles/our-non-ally-in-ankara-1410561462#printMode)

     

    However, the included threats must be perceived very clearly; so low Turkey’ reputation has fallen that the WSJ columnist defines Turkey as a non-US ally, determines the US military bases in Turkey as useless, and even urges their transfer to another location ). It would be wise to focus more on this highly informative text; its author comes up with the suggestion of establishing a US air base in the mountains of the North Iraqi ‘Kurdish’ zone which does not even constitute an independent state!

     

    The fact that an idiotic text was immediately published in Hurriyet in guise of response to the above groundbreaking publication ) shows only corrupt the major media are in Turkey and testifies to worthless and catastrophic compromises made between the Turkish media magnates and the ominous AKP administration.

     

    Turkey’s uselessness as a US / NATO ally has rather become a global media trend instead of being an isolated element; one can consider it as a part of a wider media orchestration. Indicatively, Thomas Lifsonm writing for the American Thinker, asks whether this is the end of Turkey as an ally ).

     

    “Turkey is gradually moving from a reluctant NATO ally toward an embarrassing or embarrassed partner in the fight against the Islamic State”, states Cengiz Candar https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2014/09/turkey-usa-western-ally-nato-isis-syria-iraq.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+%5BEnglish%5D&utm_campaign=2bdc950045-September_15_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-2bdc950045-102403457).

     

    All this does not bode for Turkey’s new unrepresentative administration, which is the result of low voter turnout, and of fake presidential elections denounced by the opposition as rigged.

     

    Turkey’s Southern Policy 2014 – 2016 under AKP – A Nightmare to Avoid

     

    The current stance of the taciturn AKP elites reveals their secret plans and unveils their evil, anti-Turkish actions. Their silence is quite telling indeed.

     

    In fact, they will do all they can to make the US coalition fail in its attacks against the fake Caliphate that they assist in every sense. Modest estimates mentioned in serious publications ) make state of thousands of young jobless Turks who are sent by AKP cadres to the fake Caliphate in order to fight for the fake, Satanic Islam that Kafir Erdogan believes in. In reality, more than half of fake Caliphate fighters are AKP youngsters.

     

    After the US-led attacks will fail, the AKP administration will increase the dose of support they offer to the fake jihad forces and turn them against Damascus and Baghdad. The entire region will face an unprecedented bloodshed because evidently what is in the backside of Erdogan’s mind is the extermination of Syrian and Mesopotamian Shia. Of course, the Muslim fratricidal war, which is the only major misery Erdogan is apt to, will extend to Lebanon and Turkey itself. Alevi mosques from Sivas to Istanbul will shut down and massive street fights will lead Turkey to civil war.

     

    Many failed to realize that AKP extravagantly politicized dictatorship was not geared against the secular nature of Kemal Ataturk’s state first; quite methodically, it was carried out as a covert Anti-Alevi radicalism and religious sectarianism. Anti-Turkish and anti-Alevi material is being diffused in the Turkish primary and secondary education ) only to be denounced by European courts as fascist, racist, and heinous. The secret target behind the fake religious venom diffused through Erdogan’s trashy manuals is to force Turkey’s Alevis (around 35% of the country’s total population) to remove their children from the public education schools that will then be turned to fake religious schools and to fake jihad fighter-producing factories.

     

    AKP will turn overtly radical Islamist only after the fake Caliphate fighters will turn Damascus and Baghdad into blood lakes. This can be a matter of few only months. But then, it will only be too late for Turkey as well, because it is clear that the much publicized ‘New Turkey’ is only a new, yet fake, Caliphate, which will withdraw from NATO and from any negotiation in view of Turkey’s adhesion to European Union in completion of Erdogan’s immoral, villainous and ominous pseudo-prophecy about democracy (“Democracy is a bus ride. Once I get to my stop, I’m getting off.”).

     

    Erdogan coercively promoted by EU & US to bring the end of Turkey

     

    What the silly elites of AKP fail to grasp is that, when their Shia Holocaust will be completed in Damascus and Baghdad, Turkey will have already undergone a terrible shock as well (an Alevi/Sunni civil war), and being at its weakest point, will have to face an Israeli attack that will have as target the creation of a real Lebensraum around the Zionist state, because the fake Caliphate’s propulsion by Turkey in Syria and Mesopotamia and the ensuing merge into a wider Caliphate will have placed Israel under imminent existential threat.

     

    Even worse, their plans seem to be well known and anticipated by all forms and networks of Zionist Intelligence, and for this reason MEMRI does not miss an opportunity to highlight as an alert the real danger that Erdogan’s words constitute for Israel and its existence (example: .

     

    The result of an asymmetrical Israeli reaction to Erdogan’s silly plans about the revival of a Caliphate will comprise the following:

    • Nuclear bombardment of Ankara
    • Israeli annexation of Syria and of a part of Iraq’s territory
    • Israeli annexation of Hatay (Antioch / Antakya)
    • Formation of an independent Kurdistan which, as an ally to Israel, will comprise of today’s Kurdish region in North Iraq, and of a great number of Turkey’s eastern provinces including Gaziantep, Kahraman Marash, Malatya, Urfa, Diyarbakir, Tunceli, Bingol, and up to Van and Hakkari
    • Armenian annexation of Turkey’s northeastern provinces from Kars to Erzurum and from Trabzon to Giresun (it is to be expected that Armenia will immediately declare war on Turkey in the advent of a war between Turkey and Israel)
    • South Cypriot annexation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (following an attack that will be undertaken by combined South Cypriot & Israeli land and sea forces – as it is to be anticipated that South Cyprus will immediately declare war on Turkey in the advent of a war between Turkey and Israel)
    • Greek annexation of the Aegean Sea islands of Gökçeada (Imbros) and Bozcaada (Tenedos), of Eastern Thrace, and of Istanbul-turned-to-Constantinople (as it is to be considered as a fact that Greece will immediately declare war on Turkey in the advent of a war between Turkey and Israel)

     

    Turkey’s Safety and National Security: Turkish Army’s Primary Task

     

    In view of the aforementioned, the Turkish army must take action as soon as possible. In the first days after the coup, the country must be totally sealed off and be left without any communication. Only foreign citizens and tourists should be allowed to leave the country. All incoming flights must be cancelled. Particularly the southern border must be declared war zone and anyone approaching the borderline should be shot dead.

     

    Following a stabilization period of 1 to 2 months, which in itself implies the parallel weakening of the fake Caliphate and the partly rehabilitation of the Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad, Turkey should mobilize its army and with a force of at least 350000 men invade the Syrian and Iraqi territories presently occupied by the fake Caliphate. Subsequently, the Turkish army should march on Damascus, Baghdad, and Arbil to eliminate the unrepresentative local regimes and introduce a nation building effort as per above. Turkey will have to present itself as the guarantor of the historical heritage, cultural identity, and national integrity of all nations and ethnic, linguistic and religious groups existing in the area.

     

    Turkish diplomats will then have to explain to the US, Europe and others that Turkey will not withdraw from its provinces of Syria and Mesopotamia where Human Rights will be respected as per the wishes of all the indigenous and true nations and ethnic, linguistic and religious groups, in mutual respect and to their benefit, and in striking contrast with the various colonial and postcolonial biases. The return of all the descendents of populations forced to immigrate and seek exile elsewhere over the past 120 years will have to start immediately, and this project must become one of the keys to the full rehabilitation of the systematically destroyed region.

     

    Turkey will have to demand that the allied forces, which may have meanwhile failed to destroy the fake Caliphate (prior to Turkey’s military expedition), accept the fait accompli.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • I reveal Tayyip Erdoğan’s numbered Swiss account!

    I reveal Tayyip Erdoğan’s numbered Swiss account!

    Opinion

    Burak Bekdil

    I have a feeling that our editor in chief, David Judson, will be mad at me for not sharing this scoop with the newspaper and instead revealing it in this column.

    Well… I have gained access to a document that shows two international companies, both with multibillion-dollar Turkish contracts in their portfolios, deposited unexplained funds into a numbered Swiss account that Swiss financial authorities have verified belongs to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

    The first document, endorsed by the bank’s executive board, verifies wire transfers into the account, one coming from a multinational energy giant, and another from a weapons manufacturer – both names withheld.

    The second one verifies that the numbered account, totaling $655.76 million as of April 9, 2009, belongs to Erdoğan.

    As a matter of journalistic ethics, I shall certainly avoid revealing my sources or how I have gained access to these documents, should any prosecutor dare to take legal action against the prime minister. I must admit, though, that there is one problem: The documents in my possession are photocopies forwarded from one PC to another. So, I advise Mr. Judson not to become angry with me, or I might produce documents proving his links to the armed wing of the Ergenekon gang.

    Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ was telling the truth when he said that an asymmetrical psychological war was being waged against the military. The fact that none of us could realistically vouch for the democratic credentials of each and every single member of the Turkish Armed Forces does not change the fact that political Islamists – not too well disguised as “liberal democrats” – have long been trying to systematically fight the military establishment, through means reminiscent of spy novels. In fact, this is a war of intelligence and public relations, and the asymmetrical warriors naturally have the upper hand over their symmetrical enemies.

    As a matter of fact, one principal casualty each time there is an asymmetrical war is the judiciary, which gets dangerously politicized. The grand coalition of Islamists – i.e., the neo-Islamists, post-modern Islamists, liberals, neo-liberals and opportunists disguised as democrats – looks so precisely “guided on target” that it may even prefer to sink the entire ship that sails under the name Turkey in order to destroy the whole chamber of the helmsman.

    How undemocratic can you behave in order to bolster democracy? Can you torture and shoot the enemies of democracy? Hang them en masse in public squares, all in the name of democracy? Only recently, Erdoğan angrily addressed the main opposition leader Deniz Baykal, saying, “If you cannot prove your allegations [against my party], you are despicable!” He was right.

    But who will be the despicable one if civilian prosecutors fail to verify the authenticity of the famous “coup document” that appears to be a photocopy, with its original not existing anywhere? Are “the despicable” only those who allege some foul play by the government but cannot verify it?

    The prime minister has the habit of viewing the judiciary through an entirely ideological pair of spectacles. For example, he has claimed that Baykal’s Republican People’s Party, or CHP, has defrauded its accounts, saying, “This was verified by a ruling from the Constitutional Court.” If – and naturally so – an irreversible verdict from the supreme court should suffice for a “public verdict,” then we would end up in the weird situation where Turkey’s ruling party has behaved unconstitutionally, as its various activities to undermine secularism in favor of political Islam also carry a seal of approval from the same court.

    Last week, the prime minister was typical Erdoğan again. He pledged immediate (legal) action should anyone get hold of the original “coup document.” Why did he take legal action against “coup-plotters” when the original document did not exist anywhere? As always, the motto is “all is halal [permissible] as long as it suits our political agenda…”

    Unfortunately, Erdoğan’s self-declared “liberal” supporters are no exception. Take, for example, prominent columnist, Hadi Uluengin, the liberal voice of daily Hürriyet and someone of whom I am quite fond. This is how he justified the storms around the photocopied document in his June 24, 2009, column, “Who’s wearing out whom?”:

    “Éwhether the plan to ’finish off the AKP and Fethullah Gülen’ is authentic or forgery… it would be purely legitimate if Turkey’s democrats, who have had to endure four coups, four coup attempts and several other [undemocratic actions by the military] in less than half a century got agitated by this document. They are endlessly right [about their retort]…”

    Uluengin is right about the history of undemocratic military practices in our country. But his reasoning – that even if the document were false, democrats would have every right to attack the military – is a little bit excessive.

    By the same logic, someone can always forge documents verifying corruption by the ruling Islamist elite, get them photocopied and distribute them to Erdoğan’s opponents – and since Turkey’s recent history is full of corrupt practices, it would be purely legitimate for our democrats to get agitated even though we could not authenticate these bogus papers.

    Is this how Turkey is going to become a more democratic place?

    hurriyet.com.tr, August 26, 2014

  • In Turkey, a Loyalist Government Takes Shape

    In Turkey, a Loyalist Government Takes Shape

    Consistency is the theme of Turkey’s not-so-new government. Turkish President-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed a year’s worth of speculation Thursday when he announced that Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would succeed him as prime minister and chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party.
    The decision was fairly straightforward. Davutoglu is known to be fiercely loyal to Erdogan and is therefore unlikely to stand in the way of his agenda, even though Davutoglu would technically be sitting in the more powerful political post. Davutoglu lacks Erdogan’s charisma and may have trouble connecting with the broader Turkish public, raising concerns that he won’t be able to lead the party to a strong enough victory in 2015 parliamentary elections. But Erdogan is also not about to let such issues undermine his perceived mandate to continue leading Turkey with the same intensity he showed over the past 11 years as prime minister.
    Cabinet appointments due in early September will probably also reflect this business-as-usual strategy, with Turkey’s national intelligence chief, Hakan Fidan, taking Davutoglu’s place as foreign minister. Fidan has been instrumental in the peace process with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and will continue to drive that policy forward as the Justice and Development Party (also known by its Turkish abbreviation, AKP) vies for Kurdish votes. Much to the relief of investors eyeing Turkey after a wobbly year among emerging markets, rumors from the Justice and Development Party suggest that Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek will likely maintain influence over the country’s economic policy in the new government.
    What is a Geopolitical Diary? George Friedman Explains.
    The government taking shape in Turkey shows that Erdogan is not in the mood for experimental politics. Though so far he has the military tamed, he is still in the process of purging his erstwhile allies in the Gulen movement. Perhaps more disconcerting to Erdogan is that he is relying on the weaknesses and inherent divisions within his opposition to sustain his tenure as opposed to being able to rely on his own popularity. With just over half the electorate behind him, Erdogan is looking down the horizon at a number of issues that could cost him.
    First, Turkey’s largest export market, Europe, is still looking quite sickly. Meanwhile, Iraq, once a significant and growing export market for Turkey, is again finding itself ravaged by war. Turkey is trying to remain unaligned in the standoff between Russia and the West, remaining willfully blind to sanctions and ready to export to all. For its part, Russia is more interested in punishing Europe and keeping Ankara close, and so it is playing along. But Moscow cannot trust that Ankara will be as cooperative in the future, especially as the two countries start to push up against each other in the Caucasus.
    Those foreign policy complications start multiplying the farther south Turkey looks. With a jihadist threat encroaching on what was once considered a haven in Iraqi Kurdistan, Turkey’s energy gambit in northern Iraq is raising lots of questions. How does Turkey make peace with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and draw the line at Kurdish autonomy within its own borders when, just across the border, Iraqi Kurdistan is trying to use Turkey’s backing of unilateral energy exports to declare independence? How does Turkey reinforce peshmerga forces in northern Iraq against jihadists when those jihadists have been quite helpful in containing Kurdish separatists in Syria? And if Iran’s military is creeping too close for Turkey’s comfort in Iraqi Kurdistan, what would a mobilization of Turkish forces in northern Iraq do to Ankara’s relationship with Arbil, not to mention its own Kurdish peace process? How can Turkey negotiate with Iran over increased energy exports when it is directly undermining Iran’s Shiite allies in Baghdad over Kurdish energy exports?
    Regardless of who sits