Friday, 04 June 2010
Steve Stylianoudis
(Senior Analyst – Intelligence Research)
Copyright: Steve Stylianoudis on line
A change entailing unpredictable geopolitical ramifications is taking place in Turkey! For years, an objective of the Turkish government was the acceptance of Turkey as a full member in the European Union (EU). It has made substantial progress, but only because Turkey secured and continues to receive the unqualified support of the US State Department. It was able to convince the State Department leadership that Turkish inclusion in the EU and adoption of Turkey’s positions on issues in the Balkans and the Middle East would be in the best interests of the United States. Turkey did so by retaining scores of “revolving door” consultants - the majority of whom are prominent former administration officials from both parties.
Now, Turkey’s hidden agenda and the true intentions of the Erdogan Government are becoming painfully evident. Since the Islamic Party in Turkey came to power after the last election, Turkey has tried desperately to become the leader of the Islamic World and to be accepted as such by the Muslim countries of the Middle East, the Far East, and the Caucasus. Its efforts are strategic, long range, and multifaceted.
Though relevant, we will not dwell on specific actions by Turkey toward the Turkic Republics in the Black Sea, Caucasus, Iran, Syria, Pakistan, and other traditional Muslim nations. We will, however, concentrate on two major pylons of Turkey’s foreign policy.
One pylon is the Islamisation of Europe. A tall order, but one on which Turkey has made impressive progress. Turkey expends significant sums in the mass media to influence public opinion and to promote Muslim participation in government. It concentrates its efforts primarily in three countries - Germany, UK, and Greece. In Germany, the focus is to mobilize the local Turkish minority, which is maturing politically and starting to participate in local politics. In fact, the leader of the Green Party in Germany is Turkish.
The UK is home to the largest concentration of Muslims and has laws that facilitate the induction of Muslims into its political life. Islamic organizations in the UK have ambitious plans to have Muslims elected in all local and national chambers.
Most of the Muslims bound for Northern/Western European countries do so by passing through the Greek islands or Greece’s northern borders. Greece, a country with a population of about 13 million, cannot accommodate the millions of Muslims that Turkey enables to enter Greece en route to European destinations. The result has been serious incidents involving Muslims within Greece. Turkey is fabricating disputes in the Aegean. It also is entering into joint ventures with Greek media moguls and investing millions to manipulate Greek public opinion regarding illegal immigration.
There has been a deep-rooted Jewish presence in European countries for centuries. Traditionally, members of the Jewish community constituted a significant part of the intellectual elite in the arts and sciences. Given their positions, it is only natural for these prominent citizens to exert a degree of political influence. Therefore, it was critical to the Islamisation campaign to demonize Israel in a carefully orchestrated, underhanded manner by ingenious manipulation of the media in all EU countries.
The second pylon of Turkish foreign policy is to alter the relationship between Turkey and the State of Israel. Neither Turkey nor any member of the Islamic world can claim a leadership position if on friendly terms with Israel -irrespective of wealth or geographic size. Mr. Davutoglou, the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, laid out the plan for the creation of the Neo-Ottoman Empire with influence and assistance from Kosovo, Bosnia, Albania, FYROM, Bulgaria (very large Turkish minority), Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan. For this plan to have even a remote chance of success, it is imperative that Turkey sever its ties with Israel. As evidenced by the events of May 31, 2010, Turkey went a step further. It went out of its way to create actual hostility between the two nations.
Turkey organized a “humanitarian” convoy of about 9 ships to provide relief to the Palestinians in Gaza. The Turkish flagship was a huge freighter allegedly carrying one thousand plus persons. It was large enough to easily hide main battle tanks in its bowels. It is noteworthy that the Republic of Cyprus would not allow any of the ships to tie in her harbors. As a result, the ships went to the Turkish-occupied northern portion of the island.
Eighty miles off the coast of Israel, the Israeli Armed Forces requested the ships to stop and to proceed to an Israeli harbor where they would be inspected, and then could deliver the humanitarian goods to the Palestinians. The convoy refused to honor four such requests. Yes, the convoy was in international waters, but it is also true that there were serious doubts regarding the nature of the cargo.
If you were responsible for the lives of Israeli citizens, would you allow this convoy to reach Israeli waters and be within rocket firing range before interfering? If a convoy of such a suspicious nature approached the continental United States, would you allow it to continue into US territorial waters where it could fire rockets at US citizens?
Israel can and has been attacked from all sides. Israeli citizens are continuously being killed by terrorists. It would have been totally irresponsible for the Israeli Armed Forces to assume the risk of allowing the convoy to proceed. When Israel tried to inspect the ships, fighting ensued. Why would delivery of humanitarian aid require over a thousand persons? Why would those onboard fight tooth and nail to prevent an Israeli inspection? Turkey planned this provocation to demonstrate overt hostility to Israel. Now, it has the audacity to claim innocence while mobilizing all its EU public relations assets to demonize Israel.
As noted time and again, it is our State Department that created the Turkish Monster. Now, we must deal with the Monster and the consequences. The events of May 31, 2010, may pose the most serious threat to the State of Israel since its creation. Turkey is mobilizing the entire Islamic World against it. Turkey is waging a public relations war in the EU against Israel. To assume leadership of the Muslim states, Turkey will not hesitate to adopt the hard line of the fundamentalist Muslim states, which calls for the destruction of Israel. The clock is ticking and it is five minutes to midnight.
The United States must derail Turkey’s accession to the EU. It must cancel all export licenses for weapons and other sensitive materiel to Turkey. It must work to create other strategic alliances in the area now. Failure to act with expediency will place the State of Israel in an even more threatening position and seriously damage US interests in the region.
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http://www.rieas.gr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1237:the-islamic-republic-of-turkey-and-the-state-of-israel&catid=23&Itemid=70
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