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US LAWMAKERS BLAST 'DISGRACEFUL' TURKEY OVER IRAN, ISRAEL
Agence France Presse
June 16, 2010 Wednesday 7:19 PM GMT
US lawmakers slammed "disgraceful" Turkey on Wednesday over its ties
to Iran and charged Ankara had the "blood" of nine Turks killed in
an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship on its hands.
"There will be a cost if Turkey stays on its present heading of growing
closer to Iran and more antagonistic to the state of Israel," warned
Representative Mike Pence, the number three House Republican.
The group, firing an unusually harsh rhetorical broadside at a NATO
ally, rebuked Turkey for backing the aid flotilla, criticizing Israel,
and opposing US efforts to impose new sanctions on Tehran over its
suspect nuclear program.
"Because Turkey is a NATO ally, it's even more disgraceful, their
actions," said Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, who joined his
colleagues in accusing Ankara of drifting away from the West and into
the arms of Iran.
"If we look at what the Turkish government has done in the past couple
of years: they certainly have a very strong Islamic bent, but a bent
in terms of looking towards Iran, and looking towards the Middle East,
and not looking at the West and NATO anymore," said Engel.
The lawmakers slammed Turkey for backing an aid flotilla for Gaza
and said Ankara was to blame for the deaths of eight Turks and a dual
Turkish-US national in a May 31 raid on one of the ships, the Turkish
ferry Mavi Marmara.
"I believe that blood is on the hands of Turkey," said Republican
Representative Peter King.
"As far as I'm concerned, Turkey is responsible for the nine deaths
aboard that ship, it is not Israel's troops that are responsible,"
said Democratic Representative Shelley Berkley.
Pence said he would consider dropping his opposition to a US Congress
resolution branding the World War I era mass killings of Armenians
by Ottoman forces as "genocide" and hinted at other consequences.
Berkley said she had turned Turkish officials away from her office this
week and would continue to do so "until I see and change in policy"
and vowed to fight against Turkey's accession to the European Union.
"They don't deserve to be a part of the EU until they start behaving
more like the European nations and a whole lot less like Iran,"
she said.
The harsh words came one day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of double standards in the
Middle East, but insisted that Washington remained a "lasting friend"
of his country.
The US lawmakers had come together to call on President Barack Obama
to defeat any attempt to launch an international investigation into
Israel's actions in the raid on a flotilla trying to ferry Palestinian
activists and aid to Gaza, but swiftly swung to attacks on Turkey.
"If Israel is at fault in any way, it is for falling into the trap
that was set for them by Turkey," charged Berkley, who said Ankara had
"extraordinary nerve to lecture the state of Israel."
Lawmakers condemned Turkey for welcoming Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and accused Ankara of "hypocrisy" for criticizing Israeli
"self-defense" while its forces strike at Kurdish rebels on Iraqi soil.
Engel urged the US State Department to fully investigate possible
terrorist ties between activists aboard the flotilla that, he said,
sought visas to come to the United States to "spew their hatred and
their propaganda."
Pence called on Obama to "actively oppose" and be "prepared to veto"
any effort at the United Nations to investigate the deadly raid,
which occurred in international waters.
"Do we want the UN investigating everything we're doing in Afghanistan
or Iraq or any other place in the world?" agreed King.
Republican Representative Ted Poe unveiled a letter of support for
Israel he said had been signed by 126 US lawmakers, and charged that
tensions among the allies benefited only "the little fellow from the
desert, Ahmadinejad."
From: A. Papazian
Agence France Presse
June 16, 2010 Wednesday 7:19 PM GMT
US lawmakers slammed "disgraceful" Turkey on Wednesday over its ties
to Iran and charged Ankara had the "blood" of nine Turks killed in
an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship on its hands.
"There will be a cost if Turkey stays on its present heading of growing
closer to Iran and more antagonistic to the state of Israel," warned
Representative Mike Pence, the number three House Republican.
The group, firing an unusually harsh rhetorical broadside at a NATO
ally, rebuked Turkey for backing the aid flotilla, criticizing Israel,
and opposing US efforts to impose new sanctions on Tehran over its
suspect nuclear program.
"Because Turkey is a NATO ally, it's even more disgraceful, their
actions," said Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, who joined his
colleagues in accusing Ankara of drifting away from the West and into
the arms of Iran.
"If we look at what the Turkish government has done in the past couple
of years: they certainly have a very strong Islamic bent, but a bent
in terms of looking towards Iran, and looking towards the Middle East,
and not looking at the West and NATO anymore," said Engel.
The lawmakers slammed Turkey for backing an aid flotilla for Gaza
and said Ankara was to blame for the deaths of eight Turks and a dual
Turkish-US national in a May 31 raid on one of the ships, the Turkish
ferry Mavi Marmara.
"I believe that blood is on the hands of Turkey," said Republican
Representative Peter King.
"As far as I'm concerned, Turkey is responsible for the nine deaths
aboard that ship, it is not Israel's troops that are responsible,"
said Democratic Representative Shelley Berkley.
Pence said he would consider dropping his opposition to a US Congress
resolution branding the World War I era mass killings of Armenians
by Ottoman forces as "genocide" and hinted at other consequences.
Berkley said she had turned Turkish officials away from her office this
week and would continue to do so "until I see and change in policy"
and vowed to fight against Turkey's accession to the European Union.
"They don't deserve to be a part of the EU until they start behaving
more like the European nations and a whole lot less like Iran,"
she said.
The harsh words came one day after Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan accused the United States of double standards in the
Middle East, but insisted that Washington remained a "lasting friend"
of his country.
The US lawmakers had come together to call on President Barack Obama
to defeat any attempt to launch an international investigation into
Israel's actions in the raid on a flotilla trying to ferry Palestinian
activists and aid to Gaza, but swiftly swung to attacks on Turkey.
"If Israel is at fault in any way, it is for falling into the trap
that was set for them by Turkey," charged Berkley, who said Ankara had
"extraordinary nerve to lecture the state of Israel."
Lawmakers condemned Turkey for welcoming Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and accused Ankara of "hypocrisy" for criticizing Israeli
"self-defense" while its forces strike at Kurdish rebels on Iraqi soil.
Engel urged the US State Department to fully investigate possible
terrorist ties between activists aboard the flotilla that, he said,
sought visas to come to the United States to "spew their hatred and
their propaganda."
Pence called on Obama to "actively oppose" and be "prepared to veto"
any effort at the United Nations to investigate the deadly raid,
which occurred in international waters.
"Do we want the UN investigating everything we're doing in Afghanistan
or Iraq or any other place in the world?" agreed King.
Republican Representative Ted Poe unveiled a letter of support for
Israel he said had been signed by 126 US lawmakers, and charged that
tensions among the allies benefited only "the little fellow from the
desert, Ahmadinejad."
From: A. Papazian