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FEB 14 WAS NOT ST VALENTINE'S DAY IN BAHRAIN
by Burak Bekdil
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 22 2012
Turkey
According to Omer Celik, deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), "the Gaza conflict is Turkey's national
issue." And there is more than sufficient evidence that, according
to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu, the Syrian conflict, too, is Turkey's national issue.
Needless to say, some of Turkey's other national/domestic issues
include the Cyprus and Armenian conflicts, too.
It's bizarre, though, that Ankara tends to get seriously offended each
time a foreign official, an author with fame or a nongovernmental
organization speaks on the Kurdish conflict or on Turkey's now
first-class Third World civil liberties. But this can hardly be an
indication of hypocrisy in a world where Sudan and Saudi Arabia are
pressuring Syria to "democratize its regime and stop massacring its
own people," or where Turkey condemns freedom of expression in France.
At this pace of events we may soon have the North Koreans lecturing
Europe on the virtues of liberal culture.
Hardly a day passes without Mssrs. Erdogan and Davutoglu and Western
"friends of Syria" do not fiercely stand on the right side of history
by overtly and covertly working to overthrow the tyrant of Damascus
"because he keeps on killing Syrians."
To achieve the goal of saving innocent Syrians (according to the
official account) or to defeat Iran in this proxy sectarian war
(according to facts of life) Ankara extends humanitarian (according
to the official account) support, and/or logistical military support
(according to facts of life) to an armed group of Bashar al-Assad's
opponents who go with the very military designation of the "Free
Syrian Army."
Ironically, more military support for the dissident army will mean
more fighting and more bloodshed. Which brings in the inevitable
question: Do "friends of Syria" really care about the Syrian death
toll, or are they just following their sectarian instincts blended
with geostrategic interests?
I have no idea how Mr. Erdogan's Muslim fraternity with Omar al-Bashir,
Sudan's president with an international arrest warrant for crimes
against humanity, or cooperation with Saudi Arabia to bring democracy
to Syria could fit into the fancy pro-democracy rhetoric in Ankara.
But there is, in addition to Syria, another land where the Arab Spring
brings in a light breeze of democracy although this one is not for
the Sunni-Western taste. What the more developed parts of the world
celebrated as St. Valentine's Day was the anniversary of the much less
popular Arab Spring in Bahrain where a minority Sunni sheikdom rules
a majority Shiite population, where police continue to crack down on
disaffected youth in Shiite neighborhoods and where the youth complain
of economic and political marginalization along sectarian lines.
If the prime minister and his foreign minister are sincere about
their concerns for human dignity, human rights, universal values
and democracy in the Arab world, they should support Bahrain's
pro-democracy (and anti-sheikdom) opponents, too, and feel sympathy
for the Bahraini death toll. But never mind, that will not happen.
"This is about whether this council, during a time of sweeping change
n the Middle East, will stand with peaceful protestors crying out
for freedom, or with a regime of thugs with guns that tramples human
dignity and human rights."
Nice quote? Indeed. But does it matter whether it belongs to Susan
Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, or to any one of Mssrs.
Erdogan or Davutoglu? Sadly, the dead do not carry passports; but
Bahrain is too "potentially Persian" for Washington to be catalogued
as another corner of the Arab Spring, just a "little nuisance" for
Saudi Arabia, and too "Shiite" for Ankara to care for human dignity
and promote democracy.
by Burak Bekdil
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 22 2012
Turkey
According to Omer Celik, deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP), "the Gaza conflict is Turkey's national
issue." And there is more than sufficient evidence that, according
to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu, the Syrian conflict, too, is Turkey's national issue.
Needless to say, some of Turkey's other national/domestic issues
include the Cyprus and Armenian conflicts, too.
It's bizarre, though, that Ankara tends to get seriously offended each
time a foreign official, an author with fame or a nongovernmental
organization speaks on the Kurdish conflict or on Turkey's now
first-class Third World civil liberties. But this can hardly be an
indication of hypocrisy in a world where Sudan and Saudi Arabia are
pressuring Syria to "democratize its regime and stop massacring its
own people," or where Turkey condemns freedom of expression in France.
At this pace of events we may soon have the North Koreans lecturing
Europe on the virtues of liberal culture.
Hardly a day passes without Mssrs. Erdogan and Davutoglu and Western
"friends of Syria" do not fiercely stand on the right side of history
by overtly and covertly working to overthrow the tyrant of Damascus
"because he keeps on killing Syrians."
To achieve the goal of saving innocent Syrians (according to the
official account) or to defeat Iran in this proxy sectarian war
(according to facts of life) Ankara extends humanitarian (according
to the official account) support, and/or logistical military support
(according to facts of life) to an armed group of Bashar al-Assad's
opponents who go with the very military designation of the "Free
Syrian Army."
Ironically, more military support for the dissident army will mean
more fighting and more bloodshed. Which brings in the inevitable
question: Do "friends of Syria" really care about the Syrian death
toll, or are they just following their sectarian instincts blended
with geostrategic interests?
I have no idea how Mr. Erdogan's Muslim fraternity with Omar al-Bashir,
Sudan's president with an international arrest warrant for crimes
against humanity, or cooperation with Saudi Arabia to bring democracy
to Syria could fit into the fancy pro-democracy rhetoric in Ankara.
But there is, in addition to Syria, another land where the Arab Spring
brings in a light breeze of democracy although this one is not for
the Sunni-Western taste. What the more developed parts of the world
celebrated as St. Valentine's Day was the anniversary of the much less
popular Arab Spring in Bahrain where a minority Sunni sheikdom rules
a majority Shiite population, where police continue to crack down on
disaffected youth in Shiite neighborhoods and where the youth complain
of economic and political marginalization along sectarian lines.
If the prime minister and his foreign minister are sincere about
their concerns for human dignity, human rights, universal values
and democracy in the Arab world, they should support Bahrain's
pro-democracy (and anti-sheikdom) opponents, too, and feel sympathy
for the Bahraini death toll. But never mind, that will not happen.
"This is about whether this council, during a time of sweeping change
n the Middle East, will stand with peaceful protestors crying out
for freedom, or with a regime of thugs with guns that tramples human
dignity and human rights."
Nice quote? Indeed. But does it matter whether it belongs to Susan
Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, or to any one of Mssrs.
Erdogan or Davutoglu? Sadly, the dead do not carry passports; but
Bahrain is too "potentially Persian" for Washington to be catalogued
as another corner of the Arab Spring, just a "little nuisance" for
Saudi Arabia, and too "Shiite" for Ankara to care for human dignity
and promote democracy.