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Ankara ceases to be mediator in Middle East
Turkey, finding itself in the Sunni alliance can only be satisfied
with the role of a leader of one of the Muslim sects.
Statements of official Ankara more and more remind of a mutter
resulting from inadequate perception of its own place in the Middle
East and in the world. Becoming at one time a NATO member `thanks to'
the confrontation USSR-USA, current Turkish leadership has decided
that it can dictate terms to the Alliance. So it was at the time of
appointment of current Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, so it
is today.
May 1, 2012
PanARMENIAN.Net - Not only did Turkey put a veto on Israel's
participation in the NATO Summit in Chicago, but it also stated it was
going to block the participation of EU representatives in the NATO
Summit in Chicago, if members of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), too, were not allowed to participate in the summit.
At the moment there are expected to participate in the NATO summit
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and President
of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. At that, if the EU member
states insist on the presence of EU representatives at the summit
taking into account the participation in the peacekeeping mission in
Afghanistan, Turkey argues that only representatives of NATO states
should be present at the summit.
`If non-NATO members also participate, the OIC should be represented
[in the Chicago summit] first and foremost,' Turkish diplomatic
sources said in explaining Ankara's position to Today's Zaman. The
same sources claimed that the OIC's commitment exceeded the EU
contribution in the Afghanistan peace mission. Statement of the
Turkish diplomats is more than controversial, because it was the OIC
countries that made a `contribution' to arming the Taliban movement
and its rival Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. It should be noted
that OIC itself least of all serves the purpose of uniting all Islamic
states. Let us recall that Organization of the Islamic Conference ` so
was the organization called before 2011 ` was originally established
to support the Palestinians. But then, as always, there changed the
goals and objectives, and ever since the moment Turkey and Azerbaijan
(to a certain extent) began to dominate in the OIC, the situation has
radically changed. Presently, OIC has brought together 57 countries
with a total population of about 1.5 billion people. Initially, it
included 25 Asian and African states and the Palestine Liberation
Organization. Objectives of the establishment of OIC were cooperation
among Muslim states, joint activity in the international level, as
well as sustainable development of the member states.
But let us revert to the NATO summit in Chicago. It is still unclear
what point of uttering the Alliance members will reach and whether
they will allow themselves to be led by Turkey (which happened more
than once) or whether they'll refuse. Recently, there have begun to
appear in the Turkish press articles blackmailing the NATO leadership:
`If you do not listen to us, you will be sorry'. In response, a number
of Western diplomats stated Turkey should be excluded from NATO...
In addition to the NATO blackmail, Turkey, in the person of Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, declared that she plays a leading role in
the new Middle East. Deputy Chairman of the main opposition Republican
People's Party (CHP) Faruk LoÄ?oÄ?lu regarded Davutoglu's words as `a
dangerous fantasy'. Retired diplomat LoÄ?oÄ?lu considers that with its
actions Turkey shows disrespect to the Arabs. This, by the way, is
quite near the truth. Despite the identical religion (both the Turks
and Arabs are Sunni) conflicts between them are no fewer than between
Sunnis and Shiites. It is natural that oil monarchies of the Gulf
should support Turkey, or rather the United States against Syria and
Iran, on behalf of Turkey. But this situation cannot continue for
long. Moreover, quite likely is recurrence of the `Arab spring' in
Turkey, to which indicate grand Turkish experts.
This probability proceeds from the behavior of Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
along with the U.S. and EU against Syria. It so happened that the
Syrian nut proved too hard for the West and now the U.S. is trying to
persuade Turkey to do the `dirty work'. To this end, one can sacrifice
even a number of members of the NATO summit.
At the times of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey used to play the role of
the leader of the Islamic world. But now that the Muslim world has
been actively involved in the growing confrontation between Shiites
and Sunnis, Turkey, finding itself in the Sunni alliance can only be
satisfied with the role of a leader of one of the Muslim sects.
In a recent article in The Economist it was noted that Turkey was able
to mediate between warring factions in Lebanon, between Sunnis and
Shiites of Iraq, until 2009 between Israel and Syria. However,
according to former Dutch Ambassador in Ankara, Nicolas Van Dam, it
was this ability of Turkey to engage in dialogue that made Ankara an
effective player in the Middle East. `However, she chose one of the
sides and ceased to be a mediator,' the diplomat said.
Karine Ter-Sahakyan
Turkey, finding itself in the Sunni alliance can only be satisfied
with the role of a leader of one of the Muslim sects.
Statements of official Ankara more and more remind of a mutter
resulting from inadequate perception of its own place in the Middle
East and in the world. Becoming at one time a NATO member `thanks to'
the confrontation USSR-USA, current Turkish leadership has decided
that it can dictate terms to the Alliance. So it was at the time of
appointment of current Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, so it
is today.
May 1, 2012
PanARMENIAN.Net - Not only did Turkey put a veto on Israel's
participation in the NATO Summit in Chicago, but it also stated it was
going to block the participation of EU representatives in the NATO
Summit in Chicago, if members of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC), too, were not allowed to participate in the summit.
At the moment there are expected to participate in the NATO summit
President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and President
of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. At that, if the EU member
states insist on the presence of EU representatives at the summit
taking into account the participation in the peacekeeping mission in
Afghanistan, Turkey argues that only representatives of NATO states
should be present at the summit.
`If non-NATO members also participate, the OIC should be represented
[in the Chicago summit] first and foremost,' Turkish diplomatic
sources said in explaining Ankara's position to Today's Zaman. The
same sources claimed that the OIC's commitment exceeded the EU
contribution in the Afghanistan peace mission. Statement of the
Turkish diplomats is more than controversial, because it was the OIC
countries that made a `contribution' to arming the Taliban movement
and its rival Northern Alliance in Afghanistan. It should be noted
that OIC itself least of all serves the purpose of uniting all Islamic
states. Let us recall that Organization of the Islamic Conference ` so
was the organization called before 2011 ` was originally established
to support the Palestinians. But then, as always, there changed the
goals and objectives, and ever since the moment Turkey and Azerbaijan
(to a certain extent) began to dominate in the OIC, the situation has
radically changed. Presently, OIC has brought together 57 countries
with a total population of about 1.5 billion people. Initially, it
included 25 Asian and African states and the Palestine Liberation
Organization. Objectives of the establishment of OIC were cooperation
among Muslim states, joint activity in the international level, as
well as sustainable development of the member states.
But let us revert to the NATO summit in Chicago. It is still unclear
what point of uttering the Alliance members will reach and whether
they will allow themselves to be led by Turkey (which happened more
than once) or whether they'll refuse. Recently, there have begun to
appear in the Turkish press articles blackmailing the NATO leadership:
`If you do not listen to us, you will be sorry'. In response, a number
of Western diplomats stated Turkey should be excluded from NATO...
In addition to the NATO blackmail, Turkey, in the person of Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, declared that she plays a leading role in
the new Middle East. Deputy Chairman of the main opposition Republican
People's Party (CHP) Faruk LoÄ?oÄ?lu regarded Davutoglu's words as `a
dangerous fantasy'. Retired diplomat LoÄ?oÄ?lu considers that with its
actions Turkey shows disrespect to the Arabs. This, by the way, is
quite near the truth. Despite the identical religion (both the Turks
and Arabs are Sunni) conflicts between them are no fewer than between
Sunnis and Shiites. It is natural that oil monarchies of the Gulf
should support Turkey, or rather the United States against Syria and
Iran, on behalf of Turkey. But this situation cannot continue for
long. Moreover, quite likely is recurrence of the `Arab spring' in
Turkey, to which indicate grand Turkish experts.
This probability proceeds from the behavior of Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
along with the U.S. and EU against Syria. It so happened that the
Syrian nut proved too hard for the West and now the U.S. is trying to
persuade Turkey to do the `dirty work'. To this end, one can sacrifice
even a number of members of the NATO summit.
At the times of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey used to play the role of
the leader of the Islamic world. But now that the Muslim world has
been actively involved in the growing confrontation between Shiites
and Sunnis, Turkey, finding itself in the Sunni alliance can only be
satisfied with the role of a leader of one of the Muslim sects.
In a recent article in The Economist it was noted that Turkey was able
to mediate between warring factions in Lebanon, between Sunnis and
Shiites of Iraq, until 2009 between Israel and Syria. However,
according to former Dutch Ambassador in Ankara, Nicolas Van Dam, it
was this ability of Turkey to engage in dialogue that made Ankara an
effective player in the Middle East. `However, she chose one of the
sides and ceased to be a mediator,' the diplomat said.
Karine Ter-Sahakyan