Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

ISTANBUL: Dangerous map games around Turkey

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • ISTANBUL: Dangerous map games around Turkey

    http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/kerim-balci_344894_dangerous-map-games-around-turkey.html

    Dangerous map games around Turkey
    By KERIM BALCI
    16 April 2014, Wednesday

    Crimea's annexation to the Russian Federation is already a fait
    accompli. Western authorities are so occupied with the uprising in
    eastern Ukraine and possible Russian intervention that nobody is
    talking about the agreement between Russia and Crimea. One would
    expect more activism from Ankara, given the fact that Crimea was a
    part of the Ottoman state for three centuries, but the best the
    Turkish state could do was to give an official medal to the former
    leader of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis (assembly), Mustafa Abdulcemil
    Kirimoglu. With this symbolic move President Abdullah Gul expressed
    Turkey's support for the cause of the Crimean Tatars. But nothing
    further was done. Given Turkey's self-isolation from the Western World
    and its dependency on Russia for oil and gas resources, nothing more
    could be done, either.


    Maps and regimes around Turkey do change en masse. Map changes in this
    region have a domino effect. The separation of Crimea from Ukraine and
    its eventual annexation by Russia will not remain as an isolated
    accident in history. It will certainly provoke similar processes in
    the Balkans, the Middle East and Central Asia. During such an era of
    redrawing the world map, Ankara should have been much more active in
    international politics. Iraq and Syria are on the verge of
    dismemberment. The leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan have already made public
    their intention to turn the Iraqi Federation into a confederation and
    in time becoming fully independent. Syrian Kurds are going to follow a
    similar path. Turkey's Kurdish politicians have started to mention
    democratic autonomy. Despite the fact that there is not enough support
    for such integration among the Turkish Cypriots, many Turks have
    started to speak about an annexation of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) by
    Turkey if the recent attempts for a final resolution on the island do
    not give sustainable results. Yemen, Northern Sudan, Chad, Nigeria,
    Mali and several other African nations are also challenged by
    separationist movements.

    It would be naive to believe that all these insurgencies are taking
    place based solely on the internal dynamics of the related states.
    Foreign powers are playing with future maps of our region. The results
    of these map games will define the political context of Turkey's
    future international relations, be they political, economic or
    cultural in nature. Whether Turkey will be an isolated half-actor in
    world politics or a global actor will be decided according to Turkey's
    activism during this era of remapping. Unfortunately, Ankara is so
    busy with domestic power games that it is unable to understand the
    dynamics of this new era.

    As the Sykes`Picot Agreement redrew the maps of the Asia Minor and of
    the Middle East 100 years ago, new agreements may well have been
    reached about the future maps of the Black Sea, Caucasus and Middle
    East and Africa regions. In such an era of remapping, China will also
    try to settle its own sovereignty discussion regarding certain islands
    and pieces of land with its neighboring countries. Similar attempts
    will be seen in Central Asia and the Indian sub-continent. This era
    can also be turned into an era of opportunities to resolve disputes
    between the Azerbaijani and Armenian nations. Whereas the Sykes-Picot
    Agreement disregarded the geography and linguistic pluralism of the
    region, the new maps will be drawn in line with the linguistic, ethnic
    and tribal distinctions. While the Western world is moving toward a
    reunification, the East will pass through an era of disintegration and
    the establishment of small, yet uncontrollable states in the region.

    Turkey is unprepared for such an era. The linguistic and ethnic maps
    of our region have not yet been drawn, yet Turkish diplomats do not
    perceive regional politics in line with linguistic differences and
    similarities. Turkey also lacks something like the Highly Skilled
    Immigration Program of the UK that would bring in skilled workers from
    all these different linguistically defined lands. Map games
    necessitate control of information about linguistic divisions of the
    regional countries.



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X