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OPPOSITION WARNS TURKISH GOVERNMENT OF WWI LESSONS
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Nov 15 2014
MURAT YETKÄ°N
Answering a question from a journalist about reports claiming U.S.
President Barack Obama has changed his strategy on Syria to prioritize
the removal of Bashar al-Assad, to aid in the fight against the
Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said on Nov. 14 that this would be the "correct thing to
do," adding that it is something the Turkish government has long
demanded. Davutoglu also said he would raise the issue with Obama
when they meet during the G-20 conferences in Brisbane, Australia.
But by that time, perhaps because of a mistake by one of Davutoglu's
advisors, the CNN report that was cited by a number of pro-government
media outlets had already been denied by U.S. Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel and the White House. They said there had been no change
of focus in the anti-ISIL fight in the U.S.'s strategy.
This could be a new example used to build criticism against Davutoglu's
Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government for getting too
involved in the Syrian civil war, which has devastated the country
since 2011. On Nov. 13, military talks between Turkish and American
officials in Ankara resulted in an agreement suggesting that Turkey
would train some 2,000 members of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA)
in Turkey. The FSA was established three years ago with the aim of
toppling al-Assad, before the emergence of radical Islamist groups
like al-Nusra and ISIL.
In another words, Turkey agreed as a NATO country to give training
to rebel forces of a neighboring country on its own soil, whereas the
U.S. will train mostly Kurdish rebel forces not in its own territory,
but in the territory of another of Turkey's neighbors, Iraq. In the
past, Ankara used to rightfully criticize Syria and Iraq for hosting
the leadership and militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), which has been carrying out cross-border attacks in Turkey
since 1984.
This last example shows how the political perspectives and balances in
the region have been dramatically changing in line with the security
atmosphere.
At almost the same time as Davutoglu was speaking to Turkish reporters
in Brisbane, Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition
Republican People's Party (CHP), was giving the opening speech of a
conference in Istanbul titled "The 100th Anniversary of World War I."
"Those who are bringing the whole Middle East and our country to the
brink of war seemingly lack the wisdom to draw lessons from history,"
Kılıcdaroglu said, adding that Turkey must "remain loyal to the
peace-oriented foreign policy of Turkish Republic's history."
He elaborated that with the perspective and lessons drawn from World
War I, the Turkish government of the time managed to keep the young
and weak Republic away from the damage of World War II by staying
out of it. The CHP leader suggested that the government should stick
to the principles Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish
Republic, who coined the phrase: "Peace at home, Peace in the World."
Turkey entered WWI on Germany's side not as a matter of national
interest, but more, according to many historians, as the result of an
adventurist nostalgia in the days of the failing Turkish empire of the
Ottoman Dynasty, pushed by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress
(ITP) and its leader Enver Pasha.
Despite the heroic resistance shown in Gallipoli in 1915, for example,
or the resistance in Kut, Iraq in 1916 against invading forces, the
Ottoman army lost the war, together with the Germans, leaving tragic
pages behind, including the forced deportation of native Armenians
by the ITP government in 1915, which led to massacres. Following a
humiliating armistice in 1918 that marked the invasion and occupation
of Turkey by Greek, British, French, Italian and Armenian armies,
(the Russians had withdrawn after the 1917 revolution), a War of
Independence was started by Ataturk. The victory brought about a
regime change, and the Republic was established in 1923.
November/15/2014
From: Baghdasarian
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Nov 15 2014
MURAT YETKÄ°N
Answering a question from a journalist about reports claiming U.S.
President Barack Obama has changed his strategy on Syria to prioritize
the removal of Bashar al-Assad, to aid in the fight against the
Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL), Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu said on Nov. 14 that this would be the "correct thing to
do," adding that it is something the Turkish government has long
demanded. Davutoglu also said he would raise the issue with Obama
when they meet during the G-20 conferences in Brisbane, Australia.
But by that time, perhaps because of a mistake by one of Davutoglu's
advisors, the CNN report that was cited by a number of pro-government
media outlets had already been denied by U.S. Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel and the White House. They said there had been no change
of focus in the anti-ISIL fight in the U.S.'s strategy.
This could be a new example used to build criticism against Davutoglu's
Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) government for getting too
involved in the Syrian civil war, which has devastated the country
since 2011. On Nov. 13, military talks between Turkish and American
officials in Ankara resulted in an agreement suggesting that Turkey
would train some 2,000 members of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA)
in Turkey. The FSA was established three years ago with the aim of
toppling al-Assad, before the emergence of radical Islamist groups
like al-Nusra and ISIL.
In another words, Turkey agreed as a NATO country to give training
to rebel forces of a neighboring country on its own soil, whereas the
U.S. will train mostly Kurdish rebel forces not in its own territory,
but in the territory of another of Turkey's neighbors, Iraq. In the
past, Ankara used to rightfully criticize Syria and Iraq for hosting
the leadership and militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party
(PKK), which has been carrying out cross-border attacks in Turkey
since 1984.
This last example shows how the political perspectives and balances in
the region have been dramatically changing in line with the security
atmosphere.
At almost the same time as Davutoglu was speaking to Turkish reporters
in Brisbane, Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition
Republican People's Party (CHP), was giving the opening speech of a
conference in Istanbul titled "The 100th Anniversary of World War I."
"Those who are bringing the whole Middle East and our country to the
brink of war seemingly lack the wisdom to draw lessons from history,"
Kılıcdaroglu said, adding that Turkey must "remain loyal to the
peace-oriented foreign policy of Turkish Republic's history."
He elaborated that with the perspective and lessons drawn from World
War I, the Turkish government of the time managed to keep the young
and weak Republic away from the damage of World War II by staying
out of it. The CHP leader suggested that the government should stick
to the principles Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish
Republic, who coined the phrase: "Peace at home, Peace in the World."
Turkey entered WWI on Germany's side not as a matter of national
interest, but more, according to many historians, as the result of an
adventurist nostalgia in the days of the failing Turkish empire of the
Ottoman Dynasty, pushed by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress
(ITP) and its leader Enver Pasha.
Despite the heroic resistance shown in Gallipoli in 1915, for example,
or the resistance in Kut, Iraq in 1916 against invading forces, the
Ottoman army lost the war, together with the Germans, leaving tragic
pages behind, including the forced deportation of native Armenians
by the ITP government in 1915, which led to massacres. Following a
humiliating armistice in 1918 that marked the invasion and occupation
of Turkey by Greek, British, French, Italian and Armenian armies,
(the Russians had withdrawn after the 1917 revolution), a War of
Independence was started by Ataturk. The victory brought about a
regime change, and the Republic was established in 1923.
November/15/2014
From: Baghdasarian