Turkey's Suicide

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Without a comment:

 

 

New York Post, NY

Jan 26 2007

 

TURKEY'S SUICIDE

 

OUR OLD ALLY'S BENT ON SELF-DESTRUCTION

 

by Peter Ralph

 

January 26, 2007 -- IT'S hard to watch an old pal hit the skids,

making one disastrous decision after another, throwing away a

brilliant future. That's the position we're in with Turkey - a former

ally bent on self-destruction.

 

A NATO member ideally positioned to serve as a bridge between the

West and the Middle East, Turkey's secular constitution and economic

progress should have made it an example for other regional states to

emulate. Instead, Turkey has been aping the blighted regimes of the

Arab world:

 

* Exploiting the population's disgust with government corruption,

Islamists gained power through the ballot box - and immediately

started dismantling the secular legacy of Kemal Ataturk.

 

* On the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Turkey stabbed the United

States - its only dependable ally - in the back, denying passage to

our troops in the fateful illusion that Ankara could save Saddam.

 

* Turkey strangled its (always faint) chance of membership in the

European Union with internal repression, ludicrous prosecutions,

farcical legislative efforts to Talibanize society and its stubborn

denial of the Armenian genocide.

 

* Instead of winning Europe's approval, the government-sponsored

anti-American hate speech poisoning Turkey's media only strengthens

European convictions that Turks "aren't our kind."

 

* Impatient to send Turkish troops into Iraq to attack the PKK (a

radical Kurdish group with a terrorist past), Ankara might face a

startling military embarrassment, further alienate Washington - and

finish off its last prayer of EU membership. (The Europeans just want

excuses to keep Turkey out - and Turkey has a genius for providing

them.)

 

* Despite the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship with

Iraqi Kurdistan - where Turkish businessmen make substantial profits

- the Ankara government obsesses about preventing the emergence of a

Kurdish state. Betting on Iraq's Sunni Arabs (who despise the Turks

but use them), Turkey has set itself up to lose big if Iraq

dissolves.

 

* With its mischief-making in Iraq, cloak-and-dagger monkey business

with Syria and failure to appreciate Iranian deviousness, Turkish

foreign policy is in a self-destructive shambles unrivaled since the

foundation of the modern Turkish state.

 

All of this leaves me in sorrow, since I spent decades arguing that

Turkey's strategic importance required us to be patient as this land

of enormous potential found its way to the future.

 

For an enthusiastic visitor to Turkey for three decades, it's been

heartbreaking to watch its society and economy come to life - only to

fall prey to Islamist vampires.

 

With Salafism - the Saudi brand of radical Islam - biting into the

Turkish political jugular, the joke is that the despised Bedouins of

Arabia have finally conquered the "Ottoman Empire." The most

primitive and backward form of Islam is increasingly at home in the

heartlands that had formed the core of the most powerful Muslim state

for five centuries.

 

Now the question isn't whether our old ally can overcome its internal

difficulties, but which of its troubles will overwhelm it first. Will

the Islamist destruction of Turkish culture continue, or will a

rumored military coup plunge the country back into another period of

internal violence and political stasis?

 

For Washington, it's all bad news. The march of punitive Islam

(punitive, above all, to Muslims) continues to feed on wild-eyed

anti-Americanism - but a military coup could lead to a misadventure

in northern Iraq similar to Argentina's Falklands debacle.

 

Last week's murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink (in

which Islamo-nationalists cynically employed a 17-year-old assassin

who could only be charged as a juvenile) laid bare the divide in

Turkish society: 100,000 Turks turned out to protest the barbarous

killing, but the government barely shrugged, since the demagogues now

command far greater numbers.

 

Turkey's educated elite is in much the same position as Germany's

elite during Hitler's rise to power. Imagining that the Islamists

would sputter out, progressive Turks failed to act. Now Turkish

civilization - so great for so many centuries - is unraveling the way

Germany's did in the 1930s. Turkish intellectuals made the classic

error of underestimating the common man's capacity for hatred and

lust for blind revenge.

 

As for the spectacularly virulent and dishonest anti-Americanism in

the Turkish media - we need never have a "Who lost Turkey?" debate:

The Turks lost it for themselves. Instead of maturing into the

Western culture of responsibility, Turks succumbed to the Arab

world's culture of blame.

 

Having looked down on Arabs for centuries, Turks are now becoming

functional Arabs, reclining into fantasies of greatness as surreal as

a Sufi mystic's hashish dreams. Ataturk's revolutionary vision for a

modern Turkish state - betrayed by his own corrupt successors - is

fading into the reality of yet another retarded Muslim satrapy.

 

An even more accurate parallel case than 1930s Germany is today's

Pakistan. Turkey is on the way to becoming another extremist-poisoned

garrison state held together solely by its military.

 

On my last visit, I got a madman's lecture from a Turkish customs

officer on the resurrection of the Ottoman Empire. But instead of

returning to that empire's undeniable glories, 21st- century Turkey

appears determined to replay the miserable Ottoman twilight.

 

I wish we could save Turkey. But we can't. That's up to the Turks.

[zurderer]

 

 

With Salafism - the Saudi brand of radical Islam - biting into the

Turkish political jugular, the joke is that the despised Bedouins of

Arabia have finally conquered the "Ottoman Empire."

 

Turks were never salafist. Religous ones(not nationalist religious ones) are sufist.( A little distorted but still sufist.)

 

Turks are now becoming

functional Arabs, reclining into fantasies of greatness as surreal as

a Sufi mystic's hashish dreams.

 

Sufis dont use hashas, They use music.

 

By the way, Main point of article,

 

Turkish people did not listen USA, Europea and their army. So they are destructing themself. Realy not a much complicated argument.

 

Listening some powerful states dont benefit always.(I am sure ROA can understand this better.)If nothing beneficial is offered, They will get nothing back. After all, what material benefit EU or USA offered us? Why should we help and listen them. A useless article If you ask me.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

A useless article If you ask me.

 

 

your word means nothing and no one asks you anything. you can now put your head back in the sand and prtend nothing has happened.

 

 

[Aubépine]

That article isn't worth a penny, considering the paper it was published and its author. He is a neo-con (and a mediocre one too) plus he is an adviser to the Barzanis.

[irlandahay]

what in the hell is this?

 

woa.

that was full of garbage...

"ottoman empire's past glories"?

what glories is he talking about?

[Aratta-Kingdom]

That article isn't worth a penny, considering the paper it was published and its author.

 

you have something against New York Post and Peter Ralph?

 

 

 

 

He is a neo-con (and a mediocre one too) plus he is an adviser to the Barzanis.

you haven't made an argument against the article yet. he was on your side, remember? he said he was 'an enthusiastic visitor to Turkey for three decades', and 'spent decades arguing that Turkey's strategic importance required us(U.S. the west) to be patient'. suddenly, after criticizing turkey, he became a neo-con, a mediocre? is this how you talk about the people who don't agree with you? wasn't that the case with Hrant Dink? do you always hate those who criticise you? in fact, isn't Peter Ralph talking 'hatred and

lust for blind revenge' that exists among the turks?

 

 

Edit: fixed the quotes - all quoted text must be between the "quote" and "/quote" tags

Edited January 30, 2007 by vava

[neko]

That article isn't worth a penny, considering the paper it was published and its author. He is a neo-con (and a mediocre one too) plus he is an adviser to the Barzanis.

 

True, true, true, and true.

 

Can you believe that these neo-con Yankee turds are still writing this sort of stuff?

"On the eve of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Turkey stabbed the United

States - its only dependable ally - in the back, denying passage to

our troops in the fateful illusion that Ankara could save Saddam. "

 

They really have no shame (though maybe a lack of it is what defines their "character"). God help us all from their "Freedom" operations.

Edited January 30, 2007 by neko

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Why Turkey is not in US plans

By Burak Bekdil

 

 

Kathimerini English Edition

Tuesday August 16, 2005

 

 

Ankara has little relevance within emerging energy map of world and

Washington's intentions to shape it

 

 

For over half a century the USA has deemed Turkey a staunch ally. The

end of the Cold War sealed the beginning of the end of the once-solid

alliance.

 

 

Since the start of the Iraq war, there has been every indication of

mutual mistrust, as well as a visible decay in bilateral ties.

 

 

It's perhaps too simplistic to blame the corrosion on Turkey's refusal

to allow US troops to use Turkish soil as a launch pad for an attack

against Iraq. There are broader, more realistic (and less sentimental)

reasons why Turkey does not appear in American plans for the future.

 

 

The USA today cannot get any reading on the position of Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's "unreadable" governance. They think the Turks

are keeping their cards "close to their chest." Then again, to the

Turks the United States appears to be an object of hysterical fear and

hatred when viewed from the other side of the Atlantic. The new fight,

disguised as efforts to promote democracy in non-democratic states,

will be for energy.

 

 

Although the USA would welcome it if Turkey decided to participate

in Washington's new war on terror at any level they wish, it is hard

to imagine, today, that the Americans want anything but amicable and

business-like relations with Turkey, and at a minimum.

 

 

According to well-informed US sources, Turkey has not exerted any

influence in Central Asia on behalf of the effort to support US

anti-terrorism operations and promote democratic reform. Turkey is

sympathetic to the Shanghai Group, which the US thinks solely exists

to advance Chinese and Russian interests against the allied efforts

to stabilize Central Asia.

 

 

There is much evidence that this seemingly new conceptual framework

for dealing with the Islamic fundamentalist movement will represent a

large change in how the US will do business around the world. There are

 

 

a number of important trends that must be combined into any foreign

policy strategy, and the new Pentagon formulation indicates a "sea

change" in US operations and incorporates these various trends.

 

 

The steady rise in energy prices is a trend that will probably continue

 

 

until most nations are flat on their backs. Oil should be at $70/bbl

by this winter. In 2006, one may look for prices in the $90 range,

and a deep worldwide depression should set in by 2008. The United

States is quite aware of this trend. Already, drastic conditions are

developing in numerous countries. Indonesia has a shortfall of 20

percent in oil usage which the US thinks is a disaster. The US is

having troubles on its southern border too.

 

 

Mounting pressure Mexico is a major source of oil for the US market

and has announced that its largest oil field, El Cantarell, has

reached its peak of production. That field accounts for 62 percent of

Mexican production and is now depleting at a rate of 14 percent per

year. Conservatively, the US absorbs approximately 3 million Mexican

refugees, and the pressure will probably increase.

 

 

The stability of China and its international intentions is a major

US preoccupation. Africa is collapsing, and the US intends to protect

the West African oil fields.

 

 

Europe, according to US sources, is disarming itself and is of little

to no use beyond its own borders. The US is currently withdrawing

the bulk of its armed forces back to US territory (two divisions are

returning from Germany, leaving only one brigade; three brigades are

returning from South Korea, and probably about 70-90,000 personnel

will withdraw from the Middle East by the end of 2006).

 

 

The era of the stabilizing influence of large numbers of US forces

stationed around the world is probably over. The USA is retrenching

and providing its main support to what it deems "reliable/democratic"

allies. And that would be Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Japan,

India and Israel. Otherwise, it is trying to reach out to nations

that wish to assist in anti-terrorist and stabilization efforts on

their own behalf. Turkey does not appear to be in either group.

 

 

Also, the US thinks certain places must be protected one way or another

 

 

without fail. These are the critical geopolitical pressure points:

that would be Egypt, the Malacca Strait, Panama, the Horn of Africa,

South Africa, US territorial waters and approaches.

 

 

Access to Middle Eastern oil is extremely important, but not as

important as one might expect. If it comes to priorities, says one

US expert, and it soon will, West Africa, Mexico, the North Sea,

Trinidad, Canada, Australia, and Japan are more important than what

the United States is doing in the Middle East today.

 

 

"Now," the expert says, "if we had reliable allies in Europe and

Turkey, things would look differently. That is not the case. So,

at some point, the problem will belong to Europe and Turkey without

major US participation. If you want oil and stability, you go get it."

 

 

He continues, "Frankly, with oil at $90-150 a barrel and even more,

Kurdish Iraq, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and the Azeris may be more important

than Turkey.

 

 

In a world of extremely high-priced oil and diminishing supplies,

who knows, even Turkey might find that its eastern provinces are a

bigger liability than they are worth."

 

 

All that should ring alarm bells in Ankara. It may, soon. But there

is little Turkey can do in an emerging energy map of the world and

US intentions to shape it - especially at a time when the Americans

think Turkey has been cast adrift by US policy.

 

[zurderer]

It is stupid to think, Turkey changed much after cold war. In cold war, Turkey has not enough power to resist USA or western states.

 

Now a lot thing changed(It is not Turkey but world changed, we will follow our interests.), there is not any more soviets. So no great danger too Turkey. Now, We have ability to follow more neutral politics. Specially, when our benefits and USA benefits are not absolute same.(At blacksea and middle east.) Infact our benefits are totally same only at balkans.

 

 

He continues, "Frankly, with oil at $90-150 a barrel and even more,

Kurdish Iraq, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and the Azeris may be more important

than Turkey.

 

[Error 404]

I wonder what are you going to do without US support?

[irlandahay]

I wonder what are you going to do without US support?

 

so does the rest of the world

[neko]

I wonder what are you going to do without US support?

Live happily ever after?

Many countries dream of getting rid of US "support".

[Yervant1]

Live happily ever after?

Many countries dream of getting rid of US "support".

I disagree, I think they will look for another pimp.

[Arpa]

I disagree, I think they will look for another pimp.

Like who?

The Chinese?

They dare not.

They know that we have the trademark and the deed to prove it.

Or else, they will have to answer to Vardan and his Chinese grandparents Mamik and Konak.

Why do I repeat this theme day in and day out?

Maybe some day our readership will come to realize that Mamkonian’s Chinese ancestry is as ridiculous, if not more than the Hittite and Urartuan ancestry of Mehmet.

Sorry Yervant. Maybe you meant those Bagratunis of TelAviv.

 

[zurderer]

I dont think, Turkey realy have an alliance problem. After all which(Including ROA) country dont want Turkey allience?

 

Anyway, I dont know why but It looks like USA is hopelessly want Turkey cooperation.

 

 

[Vanetsi]

I'm back.

 

After an absence of the better part of a year, I've returned.

 

And this guy is this still here?

 

My first order of business is to basify the causticities of our friend's post.

 

Why are you spending time on this Armenian forum? Why be Turk-righteous here?

 

Take up a hobby, *****.

[Vanetsi]

Why can't I say p a s h a?

[Armenak]

Why can't I say p a s h a?

I think Arpa had something to do with that.

[Zartonk]

I'm back.

 

Bari Galust!

 

And the reason we can't say **** is that certain compatriots still hold that it is and Armenian title, and it's not.

Edited February 2, 2007 by Zartonk

[zurderer]

haha. Can we say dolma?

[Error 404]

I dont think, Turkey realy have an alliance problem. After all which(Including ROA) country dont want Turkey allience?

 

Anyway, I dont know why but It looks like USA is hopelessly want Turkey cooperation.

 

Zurderer do you know how many countries and nations in this world hopelessly want to tear turkey apart? They just wait for the opportunity.

 

Beware The Ides of March ...

[zurderer]

Still there are more country who want to become ally with Turkey.(I repeat including ROA.)

 

[Error 404]

a lamb will ally with a wolf only to be eaten...

 

It doesn't make sense what you have just said zurderer. Armenia will never be an ally of turkey. Don't be naive or just stop the propaganda. Write something intelligent.

[zurderer]

a lamb will ally with a wolf only to be eaten...

 

Hmm are you commenting about Russia and ROA. It is easy my friend, If you dont want to be eaten by bear, you should have support of wolf. Anyway, It is your problem. Wolf will stay here.

 

[neko]

Hmm are you commenting about Russia and ROA. It is easy my friend, If you dont want to be eaten by bear, you should have support of wolf. Anyway, It is your problem. Wolf will stay here.

Unlucky Armenia - to be wedged so tightly between bears (Russians), wolves (Turks), sloths (Georgians) and .... now what animal would characterise an Azeri?