16.
August 2000
2. "Turks unable to meet UN Cyprus deadline", the failure of Turkish Cypriots to meet a U.N. set deadline on acceptance of a Cyprus reunification proposal despite Greek Cypriot acceptance was because their leader, Rauf Denktash, continued to be in hospital, a U.N. official told United Press International.
3. "Gul keeps election pledge to Turkey", Turkey's new leaders on Monday took a further step towards shaking off their Islamist past by unveiling a streamlined, reformist cabinet.
4. "Turkish Leader at Least in Name", Turkey's new prime minister will be Abdullah Gul, deputy chairman of a ruling party whose leader is barred from holding office because of a 1998 conviction for mixing politics and religion.
5. "The Trouble with Turkey", a showdown over Cyprus, unease among the Europeans, military escalation on the Iraqi border, and recent elections that represent a sea change in government – in other words, it's business as usual in Turkey.
6. "Bush again backs Turkey’s EU bid", US President George W Bush has again thrown his weight behind Turkey’s campaign to be accepted as a full member of the European Union, calling the Prime Minister of Denmark, the current EU term President to push Turkey’s case.
1. - Ozgur Politika - "Italian Prosecutor: "Italy is responsible to Abdullah Ocalan":
November 18, 2002 / by Ali Ozserik
Italian Prosecutor Alessandro Margara who is also member of the European Commission for Prisons gave a special statement to our newspaper OZGUR POLITIKA, making striking comments on KADEK President Abdullah Ocalan, Turkish prisons and Turkish political system.
Margara has recently gone to Turkey to make investigations on behalf of the Commission.
The Prosecutor stated that he considered the isolation of KADEK President Abdullah Ocalan in Imrali Island was contrary to the international laws and the principle of equality. "Italy has some responsibilities on Ocalan case. Apart from its responsibility in the conspiracy against him, Ocalan is a leader who has been granted the statue of political refugee in Italy. Therefore Italy must observe policies on him closely and fulfil its responsibilities" said Margara.
Like a dictatorship
Comparing the Turkish political system with the dictatorial period
in Argentine, the Italian Prosecutor said the following: "Prisoners
die in prisons but the Turkish government behaves as if there is nothing
to be worried. We have established that prisons in Turkey is out of
European norms and ill-treatment and torture were widespread. As it
is Turkey resembles the old dictatorial period of Argentina. Military
establishment is dominant in every matter and they decide the policies.
The European states, on the other hand, do not want to see all that
take place in prisons and in fact put a black band on his eyes in
order not to see them." 
2. - UPI - "Turks unable to meet UN Cyprus deadline":
UNITED NATIONS / 18 November 2002
The failure of Turkish Cypriots to meet a U.N. set deadline on acceptance
of a Cyprus reunification proposal despite Greek Cypriot acceptance
was because their leader, Rauf Denktash, continued to be in hospital,
a U.N. official told United Press International.
It was hoped a settlement could be reached in time for the Dec. 12
Copenhagen, Denmark, European Union in which Cyprus' membership was
to be considered. But the Turkish Cypriots did not offer any indication
when they would be able to respond, the official told UPI.
Denktash was recovering in a New York hospital from heart surgery,
the official said. Earlier the United Nations had received "indications"
there would be no reply Monday to the nearly 150-page proposal offered
by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Nov. 11.
At that time, Annan asked Denktash and his Greek Cypriot counterpart,
Glafcos Clerides, not to divulge contents of the proposal but to study
it before announcing a decision Monday.
"I had asked the two leaders to give me their reactions to my
proposals today and I am waiting to get their reactions. ... Then
I will analyze the situation at the end of the day and decide what
to do next," Annan said earlier in the day during a visit to
Sarajevo, Bosnia.
A spokeswoman for Annan said Monday night there was no immediate reaction
from the secretary-general.
Earlier still, a Greek-Cypriot statement was received by reporters
at U.N. headquarters in New York saying Clerides presided over a meeting
of the National Council during which the basis for agreement on a
comprehensive settlement was discussed.
The members suggested a favorable reply.
"The National Council reiterated the commitment of the Greek-Cypriot
side to pursue without delay, a peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem
through negotiations between the two communities, under the auspices
of the U.N. secretary-general," the statement said.
However, the council said the proposed time frame was "extremely
stifling, and therefore, the dates should not be considered binding."
Turkey, also aspiring to EU membership but not until later, has threatened
to annex the northern, or Turkish-controlled, portion of the island
if the EU accepts the Greek Cypriots, the only internationally recognized
entity on the island.
Only Turkey recognizes the Denktash government.
Greece, already an EU member, has threatened to veto all EU applications
because of the Turkish threat.
The island, only about 60 miles off the coast of Syria and long a
Middle East listening post and staging arena, has been divided since
a Greek army-sponsored coup attempt led to a 1974 invasion by the
Turkish army.
The EU meeting next month has put on pressure for resolution of the
problem and Annan, as have previous secretaries-general of the world
organization, has been working to find common ground for an accord
by next month.
Annan proposed a Switzerland-like federal government made up of two
equal cantons of Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
3. - The Financial Times - "Gul keeps election pledge to Turkey":
ANKARA / 18 November 2002
by Leyla Boulton
Turkey's new leaders on Monday took a further step towards shaking off their Islamist past by unveiling a streamlined, reformist cabinet.
The government sought to reassure the secularist establishment by giving politically sensitive jobs to people devoid of past association with political Islam.
Abdullah Gul, the popular, pro-western prime minister, kept the election promise of the Justice and Development party (AKP) to slash the number of cabinet positions from 36 to 25. Such streamlining is seen as essential for increasing the efficiency of government, swollen by a decade of multi-party coalitions.
Both the International Monetary Fund and Turkey's volatile financial markets are likely to welcome Monday's appointment of Ali Babacan as economy minister.
The new administration, which has yet to go through the formality of a parliamentary vote of confidence, has vowed to pursue radical economic and political reforms in line with both Turkey's $16bn standby agreement with the IMF and the European Union's membership criteria.
Mr Babacan, a 35-year-old graduate of the Kellogg business school at Northwestern University, has been an effective salesman of the AKP's market-friendly election manifesto.
Mr Babacan said on Monday he expected to complete by the end of the year talks with the IMF to strengthen the reform programme's social safety net and support for economic growth.
The appointment as education minister of Erkan Mumcu, 39, who joined the AKP earlier this year from the conservative Motherland party and distinguished himself as tourism minister in the outgoing government, was one of a handful, together with justice and defence, designed to reassure the establishment that the AKP's reformist agenda will not tamper with the republic's secularist foundations. Vecdi Gonul, a former career civil servant, is to become defence minister.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, AKP leader, was in Athens on Monday to launch a tour of EU capitals as part of a campaign for a date to start accession talks. Mr Erdogan cannot become prime minister until the revision of laws banning him from parliament because of a conviction for inciting hatred on religious grounds.
Accompanying him was Yasar Yakis, 64, a retired diplomat who becomes
foreign minister.
4. - The Washington Post - "Turkish Leader at Least in Name":
Prime Minister Chosen, but Ineligible Party Head Expected to Call Shots
ISTANBUL / 17 November 2002
by Karl Vick
Turkey's new prime minister will be Abdullah Gul, deputy chairman of a ruling party whose leader is barred from holding office because of a 1998 conviction for mixing politics and religion.
Gul was nominated by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, chairman of the Justice and Development Party, which swept to a parliamentary majority in the Nov. 3 election. Despite being barred from office, Erdogan is regarded as the country's most powerful political figure, and in the same hour that President Ahmet Necdet Sezer formally appointed Gul, Erdogan was announcing the new government's legislative agenda. On Sunday, Erdogan is scheduled to resume a tour of European capitals that began Wednesday in Rome, where he was received as a head of government.
"There seems to be a parallel prime minister," said Yalim Eralp, a former Turkish diplomat and policy adviser. "That seems to be unavoidable in the coming weeks and months."
With almost two-thirds of the seats in Turkey's Grand National Assembly, the Justice and Development Party -- known in Turkey as AKP -- has vowed to amend the laws that keep Erdogan from becoming prime minister, the office commensurate with his power. The former Istanbul mayor was the star attraction at AKP campaign rallies, and as party chairman his name was the only one on the ballot.
"It is our absolute duty to normalize this abnormal situation," Gul said today, implying he did not expect to serve out his five-year term.
But Erdogan called the legislative plan he unveiled today more pressing. The agenda included numerous reforms required to keep alive Turkey's embattled bid for admission to the European Union, which will convene a decisive summit in Copenhagen in less than a month. The agenda also aims to underscore AKP's claim that it is a centrist party, despite its roots in banned and less successful movements that championed an openly religious agenda in this legally secular republic.
"We've said, 'From now on, nothing will be the same in Turkey,' " Erdogan said at a news conference in Ankara, the capital. "Now we're at the beginning of those days."
Erdogan repeated a vow to attempt only minor adjustments in the painful International Monetary Fund plan aimed at shoring up Turkey's crippled economy, which after a series of crises went into free fall early last year, shrinking almost 10 percent and bringing real wages down by twice that. Erdogan vowed to push Turkey's effort to sell state-owned companies.
In addition, he promised "immediate" action to end the almost routine use of torture by Turkish police, another issue highlighted by EU monitors.
Turning to the subject of head scarves for women, the party leader continued to tread carefully, calling for a national consensus. Many Turkish women believe their Muslim faith obliges them to wear the scarves, which are banned in public universities and government offices. Thus, scarves are a civil rights issue to young women who cannot afford to enroll in private schools and to many other Turks. But they are also a hot button for Turkey's military, the guardian of the republic's secular constitution. Erdogan has vowed to establish a "secular administration."
AKP officials had previously indicated that, to avoid appearing "victorious," they would restrict efforts to remove the head-scarf ban to universities, leaving the rule governing state employees intact. "Every kind of obstacle before education will be lifted," Erdogan said today.
Gul, 52, served with Erdogan in two earlier parties, Welfare and Virtue, that were banned for challenging Turkey's secular constitution. Educated in Turkey and England as an economist, Gul spent eight years in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, working for the Islamic Development Bank.
His wife, like Erdogan's, wears a head scarf, presenting a protocol challenge at public ceremonies where such coverings are legally forbidden. But with his warmer, more affable manner and good command of English, Gul has proved a more able spokesman than Erdogan for a party trying to assert moderate credentials.
In the closing days of the election campaign, the AKP sent Gul to Brussels to reassure EU officials that the party, routinely described as rooted in Islam, saw Turkey's future with Europe.
"Our aim," Gul said Friday in an interview with the English-language
Turkish Daily News, "is to show the world that a country which
has a Muslim population can also be democratic, transparent, modern
and cooperate with the world."
5. - antiwar.com - "The Trouble with Turkey":
SKOPJE / November 18, 2002
by Christopher Deliso
A showdown over Cyprus, unease among the Europeans, military escalation on the Iraqi border, and recent elections that represent a sea change in government – in other words, it's business as usual in Turkey.
A country seemingly always on the edge of greatness, Turkey's constant
unpredictability makes it one of the world's most interesting countries.
And, for a variety of interconnected reasons, it is also one of the
most important. As the US steps up plans for a war on Iraq, Turkey
– and its untested pro-Islamic government – face an unwanted
trial at an inopportune time. Torn between appeasing American wishes
and pleasing a thoroughly anti-war electorate, the infant administration
is simultaneously being hit by several other interconnected challenges:
UN pressure for a definitive settlement for the Cyprus problem, a
scathing rejection of the Turkey's European identity from the French,
and somehow, a solution for the country's economic dislocation. (Last
year's recession only increased the seemingly endless loans that have
made Turkey the IMF's largest-ever debtor).
The Islamicists Take Power
What Western media hailed on paper as a "landslide victory" for the Islamic Justice and Development Party may not translate into much in reality. The traditional role of the army in Ataturk's republic is to maintain democracy and secularism – sometimes, by limiting the former. Notably, the American democracy-building crusaders are relatively silent concerning the role of the Turkish army in government. It is left to the Europeans – who constantly face the possibility of letting a populous Muslim country into their ranks – to stonewall the Turks, as we will see below.
Yet perhaps there is something to Ataturk's ideal. In an absolute democracy, voters could conceivably vote to overturn democracy, and live under another political system. In Turkey, such a scenario is deeply worrying to the generals. This is why the head of the Justice and Development Party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was banned for life from holding office in 1997, after being accused of "inciting religious hatred."
To avoid stirring up trouble, Justice and Development has marketed itself as promoter of a pro-Western, pro-business agenda, thereby downplaying its populist appeal to dissenting Islamicists. On Saturday, it was announced by the party that the new prime minister would be one Abdullah Gul. According to Saturday's broadcast of BBC World, "Gul is seen as being pro-business, and acceptable to Turkey's NATO allies."
However, the brief television analysis also speculated that the banned
Erdogan may himself someday try to become a prime minister. According
to the BBC, "he's already being treated like one by the outside
world." Such a thought cannot fail to unnerve the generals.
The Elections: Turkish 'Blowback'?
In a provocative recent article, Antiwar's Alan Bock argued that the landslide victory of the Islamicist Justice and Development party was
"...at least partly attributable to the increasingly aggressive tone of U.S. foreign policy regarding the region… the apparent determination of the Bush administration to achieve 'regime change' in Iraq, with or without allies, no doubt pushed many Turkish voters toward the Islamicist party as the most effective or visible way to register their disapproval."
While Bock also attributes the Islamicist win to widespread dissent
over the old administration's failure to revitalize the economy, there
is an element of truth to this. It is becoming clearer and clearer
that US intransigence is starting to backfire. Now that rumblings
are starting to come even from faithful ally Turkey, Washington should
seriously reconsider embarking on a military adventure in Iraq –
one that would not only provide terrorists a perfect chance to strike
again, but also destabilize an invaluable ally.
NATO Versus The European Union
The Turkish controversy is the strongest manifestation of yet another future showdown. The race for power between NATO and the EU, attested by the frenetic pace of their respective expansion plans, has been analyzed in depth. At bottom, it is the rivalry between America and the Continent, between the US (and British) desire to expand empire through enlarging NATO, versus the French-German hope that a European army may someday replace NATO policing missions in Europe, thereby reducing American influence. The rivalry has come to the surface recently: on 9 November, NATO chief Lord Robertson mocked Europe's defense funding as a "waste of money." In Macedonia, the French are currently incensed that the US has backed NATO's extension of its mission after 15 December – they had hoped an EU force would take over.
Turkey, as member of NATO and aspiring member of the EU, is where
the twain meets.
The EU's Great Deception
It was exactly three years ago in Istanbul that an American soldier laid it all out for me. The European context of the new "Great Game," a story that is only emerging publicly now, was already lurking just under the surface of polite diplomacy. What had finally driven it into the light of day were twin disasters – the August 1999 earthquakes in Izmit, Turkey and Athens, Greece. The instant aid both nations provided one another led to an unanticipated warming of relations. The Greek boycott of a Turkish EU application was dropped.
The soldier, who had spent considerable time working with the Turkish military elite, put it rather bluntly:
"So long as Greece was boycotting the Turks, the more 'evolved' northern European countries were full of sympathy: 'oh, Turkey, we'd love to have you, if it weren't for those sulky Greeks.' This, of course, was mere rhetoric. Now Greece has called their bluff. They know full well that any future wave of Turkish immigrants will not stop for long in Greece – they will go to Sweden, England, France, etc.. Behind the well-wishing rhetoric, these countries are aware of this possibility. Someday soon they will be forced to say it out loud."
For years, carping European criticisms over human rights, the death
penalty and Kurdish language rights have successfully stonewalled
the Turks. Now that the latter have swiftly been making progress on
these issues, the masters of Europe are groping to find another irrelevant
labor for their latter-day Hercules to carry out. And preferably,
one that would not betray the paucity of the leftist rhetoric that
has justified a decade of Balkan intervention, and sparked the "conflict
resolution" industry that has been cashing in ever since on that
perhaps ruined subcontinent.
An Honest Frenchman Incites Uproar
Trumped by the Greeks, those caring, feeling Eurocrats were once again upstaged – this time very recently, by a blunt and unwelcome messenger, the head of Europe's constitutional convention, Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
Citing Turkey's volatile economy, widely different cultural heritage, and the fact that only four percent of it lies in Europe, the dour Frenchman declared that Turkey's membership would mean "the end of the European Union." Indeed, any conception of a "Europe" that borders on Iraq is farcical. Unless, of course, the American dream of a "democratic" Iraq is fulfilled. In that case, is eventual EU membership for Baghdad inconceivable?
Even if they didn't like the message, the Turks should be grateful
at least for the forthrightness of Monsieur d'Estaing. At very least,
it should make them reconsider
why and what for they have been laboring in vain to please Europe
for so many years.
Europe's 'Moment of Truth'
Although it took three years, it seems that the soldier I encountered in Istanbul has been vindicated: a recent analysis from the BBC conceded that d'Estaing "…is merely saying out loud what others whisper behind the scenes." For example:
"Turkey's opponents say it is too big and too 'culturally different'. The idea of a large Muslim country joining the EU fills them with profound unease. If the Turks were to join, they would – within a few years – have the largest population in the Union. That would give them the largest delegation in the European Parliament and the biggest number of votes in ministerial councils."
A European Union whose center of gravity changed dramatically southward
– even as its impoverished population moved northward –
would be difficult to sell to many Europeans. As it is now, it seems
the Eurocrats are committed to dangle the carrot forever, as a form
of sustained damage control, to keep the Turks in a perpetual state
of suspense. This is both to keep them Western-oriented (without actually
being admitted into the West), and to keep them from going jihadi.
Europe's Economic Fears
The EU's imminent admittance of 10 central and eastern European countries has raised fears – perhaps unfounded – of economic peril among many Europeans. In some past cases, chiefly Ireland and Greece, EU largesse has contributed mightily to turning relatively poor countries into thriving ones. However, being much larger and more averse to accurate economic predictions, Turkey could be much harder to safely "improve." Of course, there is only one way to find out. But what matters here is not assessing a realistic future for Turkey in the EU. To understand the current controversies, we must merely look at what is steering the debate – that is, the mental outlook of the parties involved.
One example was the harsh denunciation of Monsieur d'Estaing. Another was recorded by the AP recently – an anonymous comment from a European diplomat, bemused by the undying American enthusiasm for Turkey's candidacy:
"The Americans just don't understand the complexities of EU membership… admitting Turkey now would be like Mexico becoming the 51st state of the US overnight."
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer went even further, declaring
that Turkey's admittance would be like "Mexico and Central America
joining the United States."
The Base Of American Support
But does the US really not understand this somewhat accurate approximation?
Of course it does. America's enthusiastic backing of Turkish membership
in the EU is not only a means for undermining the Eurocrats. There
are very real concerns behind keeping good relations with the Turks,
who by an accident of history have what may be the most important
geographic positioning in the world. For the Americans at least, Turkey's
borders – with Syria, Iraq, Armenia, Georgia and (across the
Black Sea) Ukraine and Russia – make for a necessary courtship.
The US would like to keep its presence at Incirlik air force base
(near Adana) for any war on Iraq. Maintaining the status quo has required
strategic deference on occasion. For example, Turkish threats to end
the Incirlik presence allegedly stifled Congress's plans to officially
declare Turkey guilty of "genocide" against Armenians in
1915. The French, however, had already obliged.
Forcing The Issue: The UN And Cyprus
At this year's EU summit in Copenhagen, Cyprus is expected to be admitted – whether or not there is a settlement between long-term antagonists Greece and Turkey.
Turkish threats to annex the northern part of the island if the (Greek) Cypriot Republic is admitted to the EU are being taken seriously by the UN, which has recently issued an 11th-hour peace settlement – one that would seem on paper to be quite favorable to the Turks. The Financial Times reports:
"The new UN plan proposes a loose Swiss-style confederation of two 'component states' in Cyprus, joined as a 'common state.' It would be headed by a rotating presidency, a two-chamber parliament with special voting safeguards for the Turkish Cypriot community and a supreme court where a third of the judges would be non-Cypriots. The plan says Cyprus will be 'an independent state in the form of an indissoluble partnership.'"
As it is now, Cyprus is a prosperous democratic country, with a strong economy and good relations with the West. The Turkish-occupied north, on the other hand, is poor, undeveloped, and restricted by a huge military presence. The "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," as it is farcically called, is unrecognized by any country save Turkey.
Both sides in the dispute have many and mutually-exclusive demands. But what Cyprus would have to gain by re-uniting, and deferring such enormous power to an Ankara-backed minority, is a serious question. There is one apparent victory for the Greeks – a massive reduction in Turkey's 30,000 troops. But even this may be more than Turkish politicians – who must dance to the tune of their military minders – can stomach. On 13 November, outgoing Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit declared that any troop reduction was "out of the question." Of course, it was Ecevit who had ordered the invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
The Turkish military, therefore, has its eyes on the new leadership.
Notably, party boss Erdogan has expressed cautious optimism about
the UN plan. His counterparts in Athens are also eager for a settlement
– especially prime minister Costas Simitis, who would like to
be remembered as the man who signed Cyprus into the European Union.
On January 1st, Greece will begin its one-year EU presidency. But
a lot more than prestige is on the line. Should no settlement be reached,
and a divided Cyprus admitted, Simitis may have to deal with a very
unpleasant possibility – a Turkish annexation in the north.
The Iraqi Border Heats Up – And The Americans Are There
The US recently announced up to $1 billion of new military aid to Turkey – already the world's fourth-largest arms importer. Last week, cross-border clashes between Turkish troops and Iraqi Kurds were reported, in a provocative article which reveals increasing Turkish-CIA cooperation:
"Turkish government sources said the CIA wants Turkey to play a major role in capturing northern Iraq and maintaining order in the Kurdish- and Turkmen-populated areas. The CIA plans focus on Turkish military help in capturing the northern Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Mosul, the sources said. The operation is meant to include Kurdish forces friendly to Ankara.
….the CIA and Turkish intelligence have been cooperating on wide-scale operations, and U.S. intelligence agents are operating in northern Iraq. The CIA and the U.S. military are refurbishing abandoned Iraqi airports near the Turkish border, the sources said."
This quote must be taken with a grain of salt. Despite official opposition to any war, the Turks are pragmatists. If the US decides to go in for the kill, they will be forced to go along for the ride. As we will see below, their "major role" is not only of American design.
Then there is the topic of "friendly" Kurdish forces. As I found on my recent trip to the region, this means the "alternative policeman" program by which village Kurds are armed and uniformed by the authorities; the rationale is that this will increase Ankara's military potential in remote regions, and also keep the Kurds out of anti-state paramilitary organizations like the PKK.
While the locals were tight-lipped about the consequences of not accepting a Turkish uniform, it was clear that life could become rather uncomfortable for Kurds who did not want to comply.
While some have speculated that an Iraq war would provoke the Turkish
Kurds to revolt, this is unlikely. Besides the tacit intimidation
with which they still live, there is the fact that life is improving
every year. The government has rebuilt many destroyed homes, and language
rights are on the rise – so long as Ankara's hopes of EU membership
are not dashed. Otherwise, there is little incentive for the government
to aid a people it associates with years of terrorism. No doubt about
it, it is a slippery slope indeed.
Iraq: All About Oil, And If So, Whose?
Almost as an afterthought, the article concludes with the following:
"Turkey's military has opposed a U.S.-led war against Iraq. Ankara has asked for a multi-billion compensation package that includes Turkish control of the oil fields in northern Iraq."
If we have to go along with an American adventure in Iraq, Turkish thinking goes, we had better get something out of it. And that something, it seems, is oil. For reasons of both finance and security, the oilfields of northern Iraq are key to all parties involved.
It goes without saying why the "democracy-building" Americans
have aspirations on oil-rich Iraq. But if the Kurds do get their "liberation"
as expected, their economic power as a state (and therefore their
ability to challenge Turkey militarily) will derive largely from the
oilfields near Kirkuk. For Turkey, therefore, control of these areas
is strategic for security as well as for economy.
The Kurdish Situation
The Iraqi Kurds, however, have other ideas. As the Associated Press ("Kurdish Army Seeks Oil-Rich Areas") recently reported:
"The battlefield strategy outlined by (Iraqi Kurd) Cmdr. Hamid Efendi gives added muscle to a draft constitution proposed earlier this month that envisioned the oil center of Kirkuk as the future capital of their homeland.
"…Kirkuk is Kurdish. So are parts of Mosul," said
Efendi, leader of the 50,000-strong Iraqi Kurdish armed forces comprising
soldiers and irregular militia. "We would want to take these
areas if the Americans attack."
Be Careful What You Wish For…
Right now, Turkey stands in the very center of this vortex of conflicting forces. Hazardously, the country upon which so much depends is on the defensive. Suspicions abound about virtually everything foreign – about US intentions for the Iraqi Kurds, about European Union sentiment, about potential enemies (like their own Kurds) and about the unnerving prospect of being forced into a face-saving but politically suicidal intervention in Cyprus.
Critics of American imperialism often cite the US' "steamroller" effect, whereby all pretenses of diplomacy or cooperation with international bodies are merely for show. In the end, critics say, America always gets whatever it wishes.
Yet while Washington may ultimately get the war it wants in Iraq,
the price remains unknown. There are many players in this new "Great
Game." With such complex and opposing forces in play, "blowback"
is the least of the potential dangers the West may face in forcing
Turkey's hand. Indeed, the simultaneous power plays of America, the
UN, European Union and NATO may someday seem to have been trivial
and grievous rivalries, should the misguided antagonisms of intervention
throw Turkey off course.
6.
- NBC - "Bush again backs Turkey’s EU bid":
US welcomes opportunity presented y new government in Ankara.
November 19, 2002
US President George W Bush has again thrown his weight behind Turkey’s
campaign to be accepted as a full member of the European Union, calling
the Prime Minister of Denmark, the current EU term President to push
Turkey’s case.
Bush, during a telephone conversation with Danish Prime Minister Anders
Fogh Rasmussen on Monday in which he spoke of the importance of Turkey’s
place in Europe, according to a White House spokesman
The two “agreed on the historic and strategic importance of advancing
Turkey’s evolution toward the European Union and the importance
of the Copenhagen summit in that regard,” Reuters news agency
quoted White House spokesman Scott McClellan as saying.
Also on Monday, the State Department pledged that it would work with
Turkey’s new Justice and Development Party (AKP) government and
stressed the that the new administration in Ankara represented a great
chance for Turkey to attain its European objectives.
“We welcome the new government’s placing EU accession and
reform, the economy and a Cyprus settlement at the top of its priorities,”
A State Department official said. “The United States will work
with the government on all of these issues and we believe that this
is a historic opportunity for Turkey to achieve its aspirations.”
Sweden's Anna Lindh sees new chance for democratic breakthrough
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, who has previously criticised
Ankara’s performance on human rights said Monday that Turkey
should be given further encouragement to pursue its EU goal.
“I think there are other (EU states)...which like Sweden have
seen that if there is a chance to make a real breakthrough for democracy
in Turkey then it is with this government,” Lindh said while
attending a meeting of Foreign Ministers in Brussels.
Lindh said that the new Justice and Development Party majority government
appeared committed to combat human rights abuses
“If there is any government which should be able to look after
human rights, then it would be a government which has itself been
subject to persecution,” she said. “That is why I think
we have an entirely different chance with this government.”