Temporarily So Called Turkey and the World: Perceptions, Relations...

[Siamanto]

ANTI-AMERICANISM HITS NEW RECORD IN TURKEY

Today's Zaman, Turkey
June 29 2007

The Turkish public dislikes the United States more than any other
nation in the world, while leading global actors such as the European
Union, Russia, Iran, China and Israel are also falling from favor
with a majority of Turks, according to a global survey released
on Wednesday.

The 47-country survey found that only 9 percent of the Turkish
people have a favorable opinion of the US, while 83 percent responded
negatively. The Pew Global Attitudes Project documented that only 2
percent of those surveyed in Turkey had a favorable opinion about US
President George W. Bush's foreign policy, while 88 percent responded
in the negative. The project has documented wide anti-American
sentiment since it was launched in 2002 but found those attitudes
deepening this year. In 2002, 52 percent of Turks supported the US
compared to this year's 9 percent.

Pew Research Center President Andrew Kohut, speaking to the United
States' PBS television station on the results of the survey, said
respondents in Turkey holding a favorable opinion of the US amounted
to 12 percent, a figure they did not expect would go down.

The Pew survey found that 81 percent of Turkish respondents were
critical of "American Ideas about Democracy," while 83 percent had a
negative view of "American Ways of Doing Business." A full 22 percent
expressed positive views of US movies and music.

The survey also showed that support for the European Union was steadily
decreasing among Turks. The Pew survey found that only 27 percent of
respondents in Turkey were positive about the European Union, compared
to 58 percent in 2004. Russia's image has also been slipping in Turkey,
with a majority stating a negative opinion of Russia. Only 10 percent
expressed support for President Vladimir Putin's policies. Turkish
support for China was extremely low, and the favorable view of
Iran slipped to 28 percent this year after totaling 53 percent in
2006. Only 4 percent of those surveyed in Turkey expressed a positive
view of Israel. When it came to terrorist Osama bin Laden, only one
place -- the Palestinian territories -- viewed him favorably, with
57 percent saying they had confidence in him. In Turkey that number
was 5 percent. A total of 931 individuals from Turkey participated
in the survey conducted in April and May. Is the average Turkish
individual in today's world more readily influenced by nationalist
and neo-nationalist movements? The answer is "yes" according to Omer
Laciner, editor in chief of the socialist monthly Birikim, which
has put considerable effort into understanding nationalism since
the 1970s. But this affirmation applies not only to Turkey, but to
all countries of the world. Indeed, the summary of findings for the
complete survey report presented by Pew found that the United States'
image is plummeting in many corners of the globe, but China and other
large powers are falling from favor as well.

"Turkey is going through a strange period," Laciner told Today's
Zaman in a telephone interview. "The process of globalization, or
whatever one might choose to call it, being in the global arena in
competition, leads people to question the values they have taken
as authentic characteristics of their own nation." For example,
a person who believes their nation is "the most" hospitable in the
world might, in the global world, find herself in a society so open
to guests and strangers to an extent not even acceptable in her own
society. "You are not 'the most' something of the world anymore,"
Laciner explains. "This is the most important reason for the rise
in nationalism along with the increased speed of globalization. Now
people have points of reference." More exposure to realities of an
increasingly global world blurs the line dividing black and white,
friend and foe. "Say, you say maintain Germans are hostile to us,
but then you find groups that are extremely friendly to Turkey." The
realization that the home nation, like other nations of the world,
is not a solid unit in itself creates a need to keep our usual and
old perceptions of the world as we once knew it; thus people turn to
nationalism to cling onto. In this sense, this rise of nationalism
across the globe could be its last. Laciner also emphasized that
nationalist groups in all countries played into each other's hands,
as deeds of nationalists damaging to another nation are usually used
by nationalists of a given country as proof of how the "enemy" nation
really is.

But how can such a notion diffuse through to the individual? The
answer is survival. "Circumstances defining how a person gets by, once
subject only to domestic dynamics, are now influenced by international
dynamics. Something that might happen abroad, such as a new invention
or the downsizing of a global company, could simply ruin the livelihood
of an individual. People are grappling with insecurity." In such
an environment, nationalism, both in Turkey and elsewhere, is the
resonance of such fears."

He underlines that these fears are irrational almost all the time.

Currently, they are crystallized in the person of the United States,
Laciner says, asserting that this could be another country at
a different time. One example is a recent survey simultaneously
conducted in Greece and Turkey which found that for 2.9 percent of
Turks, the 3-million-strong Armenia is a threat for Turkey with a
population of 70 million.

Once the world finds more constructive and humanistic ways to deal
with such insecurities and cope with the realities of the neo-liberal
globe, nationalism could become an ancient notion, Laciner suggested.

Etyen Mahcupyan, editor in chief of the bilingual weekly Agos,
agreed. "There has to be a reason to love a given country. It is a
chaotic, complica ted world in which there is little concern for moral
values. It is a psychological need," he said. According to Mahcupyan,
the decreasing approval of foreign countries in the hearts of the
Turkish people and others is not entirely ungrounded. "These [survey]
results do not reflect a human aversion, rather sensitivity about
foreign policies."

"We are talking about nation-states after their interests, not
individuals. If a state is represented by its foreign policy, then
dislike is understandable." Mahcupyan, similar to Laciner, says
the many states of the international system cannot respond to the
complexities of the world today. "It is not the rise of xenophobia,
but an alienation from the system of states."

Ferhat Kentel, an instructor in the sociology department of �stanbul
Bilgi University, agreed that clinging on to nationalism is a reaction
to increasing doubt, insecurity and a lack of confidence about the
future of the world. He said this finding was confirmed by a recent
study his university conducted on nationalism. The research found
an overwhelming feeling of insecurity towards the future in its
subjects. Kentel maintained that in a world where everything was
increasingly being perceived as a risk by the individual, nationalism
functioned to accommodate the perception of being threatened.

"The hegemonic powers of a society profiting from a web of interest
relations in this chaotic world employ the language of nationalism,
something that serves as a tool to perpetuate the current structure,"
Kentel explained. "We, the ordinary people, repeat their language,
but I doubt we mean the same thing."

Global warming increasingly perceived as major threat

The survey also found global warming and other environmental
problems are seen as the top threat in many places, ahead of nuclear
proliferation, AIDS and other dangers. The United States' favorable
ratings declined in 26 of the 33 countries for which a comparison
was available, with negative views particularly strong in the Middle
East. Overall, majorities in 25 of the 47 countries reported favorable
images of the United States. A majority of those surveyed expressed
unease with China's growing military and economic influence; however,
public opinion in China was positive in South Asia and Africa.




http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg194489.html

[Siamanto]

AZG Armenian Daily #123, 30/06/2007

Crisis in Turkey

"REPUBLIC OF TURKEY GO TO HELL!!!!"

"Republic of Turkey Go to Hell!!!" this slogan was sounded during the
funeral of PKK members in Hakkyari region of Turkey that borders with
Iran and Iraq on June 27. On June 28 the slogan appeared on some of
the sites, while the governor's office of Hakkyari denied the
information by a special official press release. "Milliet" informed
about this on its site, yesterday. According to "Milliet," the
Hakkyari governor stated in the press release "on June 28, some of the
sites spread information about "Republic of Turkey Go to Hell!!!"
slogan was sounded in our region during the funeral of a member of a
terrorist separatist union. The aforementioned funeral took place on
June 27 at 11 o'clock. The relevant law enforcement bodies followed
the funeral with great attention. After viewing the video record of
the funeral, we found out that none sounded such a slogan during the
funeral."

It's worth mentioning that the majority of Hakkyari residents are
Kurds and there are also many Alavians living there. On March 4, Hasan
Kyoni, Professor of Political Sciences at the Ankara University,
stated in the article entitled "The Armenian Cause and the
International Position of Turkey" that the Alavians are Muslim
Armenians.

By Hakob Chakrian


http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg194636.html

[Siamanto]

TURKISH MFA INDIGNANT ABOUT GREEK GENERAL STAFF'S MAP SHOWING DIVIDED TURKEY

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.07.2007 15:29 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Greek Ambassador to Ankara George Yennimatas was
summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Saturday over a map showing a
divided Turkey which was used last week in Athens during a seminar by
the Greek General Staff. According to diplomatic sources, Turkey's
displeasure over the map was conveyed to Yennimatas. Sources stated
that the Turkish Embassy in Athens is also expected to register a
protest, Cumhuriyet reports.


http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg195761.html

[Siamanto]

TURKEY'S ARCHAIC AUTHORITARIAN MODEL CRUMBLING
Haroon Siddiqui

Toronto Star, Canada
Aug 30 2007

The election of Abdullah Gul as Turkey's first "Islamist" president
over the objections of the "secularist" military is more than a
triumph of democracy.

Combined with last month's sweeping victory of the ruling party,
it represents a historic development with domestic and international
implications.

We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the 84-year-old
authoritarian model put in place by Kemal Ataturk at the end of the
Ottoman Empire.

He set up a quasi-dictatorship, featuring narrow Turkish nationalism;
state suppression of Islam in public spaces; and the centralization
of power in the army, which enabled the generals to mount three
coups against elected governments and help topple a fourth through
the courts.

In the early 1980s, when Turkey was battling leftist anarchists, the
army positioned itself as the guardian of the Turkish Islamic nation.

Lately, it has styled itself as the bulwark against "Islamists"
threatening secularism.

What the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has really
threatened is the power of the army.

The row over Mrs. Gul's hijab is mostly a red herring. While there is
no denying the symbolic importance of the fact that she's the first
First Lady to wear one, the real issue is that the army hated losing
the presidency though which it controlled the machinery of government.

The next battle will be over an Oct. 21 referendum on constitutional
changes guaranteeing freedom of speech, religion and dress, thereby
ending fascist notions of what constitutes "Turkishness," what Turks
can or cannot say about the 1915-17 Armenian genocide, and what women
can or cannot wear.

The marginalization of the army and the secular establishment also
represents the triumph of majority Turkish Muslim sentiment long
suppressed by the ruling minority.

The new order reflects the economic and social rise of the great
unwashed from Anatolia and elsewhere, whom the elites have long held
in contempt.

Credit for these developments belongs equally to the European Union.

It set democratic benchmarks for Turkey's possible entry into the EU.

Without those, Erdogan wouldn't have been able to pull off the miracles
he has.

His success also proves that "Islamist parties can operate within a
democratic and constitutional framework," notes Prof. James Reilly,
a University of Toronto expert on Turkey.

The West should be encouraging this democratic model across the Muslim
world, rather than relying on authoritarian rulers, as it sometimes
has - the Shah in Iran; Gamal Nasser, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak in
Egypt; Zia ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan - with disastrous
consequences.

Reilly compares Erdogan's Justice and Development Party to the
Christian Democratic parties of Europe, rooted in religion but
respectful of the secular state, as Erdogan and Gul have been. In
return, the secularists should respect Muslims, rather than engage
in cultural warfare with them.

It is no accident that Turkey's democratic leaders have also been the
chief architects of Turkey's bid to join the EU. It is a sentiment
Europe should reciprocate.

Just as the Ottoman Empire was part of both the Islamic and European
worlds, Turkey belongs to NATO and the Muslim world. It has good
relations with the U.S. and Israel, as well as with the Arabs (it
hopes to host the proposed Middle East peace conference in the fall),
with Syria (which can serve as a back channel to Israel) and with Iran.

Turkey's new order is welcome, and long overdue.

Haroon Siddiqui, the Star's editorial page editor emeritus,
appears Thursday in World and Sunday in the A-section. Email:
hsiddiq@thestar.ca

http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/251305

[Siamanto]

WHAT EUROPEANS THINK ABOUT TURKEY AND WHY
Katinka Barysch, Centre for European Reform (CER)

EurActiv
Aug 31 2007
Belgium

For many politicians, journalists and think-tanks, the benefits of
Turkish accession to the EU are "plain to see", writes Katinka Barysch
in an August 2007 paper for the Centre for European Reform (CER).

These range from the economic boost provided by a fast-growing and
youthful Turkey to the soft power that the EU would gain from including
a functioning Muslim democracy, she states.

However, for most people, fears related to Turkish accession are
"immediate" and "personal", she adds, and include job loss, the
threat of terrorism and the weakening of national culture. Meanwhile,
the benefits are perceived by EU citizens as being "rather abstract",
she believes - such as future economic growth, a stronger EU foreign
policy and increased energy security.

Turkey's potential membership raises questions ranging from the future
shape of the EU to the integration of existing immigrant communities
and countries that face similar issues do not necessarily arrive at
the same conclusions, observes the author - citing the view of some
Poles, Czechs and Germans that Turkey has no place in a "Christian"
EU, whereas this is not a problem for the "predominantly Christian"
Spaniards.

Barysch believes that a country's attitude depends on whether it sees
Turkish accession as a question of foreign policy (Spain, the UK)
or a matter of internal EU or national politics (France, Germany).

Moreover, many people in Belgium, France, Germany and Italy are
opposed as they fear it would bring an end to the federalist vision
of political union, she claims. Paradoxically, countries less keen on
political integration such as the UK and the Nordic countries support
Turkey's candidacy for this very reason, she adds.

Other points of view are specific to individual countries. Barysch
claims that French opposition centres on the fear that their country's
central role in the EU has already been weakened by enlargement
and that Turkey would be a "step too far". Moreover, she ponders
whether France's struggle to integrate its sizeable Muslim minority -
emphasised by recent rioting - has "overburdened" the debate.

Germans are concerned by the impact Turkey's accession would have
on the EU balance of power and its ability to move forward, she
believes. Meanwhile, Austria appears to be the most sceptical country,
she reveals - citing cultural concerns rather than religious ones as
the main reason for Austrian opposition.

It may take events, not words, to convince the EU public of the
merits of Turkey's accession, believes Barysch - such as a unilateral
withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus, an opening of the border
with Armenia, and an end to threats of army intervention and court
orders against journalists.

The paper concludes that although public opinion is a "challenge"
for Turkish accession, it is not an "insurmountable obstacle".

Centre for European Reform (CER): What Europeans think about Turkey
and why (August 2007)


http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargeme...article-166353

[Siamanto]

Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Sept 1 2007

Turkey US Relations: What is Next?

Saturday , 01 September 2007


Turkey-US relations likely to be tested soon

Throughout the last decade foreign policy has always been a key part
of Turkey's agenda; however only since the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) first came to power in November 2002 has
foreign policy become highly visible in the discussions of the man on
the street.

The European Union membership process and relations with neighboring
Iraq, where the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has found a
safe haven, occupied a great deal of space on this agenda. These two
particular issues have also been the focus of domestic debate between
the ruling and opposition parties.

Ali Babacan, appointed as new foreign minister in Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoðan's Cabinet after his predecessor Abdullah Gül
became the new resident of the presidential Çankaya Palace, on Friday
took office at his new post. In a brief speech he delivered as he was
welcomed by Foreign Ministry staff, Babacan highlighted the proactive
foreign policy stance assumed by Ankara, without elaborating on the
fact that this stance has been assumed only in recent years and
undertake Party rule.

On the same day, via a Prime Ministry circular published in the
Official Gazette, it became clear that Babacan will continue wearing
his former hat as Turkey's chief EU negotiator in addition to his
post as the foreign minister. In the same circular, the
Secretariat-General for EU Affairs (ABGS) which was thus far working
as an attachment to the Prime Ministry was subordinated to the
Foreign Ministry.

President Gül's inaugural speech to Parliament on Tuesday once again
outlined that the EU membership goal has been embraced by Turkey's
leadership as a core piece of the Turkish Republic's state policy.
Thus it is obvious that both Gül, who will surely be an active
president in terms of foreign policy, and his successor Babacan will
focus much time on the EU issue.

Nonetheless, Turkey's foreign policy does not consist solely of the
EU issue. Looking at events of the last few months, it becomes
apparent that Turkey is still losing people in the fight between its
security forces and the PKK. Meanwhile US military officials
considering Iraq strategy options appear to be focusing on reducing
the US combat role in 2008 while increasing training of Iraqi forces.
Despite the fact that the military has not yet developed a plan for
substantial withdrawal of forces next year, officials are laying the
groundwork for possible overtures to Turkey and Jordan to use their
territory for moving some troops and equipment out of Iraq.
Meanwhile, Turkey, which aims at becoming the fourth energy artery
for the EU, seems determined to deepen its bilateral cooperation with
neighboring Iran in the energy field, despite strong objections from
the US.

In Washington, congressional democrats are pushing for two separate
resolutions. One involves urging the administration to recognize the
World War I-era Armenian killings as genocide. Turkey has warned that
passage of the resolutions in the US Congress would seriously harm
relations with Washington and impair cooperation in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

Returning to the Iraq issue, Iraqi Kurds are pushing for a referendum
on the fate of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk before the end of this
year, while Ankara believes that the planned referandum should not
take place without reaching a consensus among the ethnic groups of
Kirkuk -- namely Kurds, Arabs and Turkmen.

Given all of these circumstances, retired Ambassador Özden Sanberk, a
former Foreign Ministry undersecretary, believes that Ankara will
have to focus on `urgent matters,' drawing attention to the fact that
not all parameters could be set by Ankara concerning the issue of the
PKK presence in northern Iraq since this situation is one of the
consequences of the ongoing US-led invasion.

`Considering that and keeping in mind that the Kirkuk issue, which
can easily be likened to a `time bomb', as well as the tension
between Turkey's NATO ally the US and Iran, I believe that the number
one priority for the government will have to be relations with
Washington. Because the US is both a reason for the problems and a
part of the resolution to these problems,' Sanberk said in a
telephone interview with Today's Zaman on Friday.

`For Turkey to be able to concentrate on its EU membership goal, it
first has to minimize threats against its own security. Thus all
foreign policy needs to gravitate around these security concerns.
While outlining its policy accordingly, Ankara will also have to
thoroughly analyze the global and regional trends,' the prominent
diplomat added, referring to the rising popularity of the concept of
`nation-state' in a world where international bodies are becoming
less influential.

Agreeing in general with what Sanberk asserts, prominent Milliyet
columnist and foreign policy expert Semih Ýdiz says bilateral
relations between Ankara and Washington are likely to enter a period
of tension, terming future relations between the two capitals
`electrified.' He added, `Instead of waiting and seeing what will
happen next in Iraq, Turkey will have to assume a proactive stance by
getting directly involved in easing the political turmoil in Iraq.'

Ýdiz concluded: `Having its relations with the US `electrified',
Ankara will be more and more eager to grab hold of the EU anchor. My
personal concern is whether Babacan's 24 hours will be sufficient for
dealing with all of these issues. The question over whether it is a
good idea to have Babacan wearing two hats is hanging heavily in my
thoughts.'

01.09.2007
EMÝNE KART ANKARA

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=47939

[Anonymouse]

How does the fact that Abdullah Gul is now president, and there seems to be an upswing toward an Islamic Turkey away from the secular one, affect Armenia?

[Siamanto]

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Turkish J.e.w-Hate
By Andrew G. Bostom
The American Thinker | Wednesday, September 05, 2007

On August 28, 2007, the same day that Abdullah Gul became Turkey's President -- replacing his secular predecessor, and further consolidating the ruling Islamic AK (Adalet ve Kalkinma) Party's (AKP) hold on power -- MEMRI published excerpts from a chilling interview given by former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan. The interview originally aired July 1, 2007, as part of Erbakan's campaign efforts in support of Islamic fundamentalist political causes before the general elections of July 22, 2007, and the AKP's resounding popular electoral victory over its closest "secularist" rival parties.

Erbakan, founder of the fundamentalist Islamic Milli Gorus (National Vision; originated 1969) movement, mentored current AKP leaders President Gul, and Prime Minister Erdogan, both of whom were previously active members of Erbakan's assorted fundamentalist political parties, serving in mayoral, ministerial, and parliamentary posts. During Erbakan's pre-election campaign stops before throngs of tens of thousands of supporters throughout Anatolia (including cities such as Trabzon, Elazig, and Konya), as well as cosmopolitan Ankara and Istanbul, he reiterated the same virulently Antisemitic statements captured in the July 1 interview, and other interviews.

These interviews and more expansive speeches were rife with allusions to Zionists/xxxs (deliberately conflated), as "bacteria," and "disease," conspiring to dominate the contemporary Islamic world ("from Morocco to Indonesia,"), as they had attempted unsuccessfully during the 11th and 12th centuries when xxxs purportedly "organized" the Crusades, only to be stopped by the Turk's/Erbakan's Seljuk "forefathers." Ultimately, Erbakan claimed, modern xxxs/Zionists wished to establish "a world order where money and manpower are dependent on [them]."

For over thirty years, Necmettin Erbakan a former chairman of the fundamentalist National Salvation Party, and its numerous offshoots, have represented the most significant examples of Turkish Muslim political organizations exploiting systematized anti-xxxish, anti-Zionist bigotry. Erbakan's ascension to Deputy Prime Minister in January, 1974, was marked by Pan-Islamic overtures, along with increasingly strident verbal violence against xxxs, Zionism, and the State of Israel emanating from the National Salvation Party's organs, especially its daily Milli Gazete (The National Newspaper), published in Istanbul since January 12, 1973.

The modern fundamentalist Islamic movement Erbakan founded has continued to produce the most extreme strain of antisemitism extant in Turkey, and traditional Islamic motifs, i.e., frequent quotations from the Koran and Hadith, remain central to this hatred, nurtured by early Islam's basic animus towards Judaism. Milli Gazete published articles in February and April of 2005, for example, which were toxic amalgams of ahistorical drivel, and virulently antisemitic and anti-dhimmi Koranic motifs, including these protoypical comments based upon Koran 2:61/ 3:112:

In fact no amount of pages or lines would be sufficient to explain the Qur'anic chapters and our Lord Prophet's [Muhammad's] words that tell us of the betrayals of the xxxs... The prophets sent to them, such as Zachariah and Isaiah, were murdered by the xxxs...

The April 2005 edition of the monthly Aylik, produced by a Turkish jihadist organization which claimed responsibility for the November 15, 2003 dual synagogue bombings in Istanbul, contained 18 pages of antisemitic material. An article written by Cumali Dalkilic entitled, "Why Antisemitism?", combined traditional Koranic antisemitic motifs with Nazi antisemitism, and Holocaust denial. Another article's title repeats the commonplace, if very pejorative Turkish Muslim characterization of xxxs, "Tschifit," which translates as "filthy xxxs" (a pejorative term for xxxs whose usage was recorded by the European travelers Carsten Niebuhr in 1794, and Abdolonyme Ubicini in 1856, based upon their visits to Ottoman Turkey), i.e., "The Tschifits [The Filthy xxxs] Castle."

Bat Ye'or published a remarkably foresighted 1973 analysis (first translated into English here) of the Islamic Antisemitism resurgent in her native Egypt, and being packaged for dissemination throughout the Muslim world. The primary, core Antisemitic motifs were Islamic, derived from Islam's foundational texts, on to which European, especially Nazi elements were grafted.

The pejorative characteristics of xxxs as they are described in Muslim religious texts are applied to modern xxxs. Anti-Judaism and anti-Zionism are equivalent-due to the inferior status of xxxs in Islam, and because divine will dooms xxxs to wandering and misery, the xxxish state appears to Muslims as an unbearable affront and a sin against Allah. Therefore it must be destroyed by Jihad. Here the Pan-Arab and anti-Western theses that consider Israel as an advanced instrument of the West in the Islamic world, come to reinforce religious anti-Judaism. The religious and political fuse in a purely Islamic context onto which are grafted foreign elements. If, on the doctrinal level, Nazi influence is secondary to the Islamic base, the technique with which the Antisemitic material has been reworked, and the political purposes being pursued, present striking similarities with Hitler's Germany. [emphasis added]

That anti-xxxish opinions have been widely spread in Arab nationalist circles since the 1930s is not in doubt. But their confirmation at [Al] Azhar [University] by the most important authorities of Islam enabled them to be definitively imposed, with the cachet of infallible authenticity, upon illiterate masses that were strongly attached to religious traditions. [emphasis added]

Erbakan's recent statements are vivid evidence of the fulminant Antisemitism his popular movement has imbued, including amongst Turkey's current ruling elites, who never criticize such pronouncements by their mentor. This bigoted discourse resonates among the masses, illustrating graphically the same phenomenon described so presciently 34 years ago by Bat Ye'or in Egypt: sequentially grafting on to a learned foundation of Antisemitic motifs from Islam's core texts, modern secular Western European elements, especially those associated with Nazism. Current Prime Minister Erdogan, in 1974, while serving as president of the Istanbul Youth Group of his mentor Erbakan's National Salvation Party, wrote, directed, and played the leading role in a theatrical play entitled Maskomya, staged throughout Turkey during the 1970s. Mas-Kom-Ya was a compound acronym for "Masons-Communists-Yahudi [xxxs]", and the play focused on the evil, conspiratorial nature of these three entities whose common denominator was Judaism.

And recently, when the wildly popular, most expensive film ever made in Turkey Valley of the Wolves (released February, 2006) included a "cinematic motif" which featured an American xxxish doctor dismembering Iraqis supposedly murdered by American soldiers in order to harvest their organs for xxxish markets, Prime Minister Erdogan not only failed to condemn the film, he justified its production and popularity.

Rifat Bali, a Turkish historian, and xxx, made a passionate indictment of Turkey's tacit acceptance of Antisemitism, published soon after the November 15, 2003 Istanbul synagogue bombings. The singularly courageous Bali, decried first and foremost, Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan's and his AKP government's abject failure to publicly denounce both the Antisemitic discourse of the fundamentalist Islamic movement from which Erdogan emerged, and which he claimed later to have abandoned, and those (like Erdogan's mentor Necmettin Erbakan, for example) insistent on perpetuating such public discourse. With bitter disbelief, Bali further noted the near unanimously shared, albeit counterfactual view, of a respected Turkish columnist, published (in Milliyet November 17, 2003) within two days of the bombings, who maintained that, "...there has never been Antisemitism in Turkey in its racist or religious sense."

The opportunity for honest discussion was squandered by every domain of Turkish society, not only politicians, but also media and intellectual elites. Moreover, a profoundly depressing example of collective xxxish dhimmitude was on ignominious display: the Chief Rabbi, as well as the secular leaders in his entourage representing the voice of Turkey's xxxish community, even the Israeli government, as Bali observes,

...all seemed determined to ignore...[rather than] to confront face to face the Antisemitism which is incorporated in the political Islamic movement...[i.e., which currently governs Turkey].

Bali further admonished the Erdogan regime to live up to its professed support of equality for xxxs within Turkish society:

Turkey's xxxs are not dhimmis in need of the tolerance and the protection of the Muslim majority. They are citizens of the Republic of Turkey.[emphasis added]

Amidst this atmosphere of chronic, openly espoused Antisemitism in Turkey-punctuated by the violent synagogue attacks of November, 2003, and met with craven silence by both political leaders in Israel, and major xxxish advocacy groups in the United States-a related subplot which concerns recognition of the Armenian genocide has been unfolding since March, 2007.

[Continued]


Andrew G. Bostom, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University Medical School, and regular contributor to Frontpage Magazine. He is the author of "The Legacy of Jihad."




http://frontpagemagazine.com/Article...4-60D6C44DB285

[Siamanto]

2 of 2



[b] Turkish Jew-Hate
By Andrew G. Bostom
The American Thinker | Wednesday, September 05, 2007

.....
According to the xxxish Telegraphic Agency (4/23/07, "Turks want genocide commission"), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the xxxish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), the American xxxish Committee, and B'nai B'rith were all lobbying against the Armenian genocide recognition legislation in the Congress (HR 106) and the Senate (SR 106), at least "passively", by presenting of letters of opposition from the beset dhimmi xxxish community of Turkey; ADL and JINSA reportedly complemented these letters with their own statements opposing the resolutions. When the ADL later sponsored a campaign to combat bigotry and celebrate diversity ("No Place for Hate") it sparked bitter resentment in Watertown, MA-a small town whose 8,000 Armenian-Americans comprise nearly 25% of the population -- ultimately forcing the organization and ADL leader Abraham Foxman to recognize this established historical event. But even the most recent statements by ADL and AJC-both of whom publicly recognized the Armenian Genocide only under duress-actively oppose (ADL), or fail to support (AJC), the resolutions.

These groups maintain that passage of HR/SR 106 jeopardizes both the safety of Turkey's small xxxish minority (which is glaringly inconsistent with their simultaneous hagiography of Turkey's treatment of xxxs, past and present), and what they profess to be the ongoing congenial and strategic relationship between Turkey and Israel. The predictable Turkish response to ADL's about face has been apoplectic denial -- of the Armenian genocide; of threats to the vestigial Turkish xxxish community as a consequence of potential American xxxish support for HR/SR 106 (let alone any acknowledgement of Turkey's chronic, virulent Antisemitism) -- replete with verbal chastisement of Israeli leaders and American xxxish organizations, ADL especially.

This unhinged "diplomatic" response by Turkey occurred, ironically, despite the fact that the US Congressional resolutions are based wholly on copious, often repellently detailed World War I era documentation, most notably, the diaries of Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916, and his immediate successor Abraham Elkus, an extended report by American consul Leslie Davis in Harput, Turkey, from 1915 to 1917, and the entire recently published United States Official Records on the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1917.

Such official Turkish governmental outrage and bullying is itself outrageous. Equally reprehensible is the behavior of Israeli political leaders, major American xxxish advocacy organizations, and the overtly dhimmi leadership of the vestigial Turkish xxxish community. This unholy alliance of "xxxish leadership" never condemns in public the poisonously Antisemitic discourse, or even violent acts committed in Turkey against Turkish xxxs, yet, perversely is quick to apply pressure-notwithstanding the ahistorical and amoral connotations of these actions-to block recognition of the Armenian genocide, even within the United States.

Perhaps ceasing this disgraceful and delusional behavior starts by putting an end to the hagiography of xxxish life under Ottoman rule -- including xxxs living within Istanbul's ghettoes, and Ottoman Palestine -- and using precise terms that describe this half-millennium of history, appropriately and accurately: jihad, surgun (forced population transfer), and chronic dhimmitude. There was nothing "humanitarian" whatsoever in the Ottomans accepting a relatively modest number of xxxish refugees from the Inquisition -- far greater numbers were accepted in other parts of Europe itself. Indeed the vacuum created for these skilled xxxish refugees whom the Ottomans re-settled in their burgeoning Empire was created by the Ottoman jihad conquest of Byzantine and Venetian territories and their xxxish populations, i.e., xxxs who were subjected to the Ottoman jihad, including massacre, pillage, enslavement, forced conversion, and surgun deportation.

Also one cannot get lost in comforting happy talk and ignore the chronic, grinding Antisemitism, and vestiges of dhimmitude to which the xxxs in Turkey have been subjected throughout the history of modern Republican Turkey-including the large, government organized Thracian pogroms of 1934, and the blatantly discriminatory, deliberately pauperizing varlik vergisi taxation scheme and subsequent deportations of xxxish business leaders to "Turkish Siberia," during World War II (WWII). This ongoing discrimination contributed to the rapid exodus of 40% of Turkey's xxxs after WWII to Israel within 2 years of its creation, followed by the steady, continuous attrition of the Turkish xxxish population -- their departure accelerating again after the notorious Istanbul pogrom against Greeks, Armenians, and xxxs in 1955-so that only 17,000 of Turkey's 77, 000 post-WWII xxxs remain.

Joseph Hacker's seminal research highlights the 1523 book of the Talmudist Eliyah Kapsali (Seder Eliyah Zuta, composed in Crete), and its embellishment by the 17th century Egyptian chronicler Rabbi Yosef Sambari (in Sambari's Divrei Yosef)-rather crudely redacted narratives which became the version accepted by modern historiography of the history of the xxxs in the Ottoman Empire:

...the sürgün [forced population transfer] phenomenon and all its attendant [discriminatory] features features was not considered at all. If the sürgün was mentioned at all in the writings of the [xxxish] scholars of the Empire, it was held to be an insignificant, indecisive episode in the history of the xxxs. The relations between xxxs and Ottomans were thus felt to be both idyllic and monotonous from their very inception, no distinction being made either between kinds of xxxish populations or between one period and another throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Kapsali conceals all criticism and tries to cover up and obliterate inconvenient facts...This is also apparently the reason for his utterly ignoring the Romaniot [Byzantine] xxxs and their fate at the time of the conquest of Constantinople, and of the suffering of the others exiled there after the conquest.

The 16th century dhimmi xxxish leadership's deliberate misrepresentation of the actual plight of Ottoman xxxry was described by Hacker with obvious contempt. Tragically, and in our modern era, inexcusably, this pathological behavior persists five centuries later among contemporary xxxish leadership elites, who appear incapable of identifying, let alone adequately defending against, the resurgence of jihadist Islam in Turkey. Gifted writer Diana West's evocative language depicts the ultimate outcome if this self-destructive dhimmitude is not reversed: "in denial there is defeat."

But a liberating victory can still be achieved if the leadership of the Turkish xxxish community, Israel, and American xxxish advocacy groups simply muster the intellectual courage to overcome their own craven denial. Collectively galvanized, they could confront Erdogan's AKP government over the ugly living legacy of anti-dhimmi and Antisemitic discrimination against Turkey's xxxs, and demand immediate efforts at amelioration of their plight: marginalization and legal punishment of Turkish politicians and public intellectuals whose discourse incites xxx-hatred, and potentially, anti-xxxish violence; the implementation of concrete reforms, ensuring in practice equal rights, opportunities, and public safety for xxxs. And if all these measures were not implemented rapidly, with tangible evidence of success, Turkey's xxxs would be allowed unfettered, mass emigration without any economic penalties.

Such bold, forthright action -- joint "anti-dhimmitude" -- would put an end to the ongoing phenomenon of a vestigial de facto dhimmi xxxish community of Turkey (via its dhimmi leadership) holding Israel, and American xxxs hostage to the whims of an oppressive Turkish government, in the throes of a transformative fundamentalist Islamic revival.


http://frontpagemagazine.com/Article...4-60D6C44DB285
Andrew G. Bostom, MD, MS is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University Medical School, and regular contributor to Frontpage Magazine. He is the author of "The Legacy of Jihad."

[Siamanto]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

How does the fact that Abdullah Gul is now president, and there seems to be an upswing toward an Islamic Turkey away from the secular one, affect Armenia?

It is true that since the Islamists control both the Legislative and Executive Branches, they have the tools to modify the laws and reshape the policies; however, considering that Abdullah Gul was the Foreign Minister and, as a major player, helped shaping the existing foreign policy, how much changes should be expected in the short term?

As for the "long" term, it's hard to tell because, at this point, there does not seem to be enough visibility regarding factors that may affect their policies towards Armenia i.e. the Armenian Genocide recognition, the Artsakh conflict, the EU, US/Jews, Kurds, "Secularists"/Army vs. Islamists...

What do you think?

[Siamanto]

Originally Posted by Anonymouse

How does the fact that Abdullah Gul is now president, and there seems to be an upswing toward an Islamic Turkey away from the secular one, affect Armenia?

Turkish Daily News
Sept 8 2007


Xenophobia on the rise among Turks, say experts
Saturday, September 8, 2007


A recent survey says Turks are going cold toward Europe, the United
States, NATO and Israel but the feelings have worsened toward Iran
too, a finding which beefs up the old Turkish saying `Turks have no
friends other than Turks'

FULYA ÖZERKAN
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News


A day after a major survey showed Turkey was cooling toward both
the West and the East, local experts argued this is a clear indicator
of growing xenophobia among Turks.

`Turks are growing suspicious of outsiders,' said Ýlter Turan, a
political scientist at Istanbul's Bilgi University. `They do not
trust foreigners and rather believe aliens have hidden intentions.'

The annual Transatlantic Trends study by the German Marshall Fund
of the United States and four European foundations revealed Thursday
that feelings of Turkish people toward the United States, European
Union and NATO cooled significantly in the past year.

This sentiment, however, is not restricted to the West. The survey
found that the Turkish mood toward Iran had also cooled. Israel
inspired the coldest feelings.

The survey results can hardly be explained in rational terms but
with emotions, said Turan.

Ersin Kalaycýoðlu of Iþýk University described the outcome as
nothing new and said past surveys disclosed similar findings
illustrating Turkish sentiments of isolation from the East and the
West.

He further added that Turks began to look at all its neighbors with
suspicion since the 1990s when the Soviet Union dissolved, amid fears
that its borders would change.

`The belief that the EU and the United States support Armenians and
Greeks against Turkey is widely accepted among Turks at a time when
the Lausanne Treaty, the founding document of the republic, is opened
to discussion and the Sevres syndrome has re-emerged,' said
Kalaycýoðlu.

He added Turks have tended to believe that foreigners want to
divide Turkey amid rising attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq.



Religion an indicator

Kalaycýoðlu said religion also played a significant role in the
survey as it showed Turks were more benevolent toward Muslim
countries than other countries with different religions.

`Both Saudi Arabia and Israel are extensions of the United States
in the Middle East but Turks are warmer toward Saudi Arabia. Religion
seems to be a reason for this,' he said. But Iran, a Muslim Shiite
country, stands as an exception in this case.

Sabri Sayarý of Sabancý University said the attitude of Turks
toward Europe and the United States was understandable.

`But the results about Iran are quite surprising because Iranians
pursue non-contradictory policies to Turkey on terrorism,' he added.




Role of globalization

The survey findings opened up to debate Turkey's approach toward
globalization.

`Turks' distance from the East and the West is actually a product
of globalization,' said Turan. `Turkey is under pressure from a rapid
transformation process and the Turks are cooling toward outsiders as
they are unable to control this ongoing change.'

`Turks are becoming introverted,' said Sayarý. `But this does not
mean they are shutting all their windows and doors to the outside
world. Turkey is doing business with foreigners and there are foreign
companies operating at home.'



Methodology

The methodology of the annual Transatlantic Trends study created
controversy over the reliability of the results. The respondents were
interviewed during face-to-face interviews or by telephone.

Turan said there might be a reflection of different representation
in the survey due to the fact that some of the selected respondents
refused to reply to questions on the phone, a development that
prompted conductors to resort to other alternative interviewees.

But the interviews in Turkey were conducted face-to-face and
involved random samples of about 1,000 Turkish men and women aged 18
and over from June 4-23.

There is a margin of error in every survey, said Sayarý, adding
that he did not believe the margin of error in the recent poll was
high because similar questions are posed in that regular survey,
which gives an opportunity to compare the results with those of the
previous years.

-----------
Copyright 2007, Turkish Daily News. This article is redistributed with
permission for personal use of Groong readers. No part of this article
may be reproduced, further distributed or archived without the prior
permission of the publisher. Contact Turkish Daily News Online at
http://www.TurkishDailyNews.com for details.
-----------




http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg201688.html

[Siamanto]

PanARMENIAN.Net

German Marshall Fund: Turks attitude towards NATO,
Russia, Iran and China grew cooler
07.09.2007 19:02 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The giant research conducted by
German Marshall Fund revealed that Turkish people who
started to look at the external world with suspicion
in recent years isolated themselves from the world
even more in 2007.

The annual survey of the Fund of the U.S. also showed
that 58 per cent of Europeans, including 74% of
Turkish people regarded U.S. leadership in world
affairs as "undesirable" and only 36% thought it
"desirable".

The Transatlantic Tendencies 2007 survey applied by
German Marshall Fund to a thousand people in 12
countries including Turkey has revealed that Turks get
more and more isolated from the world day by day.
Although Turkish public has a status of candidate for
EU membership, Turks' hopes for accession to EU fell
from 54% to 40% in 2006. Turks' feeling of warmth
towards EU is measured as 26 degrees this year against
52 degrees of 2004.

Turks' attitude towards NATO, Russia, Iran and China
grew cooler. Attitude towards Palestinians warmed from
7% to 42%.

German Marshall Fund authorities stated that Turks
have moved away from the international political
issues and became introvert; and linked the opposition
to the U.S. in Turkey to the issues of `continuation
of PKK problem, Bush administration and Iraqi war.'

According to the authorities, the reasons for the
cooler attitude towards Europe are the difficulty of
EU negotiations and the existence of anti-Turkey
leaders, APA reports.



http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg201751.html

[Siamanto]

ANALYSIS: 'TALKING TURKISH' WITH THE SYRIANS
By Herb Keinon

Jerusalem Post, Israel
Sep 11, 2007 0:56 | Updated Sep 11, 2007 0:56

There is something ironic in Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan's
protest Monday over Israel's alleged flyover of Syrian territory
last week.

"This is an unacceptable development," he said during a joint news
conference with his Syrian counterpart, Walid Moallem.

"All countries in the region must show respect to all countries'
sovereignty and carefully avoid acts that lead to tensions," Babacan
said. "Otherwise, tensions would be fueled, and peace and stability
in the region might be harmed."

Interesting words from the foreign minister of a country that
just nine years ago amassed thousands of troops on its border with
Syria and rattled its sabers to get Syria to end its support for the
separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and to cough up its leader,
Abdullah Ocalan.

Indeed, there are those who believe that Israel's alleged foray into
Syrian airspace was an attempt to "talk Turkish" with the Syrians
and use Turkish methods - saber rattling - to get Damascus to end
support for Hamas and to disgorge Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal.

If Syria ended its support for the PKK and eventually got rid of
Ocalan, then - this logic goes - maybe similar methods can be used
to get it to end its support for Hamas.

According to this reasoning, Thursday's alleged overflight had to do
with Hamas.

Consider the following timeline. Last Monday a Kassam rocket slammed
into the courtyard of a day care center in Sderot, sending a dozen
kids to the hospital to be treated for trauma. Two days later,
the security cabinet met pledged to "continue intensive military
operations against all those involved in launching rockets and in
perpetrating other terrorist actions.

Nobody among those responsible for terrorism will be immune."

And then on Thursday, the IAF allegedly, in what seems to be an
obvious attempt to draw attention to itself, broke the sound barrier
over Syria.

If, indeed, Israel was doing little more than "talking Turkish" with
the Syrians, then why the Turkish Foreign Minister's sharp tone,
and why demarches registered with Israeli diplomats in Ankara and
demands for clarification of what happened?

While some are suggesting that Turkey's tone is a manifestation of its
anger at the Anti-Defamation League's decision to reverse its stand
on the massacres of Armenians during World War I and refer to them
as genocide, the more plausible explanation has more to do with Iran.

According to this reasoning, Turkey needs to protest loudly and clearly
the possible violation of its airspace now because it is thinking
that at some point Israel might attack Iran's nuclear facilities.

In that eventuality, Turkey does not want to be blamed for letting
Israeli planes use its airspace. And therefore, it may now just be
building deniability.





http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg201892.html

[Siamanto]

TURKEY LINES UP ALONGSIDE SYRIA TO CONDEMN ISRAELI INCURSIONS
By Gareth Jenkins

Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan's blunt condemnation of an
alleged violation of the Turkey's airspace by Israeli warplanes has
dealt another blow to already deteriorating relations between the
two countries.

In 1996 a military training agreement between Israel and Turkey was
hailed by many as heralding a new strategic alignment in the eastern
Mediterranean. Over the years that followed Israeli jets regularly used
the Turkish air force base in Konya for training missions while Turkish
pilots underwent specialized training in facilities belonging to the
Israeli Air Force (IAF) in the Negev Desert. There was also extensive
cooperation in the defense industry, with Israeli firms receiving a
string of lucrative defense contracts. American xxxish lobby groups
became Turkey's strongest supporters in Washington. However, plans to
underpin the relationship by transporting Turkish water to Israel came
to nothing. While a number of disagreements over defense contracts,
and allegation of corruption involving Israeli defense suppliers,
soured relations between the two countries' militaries.

Relations began to cool rapidly following the victory of the moderate
Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the Turkish general
election of November 2002. Although the AKP's leaders publicly
reaffirmed Turkey's commitment to friendship with Israel, much
of the party's grassroots support remained simply and viscerally
anti-Semitic. After taking power, the AKP downplayed ties with Israel,
while trying to form a closer relationship with other Muslim states
in the Middle East, particularly its neighbors Syria and Iran. The
last five years have seen an unprecedented increase in bilateral
contacts and AKP leaders have become frequent visitors to both Damascus
and Tehran.

On September 6, after the Syrian government claimed that Israeli
warplanes had overflown its territory and dropped munitions onto
deserted areas, fuel tanks belonging to IAF warplanes were found on
the Turkish side of the country's border with Syria. The assumption
is that they were jettisoned in order to increase the IAF planes'
maneuverability as they sought to avoid Syrian ground fire.

On September 6, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement
supporting the Syrian protests and informing the Israeli government
that Ankara took "a harsh view of the invasion of Syrian airspace by
the IAF" (Hurriyet, Milliyet, September 7).

On September 9, Syrian Foreign Minister Wallid Moallem flew to Ankara
to seek Turkish support and met with Babacan, Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul (Sabah, September 11). On
September 10, Moallem and Babacan held a joint conference to condemn
the IAF's incursions on September 6.

The exact circumstances in which the IAF fuel tanks were deposited
on Turkish territory remain unclear: not least whether the warplanes
themselves entered Turkish airspace while flying close to the border
or whether the tanks were carried across the border by their own
momentum after being jettisoned. However, standing alongside Moallem,
Babacan strongly condemned the incident.

"This is an unacceptable development for us," he said.

"We would like all the countries in the region to respect the sovereign
rights of other countries and be meticulous in avoiding taking any
steps that might create tensions. A wide-ranging investigation is being
conducted into this matter. The country in question has been asked
to provide an explanation in the very near future and the necessary
contacts with Israel have been initiated. Turkey is a country which
strives for peace and stability. It expects the other countries in
the region to show mutual respect and conduct their relations on the
basis of trust" (Hurriyet, September 11).

The tensions over the Israeli over flights come less than a month
after the U.S.-based xxxish lobby group the Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) caused outrage in Turkey by announcing that it now accepted
that the massacres and deportations of the Armenians by the Ottoman
authorities in 1915-16 constituted a genocide.

The accusation has always been strongly denied by Ankara, which,
in the face of considerable evidence to the contrary, has preferred
to characterize the events of 1915-16 as the product of an Armenian
uprising.

Israeli diplomats in Ankara have been circumspect in their reaction
to Babacan's denouncement. "When it comes to Syria, we can remain
silent. But we owe the Turks an explanation," said Alon Liel, Israel's
ambassador to Turkey (Sabah, September 11).

However, inside Israel, reactions have been less restrained. Several
commentators have noted that Turkey repeatedly staged incursions
into northern Iraq in 1990s in pursuit of members of the Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) and still has a brigade permanently deployed
inside northern Iraq. In addition, Turkish F-16s frequently violate
Iraqi airspace during bombing and reconnaissance missions against
PKK militants (Jerusalem Post, September 11).


http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg201993.html

[Siamanto]

TURKEY HELPED ISRAEL TO ATTACK SYRIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
14.09.2007 18:10 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Turkish intelligence provided Israel with information
on the Syrian targets allegedly attacked by the Air Force last week
without the Turkish government's authorization, Kuwaiti newspaper
Al-Jareeda reported Thursday.

Al-Jareeda quoted several sources as saying that Israel and senior
Turkish military personnel coordinated Israel's invasion of Turkish
airspace during the operation to send a message to the ruling Justice
and Development party, or AKP. Senior military officials in Turkey,
most of whom are secular, oppose the Islamist party's platform.

Turkey has asked Israel for clarification after finding two fuel
tanks on its territory near the Syrian border.

The tanks allegedly belong to IAF warplanes, a diplomatic source said
Saturday. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper Saturday published photographs
of what it said were fuel tanks jettisoned by Israeli F-15s sent to
gather intelligence on Syrian installations near the Turkish border.

The London-based Arabic newspaper al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi refused to take a call from his
Turkish counterpart, who asked for clarifications on the attack.

Sources told Al-Jareeda that Turkish intelligence did not coordinate
the move with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "Coordination of the
[release of information] occurred far away from the political echelon,"
it said.



http://groong.usc.edu/news/msg202440.html