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

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TURKISH FM DEMANDS DETAILS OF IAF RAID
By Herb Keinon

Jerusalem Post
Oct 8 2007

Hours after visiting Damascus and pledging that Ankara would not
let Israel use Turkish airspace to strike at Syria, visiting Turkish
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told President Shimon Peres Sunday that
he wanted details of the Israel Air Force raid last month on a Syrian
target near the Turkish border.

Turkey has said it found fuel tanks allegedly dropped in its territory
by IAF warplanes during the September 6 raid, a development Babacan
has called unacceptable.

"During my visit to Israel, I'm expecting an explanation of what
happened and why it happened," Babacan said at a joint press conference
in Jerusalem after meeting Peres.

"We have not yet got an answer," Babacan said, before Peres intervened
to halt further questioning by reporters.

"I suggest not to go into too many details," Peres said.

Babacan also told Peres that Syria would be interested in taking
part in the upcoming US-sponsored Middle East conference if the Golan
Heights were also on the agenda.

"I encouraged the [Syrian] leaders to take part in Bush's international
conference, and they told me clearly that Syria was interested in the
Israeli-Syrian issue also being on the negotiating table," Babacan
told Peres, according to Beit Hanassi.

Peres replied that Israel was interested in a peace agreement with
Syria, if Syrian President Bashar Assad was "serious." But, Peres
said, Syria was playing a double game: on the one hand saying they
wanted peace, but on the other hand being an Iranian satellite state,
supporting world terrorism and backing Hizbullah and the downfall of
the government in Lebanon.

Babacan arrived in Israel on Sunday afternoon after meeting Assad.

"Turkey will not let Turkish territory or airspace be used in any
activity that could harm the security or safety of Syria," Babacan
said after that meeting.

Babacan said he had chosen Syria as his first destination abroad after
being named foreign minister in August to underline the importance
of maintaining strong Turkish-Syrian ties.

The minister, a member of the Islamist-rooted AK party, repeated
Turkey's assertions that Ankara had no prior knowledge of the IAF
air strike.

Babacan, who arrived in Damascus on Saturday, also delivered a message
from Turkish President Abdullah Gul to Assad on Sunday.

Babacan said the talks were constructive and useful.

He warned that the region was passing through a very delicate and
sensitive stage, particularly in Iraq, the Palestinian Authority
and Lebanon.

Babacan also met Sunday with Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik and Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni, and brought Peres an invitation from Gul to
visit Turkey.

Diplomatic officials said that at each of the Turkish foreign
minister's meetings in Jerusalem - in addition to discussing Syria,
Iran, Iraq and the diplomatic process with the Palestinians - he
also discussed the resolution scheduled to come before the US House
Foreign Affairs Committee this week that would declare the World War
I-era killing of Armenians a genocide.

According to the officials, Babacan asked for Israel's support in
defeating the resolution. In years past, xxxish groups in Washington
lobbied against the resolution. But this year, the Anti-Defamation
League - while not supporting the congressional resolution - did
reverse its position on the matter and declare that events from that
period were "tantamount to genocide."

Peres praised Turkey during his meeting with Babacan as an example
for the entire Muslim world - a country that is Muslim, democratic
and modern, and which seeks peace and cooperation with its neighbors.

Babacan, according to Peres's office, said that "this is a critical
period for the region, and I want to stress that Israel is important to
Turkey, and there are very good relations between the two countries."

Babacan is scheduled to meet Monday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert,
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Likud head Binyamin Netanyahu. He
will also head to Ramallah for meetings with PA President Mahmoud
Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1191257244739

........

Last update - 11:25 09/10/2007

PM tells Turkish FM that Golan will not be on agenda at summit

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

The fate of the Golan Heights will not be raised at the Annapolis
peace summit, Prime Minister Olmert said Monday during a meeting with
the Turkish foreign minister, Ali Babacan.

Olmert told the visiting foreign minister that only Palestinian issues
will be on the agenda at the peace summit next month.

When Babacan said Turkey believes that the summit should include
Israeli-Syrian negotiations as well, Olmert said: "I am happy with
Syria's invitation to the summit, but only if it wants to be involved
in our negotiations with the Palestinians. It would be wrong to
include other issues."

Olmert and Babacan also discussed Syrian-Iranian relations and Syria's
involvement in Lebanon. "Syria is ready for dialogue and should not be
isolated," the Turkish minister told Olmert. "There must be a way to
negotiate with them. The only reason why Syria is allied with Iran is
the international boycott that had been imposed on it. The two
countries have nothing else in common," he continued.

Olmert did not accept Babacan's position and said that dialogue with
Syria can only take place when it stops supporting terror. He
acerbically asked the foreign minister, "If Syria's isolation is
lifted, will it stop assassinating Lebanese members of parliament?"

Babacan replied that there is no evidence that Syria is behind the
assassinations.

Another point of divergence in the meeting was the politicians'
different approach to Hamas. The Turkish minister told Olmert that his
country believes national unity should be maintained in the
Palestinian Authority and that a split between Gaza and the West Bank,
as well as between the different Palestinian factions, should be
avoided.

Olmert replied that "national unity has universal importance, but one
does not negotiate with terror organizations." Olmert also said that
even Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is reluctant to
negotiate with Hamas.

"Ask Abbas," Olmert said, "even he says Hamas is an enemy that has
killed more Fatah men than Israel. We deem negotiation with Hamas
unacceptable. We will negotiate with Hamas only when it accepts the
conditions outlined by the international community, recognizes Israel
and gives up terror."

Some of Olmert and Babacan's meeting took place behind closed doors,
and according to a Turkish source the foreign minister may have
mentioned the Israel Air Force's violation of Turkish airspace en
route to the attack in Syria last month.

Babacan also asked Olmert to exert his leverage in the U.S. and
especially in Congress to foil a bill to label the Armenian massacre
during the First World War a genocide.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/S...&itemNo=910979

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

Armenia row threatens US-Turkish ties

By Jonathan Marcus
BBC diplomatic correspondent
2007/10/11

This is not just a story about phantoms from the past.

It speaks powerfully about the changing relationship between two key
allies in a Middle East where the strategic landscape has been
transformed by America's invasion of Iraq.

The warnings from Turkey could not be clearer. If the full House of
Representatives in Washington votes to back the labelling of the mass
killing of Armenians as genocide, then serious consequences will
follow.

This could mean, for example, denying the US military the ability to
ship crucial supplies through Turkish bases for operations in Iraq.

The fact that President George Bush publicly urged Congress not to
proceed with the issue seems to have had little impact either at home
or abroad. And that this would be a non-binding resolution, implying
no practical shift in US policy, seems to make little difference to
Turkish opinion either.

It is clear the Armenian massacres are a hugely sensitive issue for
Turkey. Debate has raged on this issue, often prompting diplomatic
strains. It has been a factor complicating ties, for example, between
Ankara and Paris.

Complicated relationship

But the strains between the US and Turkey arise from the confluence of
a number of factors.

Things are made worse by the fact that this row is unfolding in a very
different context from that which characterised the generally stable
relationship between Washington and Ankara during the Cold War years.

Then, Turkey anchored the Atlantic Alliance's southern flank against
attack from the Soviet Union. In many ways the relationship was
simple.

Today, it is much more complex, not least because of the political
transformation that has taken place inside Turkey. The country's
secular-minded generals now play an important, but less central, role
in day-to-day governance, and a moderate Islamist-rooted party has
taken the democratic path to power.

The initial crunch in US-Turkish ties came in the run-up to the US
invasion of Iraq, when the Turkish parliament refused to allow Turkish
territory to be the staging post for the operation to topple Saddam
Hussein's regime.

Since then both sides have tried to repair the damage, with the
Americans, for example, applying huge diplomatic pressure to encourage
some of its more reluctant allies to facilitate Turkey's membership of
the European Union.

The removal of a strong Iraq from the Middle East's political
chessboard has, though, greatly changed the regional dynamics. It has
served to accentuate Turkish aspirations of becoming a key diplomatic
player.

Feeling partially rebuffed by the Europeans, given the tortuous
process of EU accession, Turkey is seeking new ties and new allies in
the Middle East.

Its overtures have not been hampered by the fact that it still
maintains reasonably close ties with Israel. Indeed that country has
helped Turkey to take on something of a mediating role.

Kurdish factor

But the collapse of strong central authority in Iraq has also provided
another looming problem with Washington.

The last thing that Turkey wants to see is an independent Kurdish
state in northern Iraq which it believes would create wider
instability. But it also wants something done about Kurdish guerrillas
- PKK fighters - who continue to cross over the border to attack
Turkish troops.

In the wake of recent incidents there are now growing fears of a
Turkish military incursion into northern Iraq to neutralise Kurdish
separatist guerrillas who have their camps there.

The pressures on the Turkish authorities to act are growing. The
Turkish army has stepped up its bombardment of targets in northern
Iraq.

Officials in Baghdad and Washington are alarmed. This is a new element
in the Iraqi drama that the Americans want to avoid at all costs.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7039506.stm

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

GEOPOLITICAL DIARY: TURKEY'S DESIGNS ON NORTHERN IRAQ

Stratfor
Oct 11 2007

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan might ask parliament to
authorize a move by Turkey's military into northern Iraq. Erdogan said
on Wednesday that, "A request for approval of a cross-border operation
could be sent to parliament tomorrow. After the holiday, we plan to
gain authorization for one year." Erdogan should have no difficulty
gaining parliament's approval after attacks by Kurdish rebels belonging
to the Kurdistan Workers' Party killed 15 Turkish soldiers.

How far the Turks plan to move in Iraq is the important question.

During the 1990s, the Turks moved into Iraq to create buffer zones
against Kurdish attack, so there is a precedent for a move of that
nature. The Turkish government is under public pressure to do something
about these attacks, and the re-creation of a buffer zone is one
thing it could do that would be effective and satisfy public opinion.

A Turkish incursion into northern Iraq at this time would be opposed by
the European Union and the United States. However, the European Union
has lost a great deal of leverage with the Turks by not admitting
them to the union and making it fairly clear that they will never
be admitted. As for the United States, the Turkish view is that they
opposed the invasion of Iraq and refused to participate in it.

Their expectation is that the United States, having created the
situation, should take steps to stop attacks inside Turkey. Since
the United States clearly can't do that, the Turks will act by
themselves. Put simply, the United States and the European Union do not
have leverage with Turkey, and Turkey will pursue its own interests.

The resolution does not mean that the Turks will immediately move into
northern Iraq, but we are not as sure as others are that the Turks
aren't quite serious. First, there is the security issue. It is not a
trivial matter for the Turks. It is difficult for the government not to
take some steps, and the fact that the United States and the European
Union oppose such a move will simply make it that much more popular.

There also is a more important geopolitical issue: The Turks oppose
the creation of an independent Kurdish state in Iraq because they feel
it will encourage Kurdish separatism in Turkey. The future of Iraq
is up in the air, to say the least, and the most important issue for
the country is whether an independent or highly autonomous Kurdish
region will emerge. This uncertainty is something the United States
can live with; it is not something the Turks will live with.

Therefore, the Turks view American policy in Iraq with extreme
concern on this issue. Moving into Iraqi Kurdistan, however limited
the incursion, would serve as a signal to both Kurds and Americans
that there are limits beyond which Turkey is not prepared to go. It
also would put Turkish troops into position to exercise control in
the region in the event that the situation in Iraq gets completely
out of hand.

There is another factor. As we have said previously, there is
increasing activity by Western oil companies in the Kurdish region.

That oil revenue is an attractive prize. Whatever Turkish intentions
are now, the process of preventing the emergence of an independent
Kurdistan would put Ankara in the position of being able to at least
participate in -- if not control -- the development of this oil. The
Turks are not talking about this, and they might not be thinking
about it, but the solution to the security problem could lead there.

The United States must be very careful. Turkey is an ally, but at
this moment the Americans need the Turks more than the Turks need the
Americans. Apart from logistical support in Iraq, the United States
sees Turkey as a counterweight to Iran in the region. However, Turkish
and Iranian interests converge on the question of an independent
Kurdistan. Turkey has little in common with Iran ideologically, but
should the United States adamantly oppose Turkey on this, it would
bring Ankara and Tehran closer, and this is the last thing Washington
wants right now.

U.S.-Turkish tensions are exacerbated by Congress' consideration
of a resolution accusing Turkey of carrying out genocide in Armenia
early in the 20th century. This is an incredibly sore point with the
Turks right now, increasing domestic political pressure on Turkey
to refuse to bend to the United States. Therefore, we take Turkey's
resolution seriously and think that a move into Iraqi Kurdistan,
at least to create a buffer zone, is a very real possibility --
and one that could lead to more far-reaching consequences.

http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=296627

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MILITARY SEEKS ALTERNATIVES IN CASE TURKEY LIMITS ACCESS
By David S. Cloud

New York Times
Oct 12 2007

WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 - Loss of access to military installations in
Turkey would force the United States to send more supplies for Iraq
through other countries and could cause short-term backups in fuel
shipments and deliveries of critical equipment, senior officers
said Thursday.

The officials said they had a contingency plan in case Turkey followed
through on threats to shut off the United States military's use to its
territory if the full House approved a resolution condemning the mass
killings of Armenians during World War I as an act of genocide. That
could mean the loss at least temporarily of Incirlik Air Base in
southeastern Turkey, a key resupply hub for Iraq, and the closing of
the Turkish-Iraq border to fuel trucks for the American military.

It could take months to increase operations in other logistical hubs,
including Jordan, Kuwait and at the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr in the
northern Persian Gulf, the officials said.

"Turkey has been a tremendous hub for us, and if we didn't have it
that would increase time lines and distances," said a senior military
officer involved in logistical planning and operations. "But it would
be a short-term impact." The officer spoke on condition of anonymity,
as did other officials, because he was discussing matters of military
planning.

Turkey signaled its displeasure by recalling its ambassador to
Washington on Thursday, the day after the House Foreign Affairs
Committee endorsed the resolution. Meanwhile, Bush administration
officials stepped up their warnings that passage of the measure by
the full House could have dire consequences.

For the second day in a row, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned
about the "enormous implications" for American military operations
in Iraq if Turkey limited flights over its territory or restricted
access to Incirlik Air Base.

"All I can say is that a resolution that looks back almost 100 years to
an event that took place under a predecessor government, the Ottomans,
and that has enormous present-day implications for American soldiers
and Marines and sailors and airmen in Iraq, is something we need to
take very seriously," Mr. Gates told reporters in London.

In public, only Turkish legislators have explicitly warned of limiting
the American military presence, though other members of the government
have also warned of consequences.

"This is an issue where the Turkish officials have made clear their
very strong concerns about this and have raised questions about
potential consequences in the event that this resolution passes,"
said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman.

Though a NATO ally, Turkey has proved a roadblock to American military
actions before, especially in March 2003, when its Parliament refused
to authorize movement of American ground troops through its territory
during the initial invasion of Iraq.

Mr. Gates and other military officials have said that 70 percent
of the military cargo sent to Iraq is flown through Incirlik or on
routes over Turkey.

To drive home the potential impact of the House action, American
officials have warned that delivery of new heavily armored trucks,
known as Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, could be
disrupted. Senior military officials said Thursday that the roughly
400 such vehicles delivered since July have been flown in over Turkey
but not landed on its territory. Those flights could avoid Turkish
airspace, if necessary, they said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/12/world/europe/12military.html

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

World Tribune
Oct 12 2007


Turkey preparing for November invasion, longterm stay

ANKARA - Turkey has placed its military on the highest state of alert
in preparation for a major invasion of neighboring Iraq that could
take place by the end of November.


Officials said the Turkish military has deployed tens of thousands of
troops, backed by attack helicopters, main battle tanks, armored
personnel carriers and artillery, in forward positions along the
Iraqi border. They said the Turkish force could cross the Iraqi
border and attack the Kurdish Workers Party within hours of any
order.
"There is a very tense situation along the Iraqi border, and the
military is waiting for the green light," an official said.raq.

On Wednesday, the U.S. House Foreign Relations Committee passed a
resolution that deemed Turkey responsible for the killing of 1.5
million Armenians during World War I. Turkey has warned of a crisis
in U.S. relations if the resolution, which termed the Armenian deaths
a genocide, was passed by the full House.
Turkey has served as the route for 70 percent of U.S. air cargo
headed for Iraq. About one-third of U.S. military fuel as well as 95
percent of new vehicles designed to resist improvised explosive
devices in Iraq were said to pass through Turkey.

"Access to airfields and to the roads and so on in Turkey would very
much be put at risk if this resolution passes and Turkey reacts as
strongly as we believe they will," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert
Gates said.

Officials said the Turkish General Staff has relayed a series of
options to the government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan for a
military invasion of Iraq. They said the most far-reaching proposal
called for a long-term Turkish military stay in northern Iraq near
the provincial capital of Kirkuk.

"There is no need to say something new," Turkish Deputy Prime
Minister Cemil Cicek said. "Everything will be done in a planned
way."

Officials said Erdogan would attempt to block any approval for a
Turkish invasion until the end of November. They said the prime
minister intends to meet U.S. President George Bush in Washington
during the second half of next month.

Over the last 15 years, Turkey has maintained a brigade just inside
Iraq under an agreement with Iraqi Kurds. But the brigade has been
deployed in northwestern Iraq, far from the PKK camps.

The military has been urging the government to exploit any Turkish
invasion to prevent the Kurdish takeover of Kirkuk. Kirkuk, regarded
as the oil capital of northern Iraq, contains a large Turkish
minority.

Officials said the military recommendations were being examined by
government and parliamentary leaders. They said they expected
parliament to approve a major military operation over the next few
days in wake of the House Foreign Relations Committee resolution on
the Armenian genocide.

Amid Ankara's preparations, the PKK was said to have withdrawn its
units from Turkey and returned to camps in Iraq's Kandil mountains,
about 65 kilometers south of the border. Officials said the PKK has
used the Garbar mountains as a supply route to Turkey.

On Wednesday, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported that the military
shelled PKK camps in northern Iraq. Hurriyet said Turkish forces also
targeted PKK fighters in Garbar.

"A cross-border operation in the spring would undoubtedly have
affected PKK's offensive capabilities during the subsequent
campaigning season." the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation said.
"However, an autumn operation, when the campaigning season is already
drawing to a close, is likely to have only a limited effect on the
PKK's ability to return to the offensive once the winter snows begin
to melt in spring 2008.

Still, the Erdogan government has been under pressure to authorize
massive retaliation against the PKK in wake of the killing of 15
Turkish soldiers in a 24-hour period this week. Opposition parties
have urged the government to approve a military invasion despite U.S.
opposition.

"I suggest the prime minister hold a referendum on the cross-border
operation," Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli said.
"Turkey is not a small sized cantonal state. It can't be governed
through instructions of other countries."

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/me_turkey_10_12.asp

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

US WORKS ON ALTERNATIVE TO TURKEY SUPPLY ROUTE TO IRAQ

Agence France Presse
Oct 16 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US military is looking for a second route to
supply troops in Iraq in case Turkey shuts its borders in reprisal for
possible adoption of a resolution on genocide in Armenia, a Pentagon
official said Tuesday.

"There is planning going on," a Pentagon official said privately.

"It's just looking at what other options are available because there
are serious operational impacts" if the Turks deny passage of US
military supplies bound for Iraq.

The White House Monday urged Turkey to show "restraint" as Ankara moved
closer to a possible incursion against Kurdish rebels sheltering in
northern Iraq that could further complicate the Iraq war.

Under strong public pressure for the Iraq War, the White House is
concerned a Turkish incursion might upset one of the few areas in
Iraq enjoying relative stability and spread to nearby countries home
to ethnic Kurds.

Ankara's saber rattling also comes at a time of tense US-Turkish
relations over a pending vote in the House of Representatives for a
resolution calling World War I mass killings of Armenians by Turkey's
Ottoman Empire a genocide.

Flatly refusing the term and strongly opposed to the US resolution,
Turkey has threatened to withdraw its logistical support for the Iraq
War if US lawmakers approve the measure.

Fearing the loss of Turkey's Incirclik airbase, which provides a
crucial staging ground for US supplies headed to Iraq and Afghanistan,
the White House has urged House speaker Nancy Pelosi not to bring
the resolution to a vote.

The Pentagon says loss of Turkish cooperation could cause slight
increases in delivery time for supplies and "may add an increased
risk of insurgent attacks on deliveries."

If Turkey were to end access to its territory, "of course it
will have an impact," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, "Is
it insurmountable? I would tell you I have seen the United States
military plans for just about every possible contingency that one
can imagine," he said.

"But this is an important relationship," the spokesman stressed.

"This is an important logistics hub for our operations in Iraq, and
it is our strong desire to maintain that relationship to be able to
get the kind of support we are currently receiving from Turkey."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071016/pl_afp/usturkeyiraqkurdsunrestpolitics_071016180553

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TURKISH PM CLEARS WAY FOR IRAQ ASSAULT
Ian Traynor, Europe editor, Peter Walker and agencies

The Guardian, UK
Reuters
Oct 9 2007

The coffin of a Turkish soldier is carried from a military helicopter.

The Turkish government will seek parliamentary authorisation for a
possible military operation into northern Iraq to counter separatist
Kurdish guerrillas after a spate of deadly attacks on soldiers and
civilian.

News channels reported the decision to consult parliament was taken
after a three-hour meeting today between prime minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan and senior colleagues from his ruling party.

Earlier the prime minister's spokesman declared: "To put an end to
the terrorist organisation operating in the neighbouring country, the
order has been given to take every kind of measure - legal, economic,
political, including also a cross-border operation if necessary."

Mr Erdogan, who has previously resisted demands from the Turkish
armed forces for permission to cross into Iraqi Kurdistan, has been
under intense pressure in the wake of the deadliest Kurdish attacks
for more than a decade.

A Turkish incursion is fiercely opposed by Washington since it would
immensely complicate the US campaign in Iraq and upset the only stable
part of Iraq: the Kurdish-controlled north.

The Turkish parliament would have to authorise any large-scale
operation into Iraq, but troops could pursue rebels over the border
without prior clearance.

Two Turkish soldiers were killed yesterday in booby trap explosions
laid by guerrillas of the Kurdistan Workers' party (PKK) - fighters
classified as terrorists by Ankara, Washington and the European
Union. Those casualties followed the killing of 13 Turkish soldiers
in the south-east of the country on Sunday when PKK forces outgunned
a Turkish unit of 18 men without sustaining any casualties, according
to the Kurds.

Last week, in an ambush also ascribed to the PKK, gunmen sprayed a
bus with automatic fire in the same region, killing 13 civilians,
including a boy of seven.

The Turkish media described the toll from the attacks as the worst
in 12 years in a conflict spanning several decades that has taken
almost 40,000 lives.

Mr Erdogan is known to think little of the invasion option, making the
pragmatic calculation that it would probably fail. Western diplomats
in Ankara agree that an invasion could be counter-productive. The
Turkish military raided Iraqi Kurdistan dozens of times in the 1990s
but were unable to suppress the insurgency.

The prime minister, however, is being challenged by the army command,
which earlier this year demanded his authority to invade. He is also
vulnerable to a mounting public clamour to act because of the upsurge
in guerrilla activity and the heavy casualties.

Hardline Turkish nationalists entered parliament in Ankara after
elections in July and they are also baying for Kurdish blood.

In the wake of the soldiers' deaths on Sunday, Mr Erdogan signalled a
shift in policy, saying: "Our campaign against terrorism will continue
in a different manner." The Turkish military has declared 27 "security
zones" on the Iraqi and Iranian borders off-limits to civilians,
suggesting to some that it might be gearing up for an invasion.

Officially, Ankara refuses to recognise or deal with the government
of Iraqi Kurdistan, although there have been back-channel attempts
over the past year to engage with Massoud Barzani, the president of
the Iraqi Kurdish region.

Mr Erdogan's options are also constrained by strong US hostility to an
invasion. While Turkish public opinion has been strongly anti-American
since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, much of the logistical support for
the US troops goes to Iraq via Turkey.

Relations are also under severe strain because of US congressional
moves to brand the 1915 massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as
"genocide".

Mr Erdogan sent aides to Washington yesterday to lobby Congress on
the "genocide" resolution. Ankara is also warning that it could block
the logistical support to the US in Iraq if the resolution is passed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2187013,00.html

........

Turkey keeps Iraq option open

October 12, 2007

By Selcan Hacaoglu - ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan said today that Turkey would not be deterred by the possible
diplomatic consequences if it decides to stage a cross-border
offensive into Iraq against Kurdish rebels.

"If such an option is chosen, whatever its price, it will be paid,"
Erdogan told reporters in response to a question about the
international repercussions of such a decision, which would strain
ties with the United States and Iraq. "There could be pros and cons of
such a decision, but what is important is our country's interests."

Erdogan also had harsh words for the United States, which opposes a
Turkish incursion into northern Iraq - one of the country's few
relatively stable areas.

"Did they seek permission from anyone when they came from a distance
of 10,000 kilometers and hit Iraq?" he said. "We do not need anyone
else's advice."

Analysts say Turkey could be less restrained about defying the United
States because of a congressional committee's approval of a resolution
labeling the mass killings of Armenians around the time of World War I
as genocide.

"Democrats are harming the future of the United States and are
encouraging anti-American sentiments," Erdogan said. Democratic
leaders in the House of Representatives support the resolution.

Erdogan said Turkey was ready to sacrifice good ties with Washington
if necessary.

"Let it snap from wherever it gets thin," Erdogan said, using a
Turkish expression that means breaking ties with someone or something.

At issue in the resolution is the killing of up to 1.5 million
Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Turkey denies that the deaths constituted
genocide, saying the toll has been inflated, and those killed were
victims of civil war and unrest that killed Muslims as well as the
overwhelmingly Christian Armenians.

Turkey, a key supply route to U.S. troops in Iraq, recalled its
ambassador to Washington for consultations and warned of serious
repercussions if Congress passes the resolution.

"In the United States, there are several narrow-minded legislators who
can't think of their own interests and who cannot understand the
importance of Turkey," said Murat Mercan, head of the Turkish
parliament's foreign relations committee.

Turkish authorities have refused to comment on whether Turkey might
shut down Incirlik air base in southern Turkey, a major cargo hub for
U.S. and allied military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Turkey's
Mediterranean port of Iskenderun is also used to ferry goods to
American troops.

The Yeni Safak newspaper, which is close to the Turkish government,
said today that Incirlik and $15 billion worth of defense contracts,
including purchase of warplanes, missile and radar systems, could be
reviewed. Turkey could also prevent U.S. firms from taking part in new
contracts, Yeni Safak said.

Erdogan said Turkey has long been seeking the cooperation of Iraq and
the United States in its fight against Kurdish guerrillas, but there
has been no crackdown on the rebel Kurdistan Workers Party, which has
bases in Iraq. Erdogan said a recent anti-terrorism deal signed with
Iraq was not valid since it had not been approved by Iraq's parliament
yet.

The Turkish parliament was expected to approve a government request to
authorize an Iraq campaign as early as next week, after a holiday
ending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

"We are making necessary preparations to be ready in case we decide on
a cross-border operation since we don't have patience to lose more
time," Erdogan said, adding that Turkey has lost 30 people in rebel
attacks over the past two weeks.

A Turkish soldier was killed in a mine explosion on Thursday night on
Mt. Gabar in southeastern Sirnak province, authorities said Friday.

Turkish army units, backed by helicopter gunships, were hunting rebels
in the rugged border area.

Bahoz Erdal, a senior rebel commander, said the PKK fighters were
moving further inside Turkey and taking new "positions" in the face of
attacks from Turkey, pro-Kurdish Firat News Agency reported Friday.
The agency is based in Belgium.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people since 1984.

Source: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/...110120114/1003

US HINTS AT HELPING TURKEY

SBS - World News Australia,
Oct 19 2007

The United States may consider using US and Iraqi forces to take action
against Kurdish rebels, but only if they had more precise intelligence.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said he was determined to work
with the Turks to reduce the threat posed by the PKK, a Kurdish
separatist group accused of carrying out attacks in Turkey from bases
in northern Iraq.

"I think that if we were to come up with specific information, that
we and the Iraqis would be prepared to do the appropriate thing,
and if we had information on them in Turkey, that we would provide
that information," Mr Gates said.

He would not elaborate on what he meant by "the appropriate thing."

The US military has previously indicated that its forces are too tied
up elsewhere in Iraq to be used against the PKK, which the United
States has designated as a terrorist organisation.

Mr Gates reiterated US concern about deteriorating relations with
the Turks over the border tensions and a congressional resolution
denouncing the World War I "genocide" of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire.

He said there was "a very real risk" that the Turks would put
restrictions on the movement of US supplies through its airspace or
territory if the Congress were to pass the non-binding resolution.

"I don't think the Turks are bluffing," he said. "I think it is that
meaningful to them.

"I think they see implications in terms of reparations and perhaps
even borders."

Mass rallies in Iraq

His comments come amid mass protests in northern Iraq, with thousands
of Kurds marching through city streets, challenging the Turkish
parliament's authorisation of cross-border attacks against the rebels.

The Turkish vote removed the last legal obstacle to an offensive,
but there was no sign of imminent action as the United States and
the Iraqi government urged restraint.

Turkey says it has the right to attack Kurdish rebels in Iraq in the
name of fighting terrorism, just as US-led coalition forces attacked
the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan after the September 11,
2001 terror attacks.

"Those who criticise us on the parliamentary motion should explain
what they are doing in Afghanistan," said Justice Minister Mehmet
Ali Sahin, a former deputy prime minister.

"Turkey is implementing the same international rules that were
implemented by those who linked the attacks on the twin towers to some
organisations in Afghanistan and sent troops to Afghanistan based on
those rights."

He was referring to the September 11, 2001 suicide plane attacks in
New York.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd, said the government
was willing to act against the PKK, the acronym for the Kurdistan
Workers' Party, but it doesn't have the forces to push the separatist
group out of the country.

"The Iraqi government is not running away from its responsibilities.

"It's just a question of time," he said.

Other measures considered

But, he said, there were measures that could be taken, such as cutting
off supplies and setting up checkpoints to limit access for the rebels
in the north.

But he complained the Turkish government had not responded to calls
for dialogue to discuss the steps, recommending three-party talks
between Iraq, Turkey and the United States to defuse the situation.

"We would definitely consider a number of measures to take to disrupt
PKK activities...but we need to discuss these," he said.

"We haven't seen that great enthusiasm from the Turkish side to engage
seriously in a substantive dialogue."

The conflict involving the long time NATO allies US and Turkey -
which has also been a major ally in Washington's fight against
terrorism - stems from some 3,800 rebels of the Kurdistan Workers'
Party who have found safe havens in the remote, mountainous areas of
the self-governed northern Iraq.

The US lists the PKK as a terrorist organisation and has repeatedly
condemned its attacks inside Turkey. However, Washington has called
on the Turkish government to work with Iraqis to fight against the
rebels, fearing a unilateral Iraqi campaign by Turks might bring
chaos into one of the rare stable areas in Iraq.

Kurds criticised

At a press briefing in Washington, visiting Iraqi government spokesman
Ali al-Dabbagh chided Iraqi Kurds for not chasing the PKK out of
their autonomous region.

"They (Iraqi Kurds) are also liable to respect the decision of the
Iraqi government that the PKK is a terrorist activity.

"It's not allowed in Iraq, and not to provide any support," he said.

The spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki also said the Iraq
government understands the suffering that Turkish people have endured
from PKK attacks, and that his government was "doing its utmost to
ban activities of the PKK."

"The Iraqi government is calling the Turkey government not to use the
military solution and refrain from crossing the Iraqi border," he said.

In the protests in the north, more than 5,000 men and women - political
figures and average citizens alike - packed the streets as they marched
to the UN offices in Dahuk, a Kurdish city near the border with Turkey,
some 430km northwest of Baghdad.

The crowd waved the sunshine flag of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish
region and shouted slogans and songs praising Kurdish nationality,
handing representatives at the offices a document calling on the UN
to intervene to stop any Turkish activity inside Iraq.

"No to military action, yes to dialogue," the demonstrators shouted.

http://www.worldnewsaustralia.com.au/region.php?id=140819&region=6

[Siamanto]

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

TURKISH PRIME MINISTER WARNS US: WE WILL ATTACK KURDISH REBELS IN IRAQ

The Times
October 22, 2007

Recep Tayyip Erdogan tells The Times that he needs nobody's permission
to defend his country

Martin Fletcher and Suna Erdem Read The Times interview with the
Turkish Prime Minister in full

Turkey will launch military action against Kurdish rebels in northern
Iraq despite frantic appeals for restraint from America and Nato,
its Prime Minister has told The Times.

Speaking hours before the PKK, the Kurdish Workers' Party, killed at
least 17 more Turkish soldiers yesterday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
that Turkey had urged the US and Iraqi governments repeatedly to
expel the separatists but they had done nothing. Turkey's patience
was running out and the country had every right to defend itself,
he said. "Whatever is necessary will be done," he declared in an
interview. "We don't have to get permission from anybody."

Mr Erdogan, who begins a two-day visit to Britain today, also offered
a bleak assessment of relations between the US and Turkey, a country
of huge strategic importance to Washington. He said that a "serious
wave of antiAmericanism" was sweeping Turkey, called America's war in
Iraq a failure, and served warning that if the US Congress approved a
Bill accusing the Ottoman Turks of genocide against Armenians during
the First World War, the US "might lose a very important friend".

The sombre and unsmiling Prime Minister was only a little less critical
of the European Union, accusing some members of reneging on their
promises to admit Turkey and claiming that the EU had inflicted a
"big injustice" on his country over Cyprus.

Mr Erdogan's belligerence will cause alarm in Washington and London,
and was probably designed to do so. One aide said that he was engaging
in "open diplomacy". The Kurdish regional government, which has a force
of about 100,000 men, has promised to resist any incursions. The PKK
is threatening to destroy pipelines carrying Iraqi oil to Turkey, and
the only peaceful region of Iraq could easily be plunged into chaos.

A Turkish attack on PKK bases in northern Iraq would also cause a
serious breach with Washington. Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country
of 75 million people, has Nato's second-largest army, is a key ally
in America's "war on terror" and provides a vital supply route for
US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Late last night Mr Erdogan said that Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary
of State, had asked Turkey to delay any action for a few days. He
told Dr Rice he expected "speedy action" from the US.

But in his interview with The Times Mr Erdogan was in no mood to heed
Western appeals for restraint. The PKK was hiding behind the US and
Iraqi governments, he complained. It was using American weapons. "We
have told President Bush numerous times how sensitive we are about
this issue but have not had a single positive result."

The targets were not innocent civilians or Iraq's territorial integrity
but a terrorist organisation that regularly attacked Turkish targets,
he said. "If a neighbouring country is providing a safe haven for
terrorism . . . we have rights under international law and we will
use those rights and we don't have to get permission from anybody."

Military action could be avoided only if the Americans and Iraqis
expelled the PKK, closed its camps and handed over its leaders,
he said.

Mr Erdogan said that last week's parliamentary vote authorising
military action showed that Turkey's patience was exhausted. He would
not be drawn on the scale or timing of any operation, but Turkey
is thought to have more than 60,000 soldiers massed along the Iraq
border. Other Turkish officials said that the PKK had six training
camps and 3,500 fighters in the mountains of northern Iraq.

Mr Erdogan also rebukedThe Times for publishing an interview last
week with Murat Karayilan, a PKK leader in northern Iraq. He said that
the newspaper had allowed itself to be "used as a propaganda tool".

Mr Erdogan will speak in Oxford tonight and meet Gordon Brown
tomorrow. He is likely to rebuke the US on several counts. He said
that the war in Iraq had fuelled Turkish hostility towards the
US. "There's no success that I can see," he said. "There's only the
deaths of tens of thousands of people. There's just an Iraq whose
entire infrastructure and superstructure has collapsed."

He accused the Democrat-controlled foreign affairs committee of "firing
a bullet" at US-Turkish relations by approving the "so-called Armenian
genocide Bill". "America might lose a very important friend," he said.

Mr Erdogan also had harsh words for some European countries. France,
Germany and Austria are openly opposed to Turkish membership of the
EU. He said that Britain had supported Turkey from the start, but
other states who agreed to open accession talks in 2005 were "not
standing by their word". He said that Turkey was "far more advanced"
than the most recent entrants from Central Europe.

He identified Cyprus as the main obstacle, and said that the EU
perpetrated a "big injustice towards Turkey and the [Turkish] northern
Cypriots". In a referendum in 2004 Turkish Cypriots approved a UN
plan to reunite the island whereas the Greek Cypriots rejected it. He
protested that the Greek Cypriots were rewarded for their obstinacy
with EU membership while the Turks were punished.

The interview took place in an office with a spectacular view
towards Asia.

Despite his criticism Mr Erdogan insisted that Turkey had decided
irrevocably to throw in its lot with the West, and not with Russia
and the East.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2710139.ece

.......

TURKISH TROOPS MISSING AFTER RAID

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7056151.stm

Published: 2007/10/22 12:00:51 GMT

Eight Turkish troops are still missing after an attack by Kurdish
rebels on Sunday which left 12 troops dead, the Turkish military
has confirmed.

The statement came as a news agency believed to be linked to the
rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) named seven of the missing troops.

The attack has seen Turkey's government come under severe public
pressure to act against the PKK.

There have also been protests against the killings across Turkey.

Media and opposition leaders have called for immediate strikes against
the rebels.

Turkey's parliament approved cross-border raids into Iraq last
week. But Ankara agreed to delay action after a US request, on
condition Washington took "swift steps" against the rebels.

The parliamentary vote followed an escalation of raids by the PKK -
as part of its armed campaign for Kurdish autonomy.

Recent attacks blamed on the group have left more than 40 Turkish
soldiers and civilians dead.

Angry headlines

Spontaneous protests erupted around the country on Sunday following
the latest killings.

Several more demonstrations were held on Monday, including one in
Istanbul involving several thousand people.

Newspapers have been showing photographs of the dead soldiers, most of
them young conscripts, alongside angry headlines screaming for revenge.

"Enough is enough," read a headline splashed across the front page
of the nationalist newspaper Cumhuriyet.

President Abdullah Gul discussed the crisis with opposition leaders,
who have called for immediate action against the PKK.

And Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired a cabinet meeting
ahead of a two-day visit to London.

The UK backed US calls for restraint.

"We encourage the Turkish government to continue to seek a solution
through dialogue with the Iraqi government," a spokesman for Prime
Minister Gordon Brown said.

However, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says Turkey urgently
needs some clear sign its allies will help tackle the PKK, or it will
find it very difficult to resist ordering its military to respond.

'Nothing positive'

Mr Erdogan warned the US that failure to act against the PKK would
threaten Washington's close relationship with Turkey.

In an interview given to the Times newspaper before the weekend attack,
Mr Erdogan said Turkey had not had a "single positive result" since
US President George W Bush was told about the PKK's presence in Iraq.

Turkey did not have to ask anyone's permission to take action, he
added, saying that this could be avoided if the US and Iraq moved to
expel the PKK, close down its camps and hand over its leaders.

Iraqi officials have described these demands as unrealistic, although
on Sunday President Jalal Talabani urged the PKK to lay down their
arms or leave Iraq.

Mr Erdogan also accused the US of harming relations after
a congressional committee passed a resolution labelling the mass
killing of Armenians in 1915-17 as genocide.

The US calls for restraint arise from the concern that any incursions
would destabilise Iraq's most peaceful area - the autonomous Kurdish
region in the north.

Iraq, too, has urged Turkey not to strike across the border.

About 3,000 PKK fighters are believed to be based in northern Iraq
near the Turkish border, our correspondent says.

[Kanki]

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

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?

No, I don't think... Armenia is an independent,unobstructed country for Turks .And there is no border gate. Also Turkey is still secular.
Turks have terror(which is PKK) problem and are going into North Iraq. Their agenda is only terror,North Iraq Pkk camps etc.

[Siamanto]

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

ISRAEL LOBBY MAY BE SOURCE OF ARMENIAN GENOCIDE RESOLUTION
by Wayne Madsen

OpEdNews, PA

http://www.opednews.com

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_wayne_ma_071023_israel_lobby_may_be_.htm

Oct 23 2007

October 22, 2007 -- Israel Lobby accused of being behind Armenian
genocide resolution

Experts on U.S.-Turkish relations in Washington report that the
recent deterioration in relations between Washington and Ankara are
primarily due to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)
and Turkey's other erstwhile friends, including the Anti-Defamation
League (ADL), pulling support for their former allies in Turkey because
of increasingly closer Turkish relations with both Syria and Iran --
two countries that are being targeted by the neocon cells operating
in Vice President Dick Cheney's office and among Kadima and Likud
circles in Jerusalem.

In fact, Turkey, Syria, and Iran are cooperating in battling PKK forces
on their respective territories. Israel's Mossad has re-established
close links with the Kurds in the region. It appears that Israel
is willing to sacrifice its past close relations with Turkey in its
support for the Kurds and creating tension between the non-Arab powers
in the region -- Iran, Turkey, and the Kurds. The election of Turkish
Islamist-oriented Abdullah Gul as President of a secular-oriented
Turkey was a green light for AIPAC, the ADL, and the neocons and
other right-wing networks in Washington to turn up the heat on Ankara.

The subsequent threat by Turkey to deploy troops into northern Iraq
to go after Kurdish guerrillas, some of whom are reportedly backed by
the Mossad and U.S. paramilitary private security forces, was enough
to cause the Israel Lobby to break their historic links to the Turks.

Adding to the anger of the Israel Lobby was the recent natural gas
deal inked between Syria, Iran, and Turkey. Iran will provide Syria
with Iranian gas via Turkish pipelines.

Turkish sources are reporting that the Mossad and CIA are providing
direct support to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a Kurdish group
outlawed in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by the
United States.

Tensions along the Turkish-Iraq border grew more inflamed on October
21 after PKK guerrillas killed at least 12 Turkish troops in an attack
carried out on Turkish soil.

In July, Turkish authorities seized automatic weapons of U.S. origin
from captured members of the PKK. After Defense and State Department
investigations of weapons smuggling to the PKK, the Justice Department
began investigating Kenneth W. Cashwell and William Ellsworth "Max"
Grumiaux, two former Blackwater USA employees, for trafficking in
the interstate and foreign commerce of stolen firearms.

Eventually, Cashwell and Grumiaux pleaded guilty to possession of
the stolen firearms and began cooperating with the government in
its investigation of smuggling to the PKK via the Kurdistan Regional
Government (KRG).

The Charlotte News and Observer reported that the federal probe
involves the possibility that Blackwater smuggled automatic weapons
and other military hardware to Iraq that potentially ended up in the
hands of the KRG and then the PKK.

The Pentagon is investigating the loss of some 190,000 U.S. small arms
in Iraq. Blackwater has denied any role in weapons smuggling in Iraq.

WMR has also learned that some of Blackwater's top officials maintain
close links to the Israeli military and security communities as well as
to a shadowy network of right-wing Republican weapons manufacturers,
law firms, lobbyists, and arms exporters in the Washington, DC area,
including individuals linked to white supremacist organizations.

Turkey blames Israel for the passage by the House International
Relations Committee of the Armenian genocide resolution. Turkish
Foreign Minister Ali Babacan reportedly told Israeli President
Shimon Peres earlier this month that since Israel ultimately controls
b]J[/b]ewish-American organizations like the ADL, Turkey held Israel partly
responsible for the passage of the Armenian genocide resolution largely
thanks to the support of the ADL and AIPAC and one of their biggest
champions on Capitol Hill, House International Relations Committee
Chairman Tom Lantos.

It was only after Turkey's own sizable lobbying machine in Washington
forced President George W. Bush, Defense Secretary Robert Gates,
and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- and behind the scenes
George H. W. Bush National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, the head
of the American Turkish Council -- to exert pressure on the House,
did leading Democrats succeed in killing the Armenian resolution.

However, that put Cheney and his neocon cabal on the defensive. They
were more than willing to sacrifice U.S. relations with Turkey to bring
about a "final solution" for the Iranians, Syrians, Palestinians,
Turks, or anyone else that stood in the way of the ultimate aims of
the neocons: a Western-Islamic "Clash of Civilizations" and iron-fisted
U.S. control of Middle East energy resources.

It also appears certain that the Israeli attack on a alleged Syrian
nuclear facility, said to have been built with the aid of North Korean
and Iranian specialists, was designed to scuttle back channel attempts
by Turkey to help negotiate a peace agreement between Israel and
Syria. The Israeli Likud Party and its allies in Washington, primarily
in Cheney's office and at two problematic think tanks in Washington
that act as Likud fronts -- the American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) -- want no
part of an Israeli-Syrian peace agreement of any form of detente.

On October 21, Cheney launched a verbal barrage against Iran and Syria
at a meeting of WINEP held at suburban Virginia's exclusive country
club venue, the Landsdowne Conference Center. Cheney's remarks were
hailed by Clinton Middle East envoy and WINEP director, Dennis Ross,
strongly rumored to be a top contender for a major foreign policy
slot in a Hillary Clinton administration.

The Israeli spin that Israeli military planes attacked the Syrian
facility via Turkish airspace was a not-so-veiled warning to Ankara
that Israel looked with disfavor the Turkish-Syrian rapprochement.

The Israeli attack on the Syrian "facility" is now being spun by
the neocon media, primarily the Jerusalem Post and ABC News, as a
commando raid supported by an Israeli "mole" inside the Syrian nuclear
establishment. Most of the reports from the neocons about a Syrian
"nuclear facility" are no more believable than the reports of Saddam
Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction.

.................

Jerusalem Post

Turkey blames US Jews for genocide bill

Yigal Schleifer/JTA , THE JERUSALEM POST

Oct. 23, 2007

When a US Congressional committee approved a resolution recognizing
the World War I-era massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as
genocide, Turkey's reaction was swift and harsh: Blame the Jews.

In an interview with the liberal Islamic Zaman newspaper on the eve of
the resolution's approval October 10 by the US House Committee on
Foreign Affairs, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said he had told
American Jewish leaders that a genocide bill would strengthen the
public perception in Turkey that "Armenian and Jewish lobbies unite
forces against Turks." Babacan added, "We have told them that we
cannot explain it to the public in Turkey if a road accident happens.
We have told them that we cannot keep the Jewish people out of this."

The Turkish public seems to have absorbed that message.

An on-line survey by Zaman's English-language edition asking why Turks
believed the bill succeeded showed that 22 percent of respondents
chose "Jews' having legitimized the genocide claims" - second only to
"Turkey's negligence."

US Jewish community leaders reject that argument and privately say
Ankara has only itself to blame for its failure to muster the support
necessary to derail the resolution, which is seen in Turkey as
anti-Turkish.

Resentment lingers in Washington over the Turkish Parliament's failure
to approve a March 2003 motion to allow US troops to use Turkish soil
as a staging ground for an invasion of Iraq.

And an official visit to Ankara in early 2006 by Hamas leader Khaled
Mashaal angered many of Israel's supporters on Capitol Hill, who have
been among Turkey's most vocal proponents as part of a strategy of
developing strong ties between Turkey and Israel.

"The Hamas thing was really serious," said an official from a large
Jewish organization. "There is less sympathy for Turkey because of
what some see as an anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish policy
that is there."

The official added, "I think there's a sense on the Hill that Turkey
is less of an ally. There is a sense that it's a different Turkey."

Soner Cagaptay, coordinator of the Turkish research program at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy, echoed that thinking.

"The lingering effects of 2003 resonate," Cagaptay said. "Some people
are still angry with Turkey."

Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said the Jews
should not be blamed for the Armenia genocide bill, particularly not
by Turkish officialdom.

"We regret that some officials there are trying to lay the onus of
what's happened on the Jewish community," Hoenlein told JTA. "They
shouldn't allow some people to manipulate this initiative in Congress
to the detriment of this relationship, which is beneficial for both
sides."

Hoenlein, who met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
during last month's UN General Assembly, said, "There is the same
commitment on the part of the organized community to support Turkey."

Observers in Turkey say the public perception of the Jews' outsized
role in the resolution's passage is based on an element of fact mixed
with a greater amount of fiction.

In August, the Jewish-run Anti-Defamation League, facing pressure from
grassroots activists, reversed its long-held policy of not recognizing
the Armenian genocide when ADL National Director Abraham Foxman
declared that what happened to the Armenians was "indeed tantamount to
genocide."

But Foxman maintained the ADL's position, opposing a congressional
resolution on the matter. Such a resolution would strain US-Turkey
ties and jeopardize ties between Israel and Turkey, Israel's main
Middle Eastern ally.

Nevertheless, the ADL's reversal was seen in Turkey as a major blow to
the country's diplomatic and public-relations campaign against
Armenian efforts to get a genocide resolution passed in Washington.

"Obviously the ADL's switch was not good news," said Suat Kiniklioglu,
a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party and spokesman for
the Turkish Parliament's foreign affairs committee.

Mustafa Akyol, an Istanbul-based political commentator who frequently
writes about religious issues, said the strong reaction to the ADL's
policy switch and the perception that it somehow legitimized the
Armenians' claims were based on an "inflated sense" of American Jewish
power among the Turkish public.

"There is a belief that [the resolution] couldn't have happened
without Jewish support," Akyol said.

The House bill passed the committee by a 27-21 vote, with seven of the
committee's eight Jewish members voting in favor of Resolution 106.
The full House of Representatives has yet to vote on the resolution.

Yet despite the vote, US Jewish groups said they lobbied against the
bill - just as they have done in the past.

"Behind-the-scenes support [from US Jewish groups] has been quite
powerful" in persuading congressmen to oppose the bill, said Cagaptay.
It may yet help prevent the bill from being brought to a vote in the
full House.

Turkish Jewish community leaders declined to be interviewed for this
story, but Turkey's Jewish leaders published a full-page advertisement
in the Washington Times on the day of the vote voicing their
opposition to the House bill.

"We believe this issue should be decided first and foremost on the
basis of evidence adduced by historians, not on the basis of judgments
by parliamentarians or Congressmen, who naturally (and understandably)
may be influenced by concerns other than historical facts," the
statement said. "There have been insinuations that our security and
well-being in Turkey is linked to the fate of Resolution 106. We are
deeply perturbed by any such allegations."

According to Cagaptay, "there is a trilateral relationship, which is
Turkey, Israel and the American Jews. The relationship is about good
ties between Turkey and Israel, and good ties between Turkey and the
American Jewish community, which makes up for the fact that Turkey has
not had, historically, a strong presence on the Hill."

This time, however, it seems Jewish opposition to the bill was not
enough to overcome support by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a
longtime supporter of Armenian-American issues, who has vowed to bring
the bill to a full House vote.

Source: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull