Befriending the friendless Ally

By: Kamal Rajab

Feb 22, 2006

The enormity of philanthropist financial aid; loan and military assistance that Turkey grooves on per annum from the Allies is beyond totaling. The US is one of the greatest benefactors with hundreds of millions of dollar pouring into Turkey to further help revamp Turkey’s wretched economy. Regarded on of US closest allies and the sole NATO Muslim- state member, the US supports Turkey’s dominance. The strategic reasoning behind this assertion is oblivious “a surrogate for their interests in this vital strategic region “. Turkey has manifested a very imperative role in bolstering US overpower the ominously emergent radical Islamic fundamentalism. Concessions, charity and  clemency toward Turkey was so mammoth that even some allied and western countries brushed off Turkey’s human rights manipulations, repression of its Kurdish and other ethnic minorities and the recognition of Armenians Genocide.

Despite all that empathy, when need arose to liberate Iraqi masses suffering under the rule of despotism, Turkish lawmakers had faced overwhelming public opposition to basing U.S. troops on Turkish soil. The defeat of the resolution was an unexpectedly stunning political blow. The rejection response to the US to deploy its troops was the worse type of nightmare stupefying Washington. When acting time loomed, The Turks dumped their allies and overlooked about the past. Up to date, Turkey’s unilateral military operations, regional intimidation and, go-ahead to terrorists’ infiltration continue to undermine US efforts in settling that country…

And the most jolting of all was the recent Turkish Foreign Minister’s official meeting with the exile political leader of Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas. Staggeringly, it cooked up an angry exchange of words between the two. Israel strongly condemned this visit and stated that it may drastically hurt Turkish strong ties with the Jewish State. The affairs, which are underpinned by well-built armed teamwork, had already come under strain over Erdogan's contentions two years ago that Israel was diligent in state terrorism opposed to the Palestinians. The United States and the European Union, which Turkey wants to join, describe Hamas as a terrorist group. Turkey's decision to step out of line with U.S. and EU policies may earn it praise in the Muslim world, but will likely damage its image with its Western allies. President Bush has repeatedly avowed that “we shall make no distinctions between terrorists and the country harboring them”

Of course, Turkey's main military supplier is the United States. Eighty percent of Turkey's weapons imports are stamped MADE IN THE U.S.A. and, over the last decade, Ankara received more than $12 billion in direct and indirect U.S. military assistance and this figure is expected to raise even larger.

Over the next twenty years, Turkey plans to spend an astonishing $150 billion to modernize its military. U.S. arms manufacturers will continue to lobby hard for these lucrative sales.

In response to Turkish concerns about the potential for further political and economic destabilization in the wake of an attack on Iraq, Turkey was proposed an expansive free-trade agreement between Turkey and the United States; a first step in that direction was already evident in the form of a Senate bill, sponsored by Senators John Breaux and John McCain and boosted by the  formed, three-dozen-strong bipartisan American-Turkish Caucus on Capitol Hill, that would let Turkish textiles into the United States duty-free via Israel. A US Senate resolution marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Armenian genocide at the hands of the Turks was also squashed.

The Turkish state that developed out of the former Ottoman Empire after World War I, it has been extremely brutal towards "the people." The biggest ethnic minority (the Kurds), for example, denied even existence after the earliest days (they were "mountain Turks"), and subjected to extreme repression to the present. Some of the worst human rights violations anywhere in the 1990s were the Turkish counterinsurgency operations against the Kurds. And Turks have suffered terribly too under regime repression. It's also very misleading, to put it mildly, to say, for example, that horrendous torture of dissidents and denial of even the most elementary rights to Kurds (let alone what happened mainly in the 90s: destroying 3500 villages, devastating the countryside, killing tens of thousands, and creating probably millions of refugees) was following the orders. Turkey should not be justified to endlessly repress its 25 million Kurdish populations under the pretext of eliminating PKK.

The Allies should revise their policies and reevaluate Turkey’s irrepressible military enlargement. Turkey is bluntly and unhesitatingly opening welcome doors to terrorist organizations. There is no question about a greedy and belligerent regime not involved in pursuing nuclear access? It is time for the Allies to reshape their strategic environment by dwindling, containing and even rolling back Turkey before it gets out of handling.