February 26, 2008 at 10:59:12

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Will Turkey be complicit in another war against another neighbour?

By Cem Ertür (about the author)     Page 5 of 13 page(s)

opednews.com     Permalink

In the last two months there has also been an increase in Al Qaeda related news reports:

"The security establishment has received specific intelligence information according to which al-Qaeda cells that have infiltrated Turkey and are planning to carry out terror attacks on Israeli targets and sites affiliated with the United States... Fresh security guidelines have been relayed to Israeli government agencies and businesses operating throughout Turkey in light of the threat." [25]

These were followed by anti-terror operations throughout the country. [26] The threat was echoed by US Attorney General Michael Mukasey in the wake of his visit to Ankara this month:

"We are watching Al Qaeda closely. And we have seen in the recent period that they have increased their activities in Turkey... It appeared as though Al Qaeda may have chosen Turkey as a base." [27]

Back in November 2003, researcher Michel Chossudovsky wrote that the bomb attacks on the British consulate and the HSBC bank headquarters in Istanbul coincided with President George Bush's visit to London, which took place the day following the completion of the annual Turkish-US Joint Defense Group meeting in Williamsburg, US :

"The attacks have created conditions for a more active role of Turkey in the Iraqi war theatre... The Istanbul bombings also serve to uphold the shaky legitimacy of Prime Minister Tony Blair in the face of mounting political opposition to Britain's' participation in the US led war." [28]

It looks like a similar strategy is at work in the face of another threat of war. As in the case of (Turkish) Hezbollah, it doesn't really matter whether Al Qaeda has any connection whatsoever with Iran. This is all conflated Islamophobia and racism stoking the fire for war.

IRANOPHOBIA OF THE TURKISH MEDIA

Titled PKK's tank or Iran's atomic bomb?', Kadri Gursel's article gives a perfect example of the anti-Iranian propaganda of the Turkish media:

"Iran provided the PKK with shelter and logistical support in the 1990's, which was a period when Turkey had a close regional cooperation with the US; it fomented terrorism by using a wing of Hezbollah and openly supported Islamic movements through its diplomatic representatives. Murderers trained by Iran killed our intellectuals. Iran did all that to destabilize Turkey, whom it sees as a natural opponent.

Once Iran conducts its first nuclear test, it will become a super-power on the scale of the range of its missiles. Then it is expected to behave even more recklessly as it will have the ability to back its aggressive foreign policy with a shield of nuclear deterrence." [29]

It is worth bearing in mind that there has been no war between the two countries since the signing of the Qasr-e-Shirin Peace Treaty in 1639.

In a recent newspaper interview, former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel mentions another typical argument against Iran:

"They keep asking me: What is happening to us? Are we becoming like Iran? Where are we heading towards? Will these individual changes eventually turn us into an Iran? That's the concern. The nation is anxious and frightened of the prospect of a counter-revolution." [30]

In her open letter published in the Turkish daily Milliyet, Handan Haktanir, wife of Turkey's ambassador to Tehran in 1991-94, gives a dire warning to Turkish women:

"against certain regulations adopted in the name of freedom in an extremely innocent manner, but then pave the way for a much more repressive regime. According to my Iranian female friends, starting with the introduction of a compulsory wearing of hijab in schools, it took three years for this insidious and gradual process to be completed and then it was too late." [31]

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