{"id":26717,"date":"2015-06-19T00:12:01","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T22:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=26717"},"modified":"2015-06-19T00:12:01","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T22:12:01","slug":"u-s-strategy-in-turkey-causing-the-problem-to-provide-%e2%80%9cthe-fix%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/?p=26717","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Strategy In Turkey: Causing The Problem to Provide \u201cThe Fix\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Erdogan,
dpa\/Tolga Bozoglu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

June 18, 2015 „<\/span>Information \t\t\tClearing House<\/span><\/a>“ – <\/span>Yalikavak, Turkey – Those who honor the vision \t\t\tof the founder of the modern Turkish Republic view the current \t\t\tevents in Turkey with grave concern. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk \t\t\tsaid \u201cAuthority, without any condition and reservation, belongs to \t\t\tthe nation.\u201d This is written in the chamber of the Turkish \t\t\tParliament. His populist vision held that the people of the nation \t\t\tthemselves are the sovereign. His democratic vision for his people \t\t\tis again under threat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Results of the election \t\t\tof June 7th<\/sup> 2015, have led to commentary in the western \t\t\tmedia that is predominantly hopeful and optimistic \u2013 proclaiming the \t\t\telection a victory for Turkish democracy. However, such spin fails \t\t\tto provide proper historical context and skepticism, and fails to \t\t\tmeet the reality check. Informed Turks know better.<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics of the present \t\t\tregime have contend that President Erdogan was only able to ascend \t\t\tto power with the backing of the U.S. government, most notably the \t\t\tCIA. His visits to the U.S. prior to assuming power, and the changes \t\t\tto Turkish law which enabled him to become Prime Minister, fueled \t\t\tpopular perceptions among Turkish civil society that he was the \t\t\tpuppet of Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington surely knew \t\t\tthat Erdogan would be an extreme authoritarian, as his political \t\t\topportunism was well known, as was his ambition for great wealth \t\t\t(last year, The Telegraph<\/em> reported on tapes of a telephone \t\t\tconversation with his son alluding to tens of million Euros in cash \t\t\tstashed away in his home). Thus, it was entirely foreseeable that he \t\t\twould have a limited time in power, and as we have seen in the \t\t\trecent election, Turks reject his efforts to rewrite the Turkish \t\t\tConstitution by placing power squarely with the President. <\/span><\/p>\n

As has been the history \t\t\tof U.S. foreign policy, Erdogan maintained U.S. support only so long \t\t\tas he was able to serve to U.S. interests (see also Saddam Hussein, \t\t\tManuel Noriega, Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko, etc.). In fact, \t\t\tas Erdogan\u2019s decline was seen as inevitable, the U.S. aligned itself \t\t\twith his former ally, and now nemesis Fethullah Gulen, who now \t\t\tresides in the U.S. and actively works to shape the Turkish \t\t\tpolitical landscape.<\/span><\/p>\n

Promoting Kurdish \t\t\tindependence is a key piece of the U.S. grand strategic design for \t\t\tthe Middle East. In 2006, during a NATO Defense College conference \t\t\tin Rome, the map below was shown (source, and for more, see \t\t\t http:\/\/www.scoop.co.nz\/stories\/HL0611\/S00158.htm<\/a> ). Retired U.S. \t\t\tCol. Ralph Peters reportedly prepared this map. During the 2006 NATO \t\t\tevent, the Turkish military personnel protested the presentation of \t\t\tthis map by leaving the event. This was a major news event in Turkey \t\t\tat that time, as this was perceived as a significant violation of \t\t\tthe sovereignty of the Republic of Turkey. This, of course, did not \t\t\tand has not changed the agenda of the U.S. government.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Further, the promotion \t\t\tof Kurdish political independence is vital to U.S. efforts to \t\t\tundermine the power of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Kurds, long \t\t\ta favored instrument of U.S. foreign policy, serve to balkanize \t\t\tcentralized power in the region \u2013 furthering classic divide and rule \t\t\taims of the U.S. in the Middle East. The most recent U.S. \t\t\tintervention in Iraq also underscores the pivotal role Kurds play in \t\t\tU.S. designs for the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

There was no way \t\t\tKurdish independence could be spoken of in Turkey until recently. \t\t\tThose who even broached the idea were dealt with harshly and \t\t\tswiftly. However, with the authoritarianism of the Erdogan regime, \t\t\tand the threat it poses to the secular culture that Turkey has had \t\t\tsince its 1923 foundation, Turks are looking for an alternative \t\t\tsource of power which will, of necessity, lead to coalitions amongst \t\t\tstrange bed-partners. Kurdish autonomy is now the likely result of \t\t\tthe most recent elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Erdogan cracked-down \t\t\ton Turk civil society (for example, reportedly sending children to \t\t\tpolice custody because of the anti-government tweets they were \t\t\tsending through social media, planning prosecutions with fake \t\t\tevidence, arresting high ranking officials in the Turkish military, \t\t\tand buying the major media channels in the country to allow only the \t\t\tpropaganda his regime wished to reach the public), it led \t\t\tsecularists to consider other alternatives in order to bring down \t\t\tthe current regime. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not by chance \t\t\tthat one of the main opposition forces among the parties currently \t\t\toperating in Turkey, and which was very successful in the June 7th<\/sup> elections, is HDP, the pro Kurdish party which is asking for an \t\t\tindependent Kurdish area in the current Turkish lands. It is \t\t\tinstructive to note the similarities in the map below (source: \t\t\thttp:\/\/www.milliyet.com.tr\/2015-genel-secim-sonuclari-gundem-2071339\/) \t\t\tand the map above (see \u201cFree Kurdistan\u201d above). As can be seen, \t\t\tHDP\u2019s support aligns with the U.S. grand design for the mid-East \u2013 \t\t\tas unveiled at the 2006 NATO Defense College conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Above, the map of \t\t\tpresent-day Turkey shows in green the area that HDP won. Will this \t\t\tarea remain part of the Republic of Turkey in the years ahead? Or \t\t\twill it become the Kurdish independent state that the U.S. so \t\t\tclearly desires in furtherance of its imperial ambition to control \t\t\tthe resources of the region? <\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be fooled by the \t\t\trose-colored glasses with which commentators in the Western media \t\t\tare portraying the June 7th<\/sup> election results. Yes, we can \t\t\tapplaud the civil society mobilization to derail Erdogan\u2019s \t\t\tauthoritarian aims. But, there is so much more to this story than \t\t\tmost people are hearing. Moving forward, look out for a greater role \t\t\tby the CIA in the region as Turkish and regional politics become \t\t\tmore splintered. <\/span><\/p>\n

The authors are a \t\t\tTurk using a pseudonym and a constitutional law professor at New \t\t\tYork University and the University of New York in Prague, who have \t\t\tspent the past two weeks in Istanbul and other parts of Turkey \t\t\tobserving the current state of the country. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

June 18, 2015 „Information Clearing House“ – Yalikavak, Turkey – Those who honor the vision of the founder of the modern Turkish Republic view the current events in Turkey with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26718,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26717\/revisions\/26718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/norkhosq.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}