THE WRATH OF NEOCON-JEWISH ALLIANCE
Ali H. Aslan

Zaman Online, Turkey
April 12 2006

We have tried to narrate many times in a proper manner how much
displeasure there was in Washington due to Hamas’ Ankara visit. But
unfortunately we were unable to make our voices heard in Ankara,
especially by our friends with Justice and Development Party (JDP),
just was the case during the Iraq war process. Maybe, those who misread
Ambassador Ross Wilson’s diplomatic politeness, or interpreted it
the way they liked, thought we were exaggerating.

At last, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent Cuneyd Zapsu,
one of his close advisers, and JDP Vice Chairman and Sakarya Deputy
Saban Disli to Washington last week. The aim was to check the pulse
and make some damage control. Alas, it was too late and there was
too little that could have been done…

I was not surprised by JDP representatives’ finding themselves in the
middle of a machine gun fire at the American Enterprise Institute
(AEI) meeting. Zapsu and Disli responded with fire when parallels
were insistently drawn between Hamas and the PKK or DTP. Hence,
they ended up fanning the fire they intended to extinguish…

Some may ask, “Well, to what extent would a meeting at the AEI,
a neo-con castle, represent the pulse in Washington? Plus, hasn’t
the power of neo-cons declined yet?”

Though the “visible” power of the neo-cons has relatively diminished
following the Iraq disaster, their influence within the system,
especially their ideological dominance still very much persists. Not
to mention their close association with the powerful Jewish lobby.

Otherwise, today the US wouldn’t have been heading towards operations
to topple the regime in Iran, another ambition of the neocons and
Israel…

It is this neocon-Jewish alliance which has to a large extent
shaped the US policy on Turkey for many years, with its strong arms
in Congress, bureaucracy, trade and think tanks. Many key figures
associated with this group were present at the AEI meeting. For that
reason, one should consider the meeting important. The neocon-Jewish
alliance has been the leading group who kept the positive interest in
Ataturk’s Turkey alive in Washington so far, due to their US-Israel
focused regional plans and because they are concerned about secularism
in Islamic nations. Some, like Richard Perle, were even making money by
conducting professional lobbying for Turkey. However, things turned the
other way around with the (March 1, 2003) parliamentary motion crisis.

Our neo-con and Jewish friends think they have paid a heavy price
because they preferred going with democracy, that is JDP, before
the Iraq War, at the expense of hurting many from the civilian and
military elite, their traditional favorites in Turkey. Furthermore,
the JDP administration has repeatedly done a lot of things annoying
Americans. Because of the erosion of confidence in Washington,
anything JDP was now arousing suspicion and perturbing people. They
were further infuriated by the latest Hamas move. The fact that
Turkish bureaucratic elite was also by-passed gave the neocon-Jewish
alliance an opportunity to hit free-kicks at the JDP. As a result
of pressures coming from Washington, even Ambassador Wilson, who
has tended to moderate the issue, used the word “disappointment’
last week in regard to the Hamas visit.

As for the Pentagon, the chief expert on Turkish affairs there is
Ambassador Eric Edelman, who has a blood feud with JDP and known
to have close ties with the neocon-Jewish community. Let me draw
your attention to the fact that ties between Turkish and American
militaries, which were considered irreparable, began heading towards
their traditional positive course after Edelman became No. 3 at the
Pentagon. Obviously, the Pentagon, which had a bitter experience
during the Iraq process, is determined to tie its horse to a strong
fence on Iran process…

Don’t even ask me about the Congress. If someone like Tom Lantos,
an influential figure in the Jewish lobby, who has so far battled
against the Armenian allegations heroically, has turned his back
to Ankara, especially against the Erdogan government, imagine the
situation with the rest. No wonder Lantos adviser Alan Makovsky was
one of those who pressed most on Zapsu and Disli about the Hamas
visit at the AEI meeting.

The US State Department is upset, too. But they don’t think high
tension is helpful. However, it is extremely difficult to calm
down the neocon-Jewish lobby. Some have even joined into a feeding
and disinformation chain extended to Washington by certain anti-JDP
circles. Looks like JDP’s weaknesses in pulse-reading, communication
and crisis management will not get any better soon. Yet unless there
is a major democratic accident, both the JDP and the neocon-Jewish
lobby will maintain their position in Turkish-American relations for
a long time. Therefore, it would be useful for both to learn how to
cohabitate as soon as possible…

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress