TURKEY WISHES TO APPEAR AS EU ALLY AND EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY WEAPON

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.09.2006 14:38 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "Sending of Turkish peacekeepers to Lebanon is
by no means a growth of Ankara’s imperial pretensions, though some
forces in Armenia think so," head of the department of international
relations at the institute of political and military analysis Sergey
Markedonov told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In his words, Recep Tayyip
Erdogan despite his "stormy Islamic youth" has staked on Turkey’s
Europeanazation and its accession to the EU.

"However presently Europe demonstrates the whole world its fear to
participate in the peacekeeping operation.

In this situation Turks wish to appear as EU’s ally and even a weapon
of European diplomacy. For Israel a move of the kind made by Turkey’s
is quite admissible, since Turkey has been an ally to the Jewish state
for many years," he remarked. However the Russian political scientist
considers that the Tel Aviv-Israel relations has considerably cooled
over the situation in Iraq.

"Anyway Turkey is a more favorable "peacekeeper" for Israel. Thus,
Ankara on one hand aspires for Europe and is ready to demonstrate
its loyalty towards the EU. On the other hand this operation will
become a test for relations with Israel. Third, this goal will not
be publicly announced in Turkey, since many Turks feel sympathy for
Hezbollah. Thus Turkish military should know how to behave in the
radical Islamist world. With this move Turkey will acquire a good
notion of the situation in Lebanon, Helbollah’s relations with Iran
and Iran’s intentions," Markedonov said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress