RETIRED TURKISH GENERAL CALLS FOR WITHDRAWAL FROM NATO

Sabah, Turkey
May 29 2007

"Gen Kilinc (retd) calls for withdrawal from NATO"

Gen Sener Eruygur (retd), chairman of the Kemalist Ideology
Association (ADD) (and former chief of the Gendarmerie), and Gen
Tuncer Kilinc (retd) , former secretary-general of the National
Security Council, have made interesting comments during a conference
entitled "Upholding our republic" organized by the British Kemalist
Ideology Association. Pointing out that NATO’s role had started to
be questioned, Kilinc said, "The United States occasionally uses the
United Nations and NATO to maintain its global dominance."

Russia may find it attractive

Kilinc went on to say, "Although NATO is regarded as a force which
could be used against a threat targeting the West amid various
uncertainties of today, it is obvious that it does not have a
structure that could allow it to be used effectively, especially in
an asymmetric war. There is a belief that Turkey could free itself
of Western hegemony and colonialism if it left NATO one way or another.

With strong armed forces, Turkey would be a powerful country with
which both sides would like to establish close ties, while it would
have the flexibility to be involved in closer cooperation with other
powerful groups." Kilinc added that Turkey would become a centre of
gravity for other major countries, especially Russia.

In his address, Kilinc said that the USA had banked on support it
had received from [Kurdish leaders Mas’ud] Barzani’s and [Jalal]
Talabani’s tribal communities during the invasion of Iraq and thus had
caused Kurdish nationalism to rise in an arrogant manner. Kilinc noted,
"The EU is trying to force us to recognize the Armenian genocide, to
extend diplomatic recognition to the Greek Cypriot administration in
Cyprus, to open our ports to Greek Cypriots, to conduct negotiations
with the terrorist organizations [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] and to
describe our Kurdish and Alevi citizens as minorities. They intend
to destroy our national unity so that we would surrender easily."