THREE SETBACKS IN ONE DAY IS A WAKE UP CALL
Ilnur Cevik, ilnurcevik@yahoo.com
The New Anatolian
Aug 22 2007
Turkey
American Jews recognize the "Armenian genocide" while the U.S. gives
the green light to the Greek Cypriots to prospect oil and natural gas
despite Turkish objections. German president signs a bill that Turks
oppose. All these are issues show we need utmost national vigilance
and take counter steps.
Turks are engrossed in the presidential elections and domestic politics
as the newly elected Parliament settles down and starts to do business
in earnest. However, important international developments are moving
at a fast pace and we feel Turkey has to keep pace with them. It
also means we have to display more national unity and solidarity if
we are to safeguard our vital national interests.
There bad news on Wednesday showed we have to attend to some pressing
problems before they really get out of hand and start threatening
our vital interests.
The first is the decision of the famous Jewish organization in the
U.S., the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which has reversed its long
standing position and has acknowledged the acts against the Armenians
by the Ottoman Turks were "genocide."
It is clear that the ADL came under strong pressures from the Armenian
lobby and took this stand. The fact that ADL said it will continue
to oppose the congressional bill accepting the "Armenian genocide" is
little comfort. Because the ADL said it took the decision to reverse
its former position because it consulted historians and experts and
came to the conclusion that what happened was actually genocide. Now
many people in the U.S. Congress who had doubts will start thinking
in a different manner. This is bad news for Turkey.
The second bad news for Turkey is the announcement by the State
Department that they do not oppose the move by the Greek Cypriots to
prospect oil and natural gas in the territorial waters of Cyprus.
Turkey and the Turkish Cypriots have opposed the move saying the
Greek Cypriots do not represent the whole of Cyprus and thus they
cannot issue tenders to give oil concessions for the island and its
territorial waters.
The oil prospecting tenders by the Greek Cypriots received lukewarm
response form the international business world but the American
announcement may change things.
The third bad news was the decision by German president to sign
into law a new legislation that the Turks living in that country
vehemently oppose.
All these are setbacks for Turkey and for Turks in general.
We are facing difficulties on the Cyprus front and non the Armenian
front.
Meanwhile, there are interesting developments in Iraq where the Maliki
government is fighting for survival. The visit of the French foreign
minister to Baghdad and his warm exchanges with the Iraqi Kurdish
leaders Jalal Talabani and Masssoud Barzani are meaningful.
It is clear that after President Sarkozy took office France has started
to change its Iraq policy and is maneuvering to become a player. The
fact that French leaders have always been sympathetic to the Iraqi
Kurds shows French involvement in Iraq will strengthen the hands of
Talabani and Barzani…
Turkey has to take all these developments seriously and we have to
attend to them. Instead we are too busy discussing the headscarf of
Hayrunnisa Gul, the wife of the foreign minister and soon to become
the First lady.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress