Now This Was a Surprise: Obama Installing US Missile Shield in Turkey

Turkey agrees to host U.S. radar site, a key piece of Europe missile shield

By Craig Whitlock, Published: September 15 Washington Post

The Obama administration signed accords this week with three NATO allies to host cornerstones of a missile shield over Europe, including a highly sought-after deal with Turkey that will allow the installation of a U.S. radar station close to Iran.

After nearly two years of talks with Washington, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that it would allow the U.S. military to operate a high-powered X-band radar station in Malatya province, about 400 miles west of the Iranian border. Along with similar radars deployed on U.S. Navy ships in the Mediterranean Sea, the station is intended to provide early warning of missile launches from Iran.

Turkey signed the agreement despite heavy political pressure from Iran and another neighbor, Russia, which have criticized the missile shield as a stalking horse to neutralize their own defenses. Iran’s Foreign Ministry assailed Turkey’s decision, saying it would “create tension” and cause “complicated consequences.”

Turkey has sought to maintain friendly relations with Russia and Iran under its self-described “no problems with neighbors” policy. In this instance, however, the government in Ankara sided with the United States and its other NATO allies. Turkey has been a member of the military alliance since 1952.

Obama administration officials portrayed the radar accord as a coup not only for their missile defense plans but also their efforts to bolster ties with Turkey, which had soured because of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“This is probably the biggest strategic decision between the U.S. and Turkey over the past 10 to 15 years,” a senior Obama administration official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the negotiations.

With a booming economy, Turkey has become an increasingly influential force in diplomatic and business circles in the greater Middle East. In recent years, however, Turkey has burnished ties with Iran and Syria while cooling toward Europe, prompting concern in Washington.

Turkey’s deteriorating relations with Israel posed another hurdle in the talks with Washington.

Turkish officials had insisted that the U.S. military not share data from the radar with Israel, which sees itself at much higher risk of an Iranian missile attack. Turkey’s stance raised hackles on Capitol Hill, however, where several senators urged the White House to reject such restrictions.

Another senior administration official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the signed agreement with Turkey does not bar the United States from indirectly providing radar data to Israel.

“It’s understood that data from any U.S. radars and sensors around the world may be fused with other data to maximize the effectiveness of our missile defenses worldwide,” that official said. “Nothing in any of the agreements restricts our ability to defend the state of Israel.”

Although the early-warning radar in Turkey will primarily support NATO’s missile defenses in Europe, the station will be owned and operated by the U.S. government. The U.S. military operates a similar radar station in Israel and is looking to place another near the Persian Gulf.

Administration officials said there was “no quid pro quo” as part of the Turkey radar agreement. The United States and Turkey are holding separate talks over basing U.S. drones in Turkey to guide attacks against Kurdish militants — a high priority for Ankara.

Development of a European missile shield accelerated under the George W. Bush administration. In September 2009, Obama announced plans to construct a more extensive system in Europe that will be built in phases through 2020.

Under that system, a total of 48 missile interceptors will be based in Romania and Poland, starting in 2015 and 2018, respectively. The State Department finalized agreements with those countries this week.

At the same time, the Obama administration and NATO have been talking with Russia about the possibility of cooperating on missile defense. Moscow has been historically hostile to the idea of a missile shield in Europe and the discussions have slowed recently.

“Our bilateral dialogue with Washington, and with Brussels within the NATO framework, has been increasingly stalled,” said Alexander Lukashevich, a Foreign Ministry press spokesman, according to the Interfax news agency.


Special correspondent Will Englund in Moscow contributed to this report.

Turkey's Erdogan is Playing a Dangerous Game- No Surprise There

Turkey attempts to rally diplomatic alliance against Israel

Turkey's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that the Jewish state's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year had been "grounds for war".

By Adrian Blomfield, in Jerusalem

8:36PM BST 12 Sep 2011 TELEGRAPH

Mr Erdogan arrived in Cairo last night intent on burnishing his populist credentials after casting himself as a rival to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, as Israel's critic-in-chief in the Middle East.

In what appeared to be a deliberate piece of timing designed to maximise the impact of his visit, Mr Erdogan's office yesterday released a previously unpublished transcript of a redacted interview he gave to Al Jazeera's Arabic language service last week.
In it, Mr Erdogan claimed that Turkey would have been justified in going to war after Israeli commandos shot dead nine Turkish activists during the interception of an aid convoy seeking to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza in May last year.

"The attack that took place in international waters did not comply with any international law," he said. "In fact, it was grounds for war. However, befitting Turkey's greatness, we decided to act with patience."

Mr Erdogan's comments appeared to be designed to rile Israel at one of the most strained moments in relations with the Jewish state, which until recently was a close Turkish ally.

Incensed by Israel's refusal to apologise for the raid, Mr Erdogan announced the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Ankara earlier this month. He also downgraded diplomatic relations, suspended military ties and announced that warships would in future escort any vessels flying the Turkish flag that attempted to reach Gaza.
Although alarmed by the rapid deterioration of its relationship with one its few friends in the region, Israel has dismissed Mr Erdogan's increasingly bellicose rhetoric as sabre-rattling.

But while few believe Turkey has any wish to engage Israel, with its vastly superior military strength in a war, Mr Erdogan does seem to be intent on attempting to isolate Israel in the Middle East at a time of heightened vulnerability for the Jewish state.

Persistently rebuffed in his attempts to seek European Union membership for Turkey, Mr Erdogan has instead sought to concentrate on projecting power in the Middle East by presenting himself as a champion of the Palestinian cause, traditionally the single most emotive issue among ordinary Arabs.

The Palestinian Authority is expected to submit a controversial application for statehood at the United Nations next week, in a move that will further raise tensions across the Middle East.

Mr Erdogan's visit to Egypt, once a part of the Ottoman Empire, is the first by a Turkish leader in 15 years and comes at a time of growing popular discontent against Israel on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere.

Over the weekend, rioters angered by Israel's inadvertent killing of at least three Egyptian border guards last month, ransacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Israel was forced to evacuate its ambassador and nearly all its diplomats from the country.
But Mr Erdogan's visit is reportedly being viewed with considerable mistrust among Egypt's transitional military leadership, which has taken charge of the country after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak, the former president, in February.

Mr Erdogan had been expected last night to address crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the revolution against Mr Mubarak, but his speech was mysteriously cancelled.

In a further sign that Egypt would resist Mr Erdogan's anti-Israel advances, one of the ruling generals said a state of emergency would be expanded because of the storming of the embassy.

The announcement could further incense public opinion, already outraged after three protesters were reportedly shot dead in disturbances outside the embassy and elsewhere in Cairo over the weekend.

Islamism Gains in Turkey

TURKEY | 12.09.2010 DW
Turkey votes for constitutional reform

Initial counts show a slim majority voted "yes"

Turkish voters went to the polls on Sunday to decide on a divisive reform package. A clear majority of voters appear to have eventually voted in favor, handing the government a decisive victory.

About 58 percent of Turkish voters approved constitutional changes to reshape the judiciary and curb military powers, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday.

Erdogan, who campaigned across the country for the reforms, hailed the provisional poll results.

"We have passed a historic threshold on the way to advanced democracy and the supremacy of law," he said at a press conference in Istanbul.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle welcomed the result and said he was confident that Turkey would make further progress. "The constitutional reform is another important step for Turkey on the way to Europe," he said. "I am confident that the reform process in Turkey, in the sense of greater openness in society, will be continued."

Turkey's current constitution was written under a coup government

The vote was described as "a step in the right direction" to fulfilling European Union entry criteria by enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele, adding that Brussels would want to see words put into practice. "A raft of implementation laws will be necessary and we will observe developments closely."

Erdogan is eager to bring Turkey more in line with European norms and distance it from its current constitution, which was established in 1982 after a coup d'etat.

Supporters say the amendments will improve the state of Turkey's democracy and the fundamental rights of individuals, steps the EU has long called on Turkey to take.

"In normal times people say that they are against the coup and the constitution of the coup, so they now have chance to change it," Erdogan said, asking, "How can any one against the coup oppose these reforms?"

Opposition fears for Turkey's secularism

Yet the country's two main opposition parties - from both the right and left of the political spectrum - campaigned against the proposed judicial reforms in the package of 26 new or revised amendments.

Opposition leaders claimed that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), marked by its Islamic roots, would use the reforms to seize control of the judiciary, thus undermining Turkey's secular state.

The proposed judicial reforms included a bid to increase the number of Constitutional Court judges from 11 to 17, giving parliament great power to select the new appointees. The reforms would also lead to changes in the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the center-left Republican People's Party, said the proposed measures would put critics of the government in danger.

"My call is to all the business people, all the artists and intellectuals," he said. "If 'yes' comes out of the referendum, one morning your home can be raided, you can be taken into custody, and spend months in prison."

A society divided

Opponents fear the government will arrest more secular "enemies"

Opponents have said the government already enjoys a massive majority in parliament, adding that passing the reforms would mean lifting one of the last checks on government power. They have also criticized the move to have voters decide on the entire package of reforms rather than on individual amendments.

Erdogan declared at the outset of the referendum process his hope that the reform package could unite the country by severing ties with its legacy of military rule. But instead, the referendum appears to have further deepened the division within Turkish society.

"On secularism and conservatism, it is divided between half and half," said political columnist Nuray Mert. "On the definition of secularism and definition of democracy, people have strongly different opinions from each other and the gap between the two camps is widening each day."

Author: Dorian Jones /dl/ Sarah Harman, Richard Connor (dpa, AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Sean Sinico

Turkey Worried About Israeli Brutality to Palestinians. Turkey Invades Iraq and Kills 100 Kurds.

The Turks were very very vexed by the Israeli raid on a Turkish vessel in international waters. The Israelis argued that they had the right to attack the ship as it had open intentions of supplying Palestinian terrorists. "Palestinian" is the Israeli adjective for terrorist.

The Turks not be outdone have their own pet phrase for Kurds, "Kurdish rebels". Today Turkey raided Northern Iraq and killed 100 Kurds, rebels all of course. This will certainly enrage public opinion across Europe and most of the free world.


Turkish Raid May Have Killed 100 Kurdish Rebels
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NY Times
Published: June 18, 2010

Filed at 6:28 a.m. ET

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's military said Friday it killed as many as 120 Kurdish rebels in an air raid on rebel hideouts in northern Iraq last month and a daylong incursion by elite commandos into Iraq this week.

Kurdish rebels have dramatically stepped up attacks in Turkey in recent months in an escalation that poses a dire threat to a remarkable attempt at ending one of the world's longest guerrilla wars. The Turkish military responded to the rebels by sending its warplanes across the Iraqi border to bomb Kurdish rebel positions after acquiring intelligence, apparently from the United States and recently purchased drones from Israel.

The rebels have long used northern Iraq as a springboard for hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets in a campaign for autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast. Several past Turkish air raids and incursions have failed to stop rebel infiltration through the mountainous border.

Maj. Gen. Fahri Kir, the head of the military's internal security operations, said another 30 Kurdish rebels were killed inside Turkey since March in anti-rebel operations. He said the Turkish losses were 43 in the same period. It was not possible to independently verify the figures, which the military says are based on intelligence reports, including interception of radio communication between the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK.

''We anticipate (PKK attacks) to continue incrementally,'' Kir told a news conference at the military headquarters.

The PKK declared an expanded war on June 1, a day after imprisoned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan said in a message communicated by his lawyers from the prison island of Imrali, near Istanbul, that his calls for rebel dialogue with Turkey had been ignored, so he was abandoning them and giving his consent to the rebel command in northern Iraq to determine the course of action.

Kir said the PKK aims to expand its attacks throughout Turkey in an attempt to create ''fear and chaos.'' The escalation of violence followed the major air assault on May 20 on rebel positions in Hakurk region of the northern Iraq in which several warplanes bombed a large area to kill about 100 rebels.

It was the largest air assault on the rebels since a 2008 ground operation into Iraq that saw many guerrillas return to bases along the border after Turkish units withdrew. The Turkish military says around 4,000 rebels are based just across the border in Iraq and that about 2,500 operate inside Turkey.

Hundreds of elite commandos crossed into Iraq for a daylong operation to hunt down a group of rebels who were escaping after an attack near the border town of Uludere. Kir said the commandos, who returned to their bases on the same day, killed five rebels but later intelligence reports suggested that the rebel casualties, also in a coordinated air strike, were about 20.

Kir said 545 rebels were believed to have defected from PKK last year as a result of Turkish operations and difficult living conditions on the mountains. He put the number of PKK deserters this year at 148.

Maj. Gen. Ferit Guler, the secretary-general of the Turkish military, stressed on Friday that while the military chased Kurdish guerrillas, ''the state should use economic, socio-cultural and propaganda measures in coordination at the international level for an effective struggle against terrorism.''

Turkey has waged a harsh crackdown during the grinding 26-year insurgency by the Marxist group PKK, which has been labeled a terrorist organization by the West for killing civilians in urban bombings and arson attacks and slaying government teachers, engineers and clergymen.

The government, however, has tried to distinguish its Kurdish citizens from those who support the rebel group and extended greater cultural rights to the Kurds such as broadcasts in Kurdish language on television, to try to win their hearts.

Turkey, however, rejects calls from the Kurdish rebels and politicians to allow education in schools in Kurdish. The language is also barred in parliament and other official settings on the grounds that its use would divide the country along ethnic lines.

The conflict has killed as many as 40,000 people and allegations of Turkish brutality and restrictions of Kurdish rights have stained the country's human rights record and hampered its bid to join the European Union. The military offensive has also cost hundreds of millions of dollars in defense spending and slowed construction of schools, hospitals and irrigation projects.

------

Four Turks Amongst the Killed. Israel Orders Diplomat's Families out of Turkey.

Israel Orders Families of Diplomats Out of Turkey
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 2, 2010

Filed at 1:14 a.m. ET

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israeli media say the Foreign Ministry has ordered the families of its diplomats in Turkey to leave that country because of the uproar over Israel's deadly naval raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

State-run Israel radio and other stations and newspapers say the diplomatic mission itself will remain in Turkey.

A ministry spokesman would neither confirm nor deny Tuesday's reports.

At least four Turkish activists were among the nine killed by Israeli naval commandos in the raid Sunday on an international flotilla bringing aid to Gaza.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of a ''bloody massacre'' and thousands of Turks have protested across the country.

HAVE NO FEAR. OBAMA IS IN CHARGE:

Israel Attacks Palestinian Relief Ships

14 Deaths Reported as Israel Attacks Aid Flotilla
By ISABEL KERSHNER
Published: May 31, 2010

JERUSALEM — The Israeli Navy attacked a flotilla carrying thousands of tons of supplies for Gaza on Monday morning, news agencies reported, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 30.

The warships first intercepted the aid flotilla shortly before midnight on Sunday, surprising the boats in international waters, according to activists on one vessel. Israel had vowed not to let the flotilla reach the shores of Gaza, where the Islamic militant group Hamas holds sway.

Named the Freedom Flotilla, and led by the pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement and a Turkish organization, Insani Yardim Vakfi, the convoy of six cargo and passenger boats is the most ambitious attempt yet to break Israel’s three-year blockade of Gaza. About 600 passenegers were said to be aboard the vessels, including the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Corrigan-Maguire of Northern Ireland, and a Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein, 85.

Channel 10, a private station in Israel, quoted the Israeli Trade Minister, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, as saying between 14 and 16 people had been killed on one of the flotilla ships. He said on Israeli Army Radio that commandos boarded the ship by sliding down on ropes from a hovering helicopter, and were then struck by passengers with “batons and tools.”

“The moment someone tries to snatch your weapon, to steal your weapons, that’s where you begin to lose control,” Mr. Ben-Eliezer said, quoted by Reuters.

An Israeli television station reported 10 deaths, according to Reuters, an account that was confirmed on Army Radio, according to Bloomberg News. Israeli Radio reported three Israeli commandos had been lightly injured.

Three Israeli Navy missile boats left the Haifa naval base in northern Israel a few minutes after 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, planning to intercept the flotilla. After asking the captains of the boats to identify themselves, the navy told them they were approaching a blockaded area and asked them either to proceed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, north of Gaza, or to return to their countries of origin.

The activists responded that they would continue toward their destination, Gaza.

Speaking by satellite phone from the Challenger 1 boat, which has foreign legislators and other high-profile figures on board, a Free Gaza Movement leader, Huwaida Arraf, said: “We communicated to them clearly that we are unarmed civilians. We asked them not to use violence.”

Earlier Sunday, Ms. Arraf said the boats would keep trying to move forward “until they either disable our boats or jump on board.”

The Israeli Defense Forces said in an earlier statement that if the flotilla members ignored warnings to stop and continued toward Gaza “they will be arrested, brought to Israel’s shores and transferred to the Ministry of Interior and the immigration authorities so they can be sent back to their country of origin.”

“The security forces will take possession of the aid expected to be on board the flotilla,” the statement said, “and following a security check of the goods, the items will be transferred into the Gaza Strip.”

In Ankara, the Turkish capital, local TV stations showed angry protesters confronting police officers outside the Israeli consulate on Monday morning.

Turkey says no to Israeli air force drills. Italy and US say no thanks to Turkey.

Turkey and Israel have had a positive relationship for some time. Something has changed for the worse.

Perhaps the following story is related.
__________________

Israel Faces Growing Pressure After UN War Crimes Vote
By Robert Berger VOA
Jerusalem
17 October 2009

Israel is facing growing international pressure after the United Nations Human Rights Council approved the Goldstone Report, which accuses the Jewish state of war crimes against Palestinians. The Goldstone Report also accuses Palestinian militants of war crimes during the Gaza conflict of nearly a year ago.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling on him to cooperate with the Goldstone Report. They urged Israel to open an "independent, transparent investigation" into alleged war crimes during the three-week Gaza conflict last December and January.

The resolution by the Human Rights Council endorses the Goldstone Report's recommendations that both the Israelis and Palestinian militants show the U.N. Security Council they are investigating the war crimes accusations.

Israel has rejected the report as one-sided and biased and says the Gaza war was a legitimate act of self defense in response to years of Palestinian rocket attacks. Israeli officials say opening a war crimes investigation would be tantamount to accepting guilt.

But Israeli David Horovitz, the editor of the Jerusalem Post, says defiance may be counterproductive.

"I would have thought the last thing Israel can afford to do is to try to simply ignore it," he said. "There has to be some kind of intelligent response, even though the national sense of justice and pride motivates many, I think, in the Israeli leadership to say, 'This is just so unfair, so clearly prejudiced, that we do not want to justify it or honor it by responding.' I don't think Israel can afford to do that."

Palestinian legislator Mustafa Barghouti says Israel should be held accountable, and he called for international war crimes trials.

"Those who committed crimes like killing children for no reason, who hurt civilians for no reason, yes; anybody who kills children for no reason should go to court," he said.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has ordered officials to prepare for a long diplomatic, legal and public relations battle explaining Israel's right to defend itself against terrorism. As Mr. Netanyahu put it, "We will delegitimize those who try to delegitimize us."

Turkey Ruling AKP Sought to be Shut Down.

The Turkish parliament recently adopted a government bill lifting a decades-old ban on wearing the hijab - a headscarf used by Muslim women to cover their hair. The secularists rightly understand that the repeal on the ban on head scarves would just be the beginning of an unstoppable trend that has overtaken Iran, Iraq and now Turkey.

_______________________

Official wants Turkey's ruling party shut down
By Vincent Boland in Ankara FT
March 15 2008 02:00

Turkey's top prosecutor yesterday asked the constitutional court to close the governing Justice and Development party (AKP), in a dramatic and unexpected heightening of tension between the socially conservative government and the country's secularist establishment.

Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya, chief prosecutor of the Turkish court of appeals, accused the AKP of being "the focal point of anti-secular activities". The move appears to be linked to the government's decision last month to ease the ban on wearing the Muslim headscarf at Turkey's universities.

The AKP has its roots in political Islam and is viewed with suspicion by the judiciary, the military and the republican opposition - three bastions of Turkey's secular constitutional order. It is the successor to parties inspired by political Islam that were shut down by the courts in the 1990s. Mr Yalcinkaya's move appeared to take both the AKP and the opposition by surprise, and there was no immediate comment from either.

Abdullah Gul, Turkey's president and former high-ranking AKP official, speaking in Senegal, where he is attending a meeting of Islamic nations, said: "Everyone should very carefully assess what Turkey would gain or lose by an attempt like this against a ruling party with such a majority in parliament."

The AKP won a landslide victory in a general election in July last year, gaining 47 per cent of the popular vote and winning 340 of parliament's 550 seats. The party first came to power in 2002.

Simmering tensions between the AKP and the secularists first exploded into the political arena in April last year, when the military intervened in the process of electing Mr Gul to the presidency, a post the army had long used as its conduit into politics. Mr Gul's wife wears the headscarf, which is banned in public buildings, and senior generals accused the AKP of presiding over a "creeping Islamicisation" of Turkish public life.

Commentators said they were shocked by Mr Yalcinkaya's action. Some said the move against the government was significant because it came from one of the state's top officials rather than from a renegade ultra-nationalist prosecutor with a grudge against the party. It was unclear last night whether the constitutional court, Turkey's highest legal body, would consider the request or throw it out.

According to the Anatolia news agency, the court will undertake a preliminary investigation of the prosecutor's case and send its findings to the AKP for a "preliminary defence", which the party has to submit to the court within a month. It is likely to take at least several weeks, if not months, for the case to go to a full trial, if that is what the court decides.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Turkey Television Claims 10,000 Troops Assault Iraq

"Come over for some tea why don't you and oh by the way we assaulted
your northern borders today."

There does not seem to be much of a fuss about this in the media. It certainly is not a "Gulf of Tonkin" moment. AFP reports that Turkish President Abdullah Gul invited his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani to Turkey in a telephone call Thursday night as he informed him of Ankara's ground operation in northern Iraq, Gul's office said Friday.

"During the call, our president conveyed information on the objective of the ground operation which began Thursday night," the statement said.

Gul also underlined Turkey's intention to boost bilateral ties with Iraq in all fields and invited Talabani to Turkey, it added.

_____________________

Thousands of Turkish troops cross border into Iraq Times on Line

Turkish troops escalated their conflict with Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq today when thousands launched the country's first cross-border ground invasion since the 2003 American-led campaign.

The operation to hunt down guerrillas from the separatist PKK was announced by the Turkish military this morning, and came hours after Turkish warplanes and artillery bombed suspected rebel targets.

Turkey's private NTV television station said that 10,000 troops were taking part in the offensive and had penetrated six miles into Iraq, although these reports were unconfirmed by the military. Turkish troops have been massing on the northern Iraqi border for months.

The country's Dogan News Agency reported that the Habur border crossing, a major conduit for trade between Iraq and Turkey, had been closed.

Analysts believe that today's campaign is the biggest launched by Turkey against the Kurds since the 1990s, when a number of cross-border raids were carried out.

"The Turkish Armed Forces, which values Iraq’s territorial integrity and its stability, will return as soon as planned goals are achieved," the Turkish military said, announcing this morning's operation on its website.

"The executed operation will prevent the region from being a permanent and safe base for the terrorists and will contribute to Iraq’s stability and internal peace."

The military said its target was the PKK and that it would take care not to harm civilians. It warned that other militias in the area should "not act in enmity against the Turkish Armed Forces".

It is the first time the Turkish military have carried out a threat to launch a cross-border ground invasion following the decision of the Turkish Parliament to authorise the military to strike rebels in October.

International observers have expressed huge concern that any major confrontation between Turkey and the Kurds could lead to spiralling instability in Iraq, which has already been locked in sectarian violence since the 2003 invasion.

"Turkish ground forces have entered into northern Iraq for what we understand is an operation of limited duration to specifically target PKK terrorists in that region," Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, a US military spokesman, said, giving what appeared to be lukewarm American approval for the campaign.

"Turkey has given its assurances it will do everything possible to avoid collateral damage to innocent civilians or Kurdish infrastructure."

Turkey has conducted air raids against the guerrillas since December with the help of US intelligence, but it has only scarcely carried out so-called "hot pursuits" in which small units sometimes spend only a few hours inside Iraq.

It has been locked in a bitter battle with Kurdish separatists since the PKK began fighting for a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey in 1984. More than 30,000 people have been killed in Kurdish terrorist attacks and Turkish military operations since then.

Troops Mass in Southern Turkey

It sure does look like things are going to get very interesting in the next few months. This and the previous two posts pose an important question:

Is the US military ready?

Turkey boosts troops at Iraqi border: sources
Paul de Bendern, Reuters
Published: Friday, July 13, 2007

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey -- Turkey's army has boosted troop levels in the restive southeast to more than 200,000, most of them stationed along the border with Iraq, security sources told Reuters Friday.

Those sources, who declined to be named, said the unusually large buildup, which includes tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft, was part of a security crackdown on Kurdish rebels hiding in southeast Turkey and northern Iraq.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed the estimate of 200,000 troops, saying it was too high.

"I have not seen anything that would indicate there are numbers of Turkey's soldiers along the border of that size," Gates told reporters in Washington.
The Pentagon has disputed reports of increased Turkish troop levels for days. The top U.S. general, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Peter Pace, said Turkey has the capability to fight the rebels inside Iraq without boosting troop levels.
"The truth of the matter is that the Turkish armed forces on their side of the border have always had sufficient forces to be able to take actions without having to be reinforced," Pace said.
NATO-member Turkey has refused to rule out a possible cross-border operation to crush up to 4,000 Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels believed to be based in mountains in northern Iraq, despite opposition from Washington and Baghdad.
The military General Staff in Ankara was not immediately available for comment on troop numbers. It usually does not release such figures.

More

Turkey has plans to move against Iraq Kurds -Gul

Like an exhausted and broke hedge fund, that bet on the wrong sides of all markets, the Bush Administration blew it on amnesty. He has lost many of his base supporters. Why he did it at a time he needed all the support he could muster for his Iraq policies, is inexplicable. Foreign leaders, themselves politicians, have noticed and so has Turkey.

Turkey is going its own way. Turkey has concluded that Iraq will collapse when the US begins to withdraw. It is on the verge of destabilizing the most stable part of Iraq.

ANKARA, June 29 (Reuters) - Turkey has prepared detailed plans for a cross-border operation into Iraq against Kurdish rebels and will act if U.S. or Iraqi forces fail to tackle them, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was quoted as saying on Friday.

Ankara has on many occasions threatened to send troops into mainly Kurdish northern Iraq to hunt down thousands of militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who use the region as a base from which to attack targets inside Turkey.

"The military plans have been worked out in the finest detail. The government knows these plans and agrees with them," Gul told the Radikal newspaper in an interview.
"If neither the Iraqi government nor the U.S. occupying forces can do this (crush the PKK), we will take our own decision and implement it," Gul said.

Washington has urged Turkey, a NATO ally, not to enter northern Iraq, arguing such a move would destabilise one of the few relatively peaceful regions of the war-shattered country.

The United States, like Turkey, classes the PKK as a terrorist organisation. But it says its forces are too stretched battling insurgents in central Iraq.
Iraq has also warned Turkey against making an incursion.

Gul denied any difference of opinion between Turkey's government and its powerful military on northern Iraq.

"A cross-border operation is a serious issue. State institutions need to act in harmony on such issues," he said.

The head of the Turkish military repeated his call this week for permission to go into northern Iraq, saying it would not end the PKK problem but would strike a big blow against the rebels.

More than 30,000 people have been killed in fighting between Turkish security forces and the PKK since the rebels launched their armed campaign for an independent homeland in mainly Kurdish southeast Turkey in 1984.

Secularism Under Assault in Turkey.

It has been argued here and other like-minded blogs that the most welcome outcome in the conflict with radical Islam would be the triumph of secularism over theocracy. That is on the line in Turkey. What can we do, if anything, to ensure secularism succeeds in Turkey and possibly have that strengthened and spread throughout the Islamic world?

Turkish secularists in new rally BBC

Boats joined the rally alongside Izmir's seafront.

Hundreds of thousands of Turks have rallied in the city of Izmir to protest against any government plans to undermine Turkish secularism.
The major demonstration is the latest since the ruling AK Party nominated Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul as its candidate for the country's presidency.

Many Turks suspect Mr Gul of having an Islamic agenda, something he denied before withdrawing from his candidacy.

Parliamentary elections scheduled for November are now to be held in July.

The AK Party - which has roots its in political Islam - argues that a general election will only prove that it commands widespread public support.

The government has also backed a constitutional reform package that would allow the president to be directly elected by the people.

The BBC's Sarah Rainsford, in Istanbul, says an AK Party candidate would be likely to win any presidential vote.

Opposition alliances

The demonstration in Izmir - Turkey's third-largest city - was the fourth mass gathering in favour of the republic in as many weeks.

"These rallies have been useful in forcing the government to take a step back, " protester Neslihan Erkan told the Reuters news agency.

"The danger is still not over. These rallies must continue until there is no longer a threat."

Many secularists consider the government's efforts to confirm Mr Gul as president as evidence of a hidden Islamist political agenda.

Nationalist opposition parties boycotted two parliamentary votes on the issue.

They are now forming strategic alliances to try to weaken the ruling party at the upcoming elections, our correspondent adds.

The military, which regards itself as the guardian of Turkey's secularism, has also indicated its opposition to the AK Party's move.

Turkey is pivotal in the battle between secularism and Islamism

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [Atatürk](1881-1938) the founder of the Turkish Republic and its first President

Huge rally for Turkish secularism Hat tip: desert rat

The rally is being described as a huge show of force
Tens of thousands of people are rallying in Istanbul in support of secularism in Turkey, amid a row over a vote for the country's next president.
The protesters are concerned that the ruling party's candidate for the post remains loyal to his Islamic roots.

The candidate, Abdullah Gul, earlier said he would not quit despite growing criticism from opponents and the army.

Mr Gul failed to win election in a first round vote in parliament as opposition MPs boycotted the vote.

They are also challenging its validity in the Constitutional Court.

An army statement on Friday accused the government of tolerating radical Islam and vowed to defend secularism.


ABDULLAH GUL

1950: Born in Kayseri
1991: Elected to parliament for pro-Islamist Welfare Party
2001: One of founders of AK
2002-03: Prime minister
2003: Foreign minister, leading EU accession talks

Profile: Abdullah Gul

Mr Gul has steered Turkey's European Union accession talks as foreign minister and is seen as less confrontational than Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the leader of his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development (AK) party.

"The president must be loyal to secular principles. If I am elected, I will act accordingly," he said after his nomination for the presidency.

But some analysts say he is closer to his religious roots, and his wife would be the first First Lady to wear a headscarf, a deeply divisive statement in Turkey.

BBC, full story here.

Background:
Atatürk is the founder of the concept of a modern reformed Islamic state. He undertook a series of reforms to "raise Turkey to the level of modern civilization" which can be grouped under five titles. Compare that to the damage done to modernism by our dear friends the Saudis.

1. Political Reforms

• Abolishment of the office of the Sultan (November 1922)
• Proclamation of the Republic (29 October 1923)
• Abolishment of the caliph (3 March 1924)

2. Social Reforms

• Recognition of equal rights to men and women (1926 - 1934)
• Reform of Headgear and Dress (25 November 1925)
• Closure of mausoleums and dervish lodges (30 November 1925)
• Law on family names (21 June 1934)
• Abolishment of titles and by-names (26 November 1934)
• Adoption of international calendar, hours and measurements (1925 - 1931)

3. Legal Reforms

• Abolishment of the Canon Law (1924 - 1937)
• Transfer to a secular law structure by adoption of Turkish Civil Code and other laws (1924 - 1937)

4. Reforms in the fields of education and culture

• Unification of education (3 March 1924)
• Adoption of new Turkish alphabet (1 November 1928)
• Establishment of Turkish Language and History Institutions (1931 - 1932)
• Regulation of the university education (31 May 1933)
• Innovations in fine arts

5. Economic Reforms

• Abolution of tithe
• Encouragement of the farmers
• Establishment of model farms
• Establishment of industrial facilities, and putting into effect a law for Incentives for the Industry

whit's two cents:
(I was preparing a post on the same subject so I'll piggyback on Duece's post.)

I was struck this week by two related news stories which if nothing else, document the spread of the cancer that is fundamentalist Islam. The first story, the big one getting all the attention, is the Presidential race in Turkey where there is great concern in the military as well as the general public about Abdullah Gul's loyalties and priorities; If elected, will he support and promote a secular Turkey or will his Islamic beliefs cause him to take the country in a more fundamentalist direction? Two weeks ago more than than 300,000 people gathered in support of a secular Turkey. This week, the military shook things up with their announcement that they are bound to support a secular Turkey. Gul and his party, sought to assure the public that they do not seek an Islamic government. I believe that Gul's party has been moving Turkey in a more fundamentalist direction and the Turkish public has serious misgivings about his loyalty to a secular Turkey. I do too. The question is whether Gul's party can be trusted but based on recent history the answer would appear to be no. Not because their intentions are not good but because there are too many fundamentalists who have shown no compunction in reasserting control in the name of Allah. How many suicide bombings and beheadings must we witness before we decide that these people are serious about their "mission for God." In this climate, the moderates will be overcome with violence and the despotism of the zealots. Unchecked, the Islamists will reign.

BBC is reporting on the Crackdown in Iran over Dress Codes.

Thousands of Iranian women have been cautioned over their poor Islamic dress this week and several hundred arrested in the capital Tehran in the most fierce crackdown on what's known as "bad hijab" for more than a decade.

It is the talk of the town. The latest police crackdown on Islamic dress has angered many Iranians - male, female, young and old.

But Iranian TV has reported that an opinion poll conducted in Tehran found 86% of people were in favour of the crackdown - a statistic that is surprising given the strength of feeling against this move.

Police cars are stationed outside major shopping centres in Tehran.

They are stopping pedestrians and even cars - warning female drivers not to show any hair - and impounding the vehicles and arresting the women if they argue back.

Middle-aged women, foreign tourists and journalists have all been harassed, not just the young and fashionably dressed.

Overnight the standard of what is acceptable dress has slipped back.

The story went on to quote a very plucky 15-year old girl who wanted the world to know that she and her friends were being oppressed. I hate to think about all the spirit of that girl being beaten out of her as she is eventually forced to conform to the misogyny of religious thugs.

In Turkey and Iran, real, everyday people are on the front lines struggling against militant Islam and it is paramount for the west to find ways to support the people who will resist the fundamentalists. It is up to us to figure out how to best help those who are "in the trenches."

The Turkish army wants to press the Kurds.

(hattip dr and trish)
A bomb ripped through the cafeteria of Iraq's parliament at lunchtime on Thursday. It was meant to send a message that no institution, no armed real estate and no Iraqi government can protect an ordinary Iraqi. It also is obvious that it was meant to force the Iraqis to question the purpose of America being in Iraq.

An ordinary Iraqi would have to ask himself,” If America cannot protect legislators in the Green Zone, what can they do?"

A moment may soon arrive where it is every man for himself. Nothing would please al-Queda or Iran more. After four years of war and broken dreams, there is a declining US support and little enthusiasm for more of the same. It is difficult to come up with a scenario where more force can be brought to bear in Iraq from any additional US troops or any likely coalition.

Nowhere could be more volatile than in the north with the Kurds and Turkey. The Kurds may very well have decided that this may be their one opportunity to have their own state. The Turks object.

Turkish army demands incursion into Iraq
By Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara The Independent
Published: 13 April 2007

Turkey's military chief asked the government yesterday to approve an incursion into Iraq, increasing pressure on the US and Iraq to fight Kurdish guerrillas.

But military action was likely to be used only as a last resort: it would strain ties with Washington and could spark a mutiny from Kurdish lawmakers within Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's own party ahead of elections in November, analysts said.

"An operation into Iraq is necessary," General Yasar Buyukanit said, adding that his forces were fighting more than 2,000 guerrillas in the border region operating from within Turkey.

Ankara has been battling separatist Kurdish rebels in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The Turkish military recently reinforced its troops in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.

Turkey is aware of the consequences a military incursion into Iraq could have.

"There is no way that our American friends would welcome such a move by Turkey," said Ilter Turan, of Istanbul's Bilgi University. "The idea is to persuade the Americans to address the problem more urgently than they have been."

In Washington, the State Department said Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried had expressed US concerns directly to Turkish authorities.

"The way we suggest it be dealt with is to have the Iraqis and Turkish governments working together to try to eliminate this threat," spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Ankara fears Iraqi Kurds are seeking an independent Kurdish state that could encourage separatist Kurds inside Turkey. Relations with Iraqi Kurds deteriorated further this week when Masoud Barzani, leader of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, said Iraqi Kurds would retaliate for any Turkish interference by stirring up trouble in Turkey's southeast.

On Monday, Ankara demanded action against the Iraq-based guerrillas, vowing to do the job itself if Iraq was not able to. Turkey is a key trade partner of Iraqi Kurds and it could shut down the Habur border and stop electricity supplies to try and force the Iraqi Kurds into action.