Posted on 01/05/2016 11:35:14 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
ISTANBUL — Turkey is getting ready to widen the reach of its military considerably by building a multipurpose aircraft carrier with “trans-continental†capabilities.
The 225-meter ship dubbed the Anadolu (or Anatolia), set to enter service in 2021, is designed to take fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, tanks, troops, and landing vessels to areas around the Mediterranean and as far as the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, officials say. While some analysts say Turkey needs a carrier like this, some regard the project as an expensive expression of prestige and grandeur that far exceeds the country’s limits.
The move is a sign of NATO member Turkey’s determination to become a leading power in the Middle East and beyond, an ambition that has been ruffling feathers. In a region shaken by the Syrian war, a heated row between Turkey and naval superpower Russia over the downing of a fighter jet and an increased naval presence by rival Iran to the southeast have heightened tensions even more.
Behlul Ozkan, an expert on Turkish foreign policy at Istanbul’s Marmara University, said the program to build the Anadolu was in line with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s idea of Turkey’s role in the world. “He really thinks Turkey can be an oceanic power,†Ozkan told The Daily Beast, adding that Davutoglu’s vision might be “beyond Turkey’s capabilities.†For example, the government has also set a goal for Turkey to become one of the world’s 10 biggest economies by 2023, a target that many think is hopelessly optimistic.
Ankara’s naval plans could raise the stakes in its troubled neighborhood, where Turkey has been at odds with countries like Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Egypt. That’s in addition to the conflict on Cyprus and unresolved territorial disputes in the waters of the Aegean with neighbor and NATO partner Greece.
Turkey already has a highly modern military, with more than 600,000 soldiers who form the second-largest force in NATO, with the U.S. as the biggest partner.
As a flagship of the Turkish navy, the 28,000-ton Anadolu, with a capacity of as many as 1,400 crew and troops, would be a demonstration “of the strength reached by our country’s defense industry,†Orkun Kalkavan, a manager at the Sedef Wharf in Istanbul, where the vessel is being built, told the Milliyet daily this week. The contract to build the ship was signed last year, with the Spanish company Navantia as a technological partner. Kalkavan said the Anadolu, expected to cost more than $1 billion, would be equipped for “trans-continental tasks.â€
Analysts describe the carrier as a landing platform dock, or an LPD, which is a warship used to carry troops to flashpoints and send them ashore with the help of on-board landing vessels, or a landing helicopter dock (LHD). The vessel will come with its own small fleet of F-35 fighter jets and helicopters, a hospital with at least 30 beds, and room for landing boats and other smaller crafts as well as for 13 battle tanks.
Devrim Yaylali, an expert on the Turkish navy who writes a blog on naval matters, said planning for the ship started as far back as 2006. “Large amphibious ships are the only real multipurpose ships any navy can possess and are the naval equivalent of Swiss Army knives,†Yaylali emailed in response to questions by The Daily Beast. Ships like the Anadolu could be used for force projection—“the most obvious use.†The ship could be deployed as a “mother ship for small boat operations and helicopters,†he added.
Turkey Arrests Two Prominent Journalists And Lay Espionage Charges Inform
With these new features, Turkey’s military power would grow dramatically. But the Anadolu could also help deliver humanitarian aid during a crisis or after a disaster and could be used for the “evacuation of combatants and non-combatants,†Yaylali wrote, adding that the “Turkish navy really needs these capabilities.â€
He pointed to an incident in 2011, when Turkey evacuated more than 23,000 civilians from Libya and needed many commercial planes to do it. With a ship like the Anadolu, the operation would have been much quicker and easier, he wrote.
The combination of military and civilian uses could pay off for Ankara in the future, other analysts agree.
“Maybe the ship could be deployed in NATO operations there because action by Turkey as a Muslim country would be easier to justify.†“Capabilities offered by the LPD will make it an important instrument of foreign policy that will accentuate Turkey’s soft power beyond its military prowess,†Metin Gurcan, an independent security analyst and columnist for Al-Monitor, told The Daily Beast.
Marmara’s Ozkan said one other possible use for the Anadolu could lie in deployments in crisis spots around the Middle East where Turkey’s partners in Europe and the U.S. were reluctant to intervene themselves because of anti-Western sentiments.
“Maybe the ship could be deployed in NATO operations there because action by Turkey as a Muslim country would be easier to justify,†he said. Given the instability around the region, Ozkan said he expects U.S. support for the project. “The Muslim world is in flames,†he said. “You never know what is going to happen.â€
It will liven up the party and ensure continuing balance and fairness between factions in the Middle East. Stability there is in the interest of enemies of freedom.
WWIII coming...
Turkey has opened up a base in Qatar, we’ve got one there too I think or have access to use one there.
Libya is actually a proxy war with Qatar, Turkey and Sudan vs. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Egypt according to various analysis.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/regional-powers-fight-prozy-war-libya.html
Just like giving the local chapter of the Crops and Bloods a supply of armored personnel carriers. And why? FOLLOW THE MONEY CRONY CAPITALIST CASH.
Manning the aircraft carrier with the right pilots, mechanics, and other necessary crew -- stocking the aircraft carrier with the right combat jet aircraft -- supplying and resupplying the aircraft carrier with food, fuel and munitions -- deploying the aircraft carrier for a long period of time in a remote area -- using the aircraft carrier as an effective weapon -- protecting the aircraft carrier from attack and counter attack by enemy forces -- is another thing.
If the Turks stupid enough to not realize this now, they will discover it in the near future.
I am therefore not particularly concerned by the revelation in this article.
Not to mention the cost of the fleet of F-35s and the tech needed to make deck plates resistant to extreme heat from the 35s jet exhaust (something even the US is having trouble with).
Sounds sort of like some one got a Great Idea and started to plug various pieces into it without any thought of how all of it is supposed to work and work together; probably felt really good about he whole thing, ran down to his boss and they both got excited with visions of restoring the Caliphate, ran over to Erdogan and had a party followed by a press release, and now you know the rest of the story ...
They fight side by side with christians and jews Heres a jew who joined them to fight isis 
A female jew who joined ypg to fight isis 
And we support turkey who attack the only force that has defeated isis over and over
Pictures of Ypg after sending scores of isis scum to hell Dont worry all the corpses in these pictures are of isis members The kurds kiled so many isis members here they had to export the corpses with trucks so they would not rot the whole place up 
THis is the group turkey our great ally attacks
To which I’d emphasize: That Turkish carrier will sortie only if the Israeli submarine service wants it to sortie.
Turkey.. the seat of the last caliph? Not my ally. I am not fooled by their propaganda pics.
Or they really want to play bath time with Vlad.
....well....Turkey IS where the Book of Revelation is focused......the seven churches from Revelation are ALL in Turkey. Not Rome. Not Jerusalem. Turkey.
Israel needs a few more artificial reefs off its coast...... nice of the turks to buy it for em.....
Ataturk did good things, he abolished the caliphate and tried to secularize turkey away from Islam , but like in every Muslim nation that gets democracy they always vote the most fanatic muslim they canfind (see egypt who they voted when they got democracy after the arab spring)
What did turkey do with democracy? Vote AKP a party that supports the muslim brotherhood in egypt and is lead by Erdogan who wants to turn turkey back into the stone age
Muslims needs a military dictatorship like Sisi in egypt,Atakaturk in turkey and Shah Pahlavi in Iran
All of this fear about a single ship that will be completed in 5 years? Is the sky falling chicken littles?
Is it possible that this irrational fear is misplaced? How about how many muslim babies will be spit out in 5 years in Europe and America?
We are worried about 1 ship while millions upon millions of islamic spawn will be spewing from the wombs of multi-wives to saturate our populations and destroy our way of life?
There are more important things than a ship that can be destroyed with one missile but panic exists over its completion 5 years in the future.
Total ban on muslim immgration is what needs to be done and a ban on Islam ,
Oh and its legal under usa law
“U.S. Code § 1182 - Inadmissible aliens (f)Suspension of entry or imposition of restrictions by President Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate. Whenever the Attorney General finds that a commercial airline has failed to comply with regulations of the Attorney General relating to requirements of airlines for the detection of fraudulent documents used by passengers traveling to the United States (including the training of personnel in such detection), the Attorney General may suspend the entry of some or all aliens transported to the United States by such airline.”
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