Turkey, from Ally to Enemy (educational, eye-opening, must read)

Traveling abroad on his first trip as president, Barack Obama tacked a visit to Turkey onto the tail end of a trip to Europe. "Some people have asked me if I chose to continue my travels to Ankara and Istanbul to send a message," he told the Turkish Parliament. "My answer is simple: Evet [yes]. Turkey is a critical ally." On the same visit, however, the president showed that he considered Turkey more firmly part of the Islamic world than of Europe. "I want to make sure that we end before the call to prayer, so we have about half an hour," Obama told a town hall in Istanbul. Obama was not simply demonstrating cultural sensitivity. The fact is that Turkey has changed. Gone, and gone permanently, is secular Turkey, a unique Muslim country that straddled East and West and that even maintained a cooperative relationship with Israel. Today Turkey is an Islamic republic whose government saw fit to facilitate the May 31 flotilla raid on Israel's blockade of Gaza. Turkey is now more aligned to Iran than to the democracies of Europe. Whereas Iran's Islamic revolution shocked the world with its suddenness in 1979, Turkey's Islamic revolution has been so slow and deliberate as to pass almost unnoticed. Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Turkey is a reality—and a danger.

The story of Turkey's Islamic revolution is illuminating. It is the story of a charismatic leader with a methodical plan to unravel a system, a politician cynically using democracy to pursue autocracy, Arab donors understanding the power of the purse, Western political correctness blinding officials to the Islamist agenda, and American diplomats seemingly more concerned with their post-retirement pocketbooks than with U.S. national security. For Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, it is a dream come true. For the next generation of American presidents, diplomats, and generals, it is a disaster.

-Excerpt-

“Turkey today is an Islamic republic in all but name. Washington, its European allies, and Jerusalem must now come to terms with Turkey as a potential enemy. Alas, even if the AKP were to exit the Turkish stage tomorrow, the changes Erdogan’s party have made appear irreversible. While Turkey was for more than half a century a buffer between Middle Eastern extremism and European liberalism, today it has become an enabler of extremism and an enemy of liberalism. Rather than fight terrorists, Turkey embraces them. Today’s rhetorical support may become tomorrow’s material support. On the world stage, too, Turkey is a problem. Rather than help diffuse Iran’s nuclear program, Erdogan encourages it.

Turkey’s anti-Americanism, its dictatorship, and the inability of Western officials to acknowledge reality endanger security. Hard choices lay ahead: as a NATO member, Turkey is privy to U.S. weaponry, tactics, and intelligence. Any provision of assistance to Turkey today, however, could be akin to transferring it to Hamas, Sudan, or Iran. Does President Obama really want to deliver the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to a hostile Turkey, Iran’s chief regional defender, as promised in 2014? Should Turkey even remain in NATO? “

This is why he was in Turkey and it has nothing to do with US interests :

APRIL 6 & 7, 2009 : (TURKEY : SCHEDULED DATE OF OBAMA ATTENDANCE AT ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS MEETING IN INSTANBUL ----See FRAMEWORK OF THE U.N."ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS", OIC, ARAB LEAGUE, ETC...) The Alliance has to date acquired a "group of friends" consisting of 99 members. Along with various sovereign states, these "friends" include the Organization of the Islamic Conference (or OIC), the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (set up by the OIC), the Arab League, plus the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization. There is no representation from Israel.
This is the U.N.-fostered outfit providing the framework Obama, the American commander-in-chief, will dignify with his presence at its April 6 and 7 meeting in Istanbul. There are many ways one might describe this Alliance: An Iran-spawned Islamic-themed club; another U.N. exercise in equating the desires of despotic regimes with the principles of free societies; a curious vehicle for U.N. officials with odd spots in their past; a diplomatic bordello providing dark nooks for backroom deals. But an alliance of civilizations it is not.
----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

MARCH 2009 : ( THE ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS - FORMERLY THE DIALOGUE OF CIVILIZATIONS , FAVORS A GLOBAL GAG ON FREE SPEECH IN DEFERENCE TO ISLAMIC ANTI-BLASPHEMY "LAWS"-- See CREEPING SHARIAH) And in the four years since it morphed into existence as the latest phase of the Iranian-sponsored Dialogue, the Alliance has become another megaphone for some of the U.N.'s most troubling campaigns. In deference to Islamic anti-blasphemy laws, the Alliance favors a global gag on free speech. ----- "Freedom's Edge: The U.N.'s 'Alliance of Civilizations'," BY Claudia Rosett, 03.26.09, 12:01 AM EST VIA FORBES, http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/25/alliance-of-civilizations-opinions-columnists-obama-un.html

My note: The Alliance of Civilizations backs ASMA, the organization founded by the Ground Zero Cordoba mosque imam.

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