A Saudi-Turkish alliance against Iran?
foreignpolicy.com / Thomas Ricks
16-Mar-2010 (5 comments)


Stand back and watch John McCreary analyze a minor news event and detect the deep historical trends underlying it:

Turkey-Saudi Arabia: On 9 March, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan received the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam in Saudi Arabia, according to Turkey's state-run Anatolia news agency today.

The King Faisal International Prize is presented to scientists and others who make contributions to Islam and a positive difference in the world. At the award ceremony, Erdogan said Turkey has strived to establish peace, stability and security in the region and the world.

Comment: To recap the action, the Saudis gave the supposed leader of a secular state -- Turkey -- an award for his service to Islam. That would seem to clinch the argument in Turkey's constitutional court about Erdogan's service to Turkey's secular constitution and history. The Saudis openly encouraged Erdogan's erosion of the legacy of Ataturk.  

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Sargord Pirouz

Talk about grasping for

by Sargord Pirouz on

Talk about grasping for straws, here!

Here's what Turkey said today about Iran's nuclear rights:

//news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8570842.stm 

A more pro-Iran stance would be hard to find anywhere. 


Nur-i-Azal

Well, can you blame them?

by Nur-i-Azal on

//www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5huNgE3DIjAYW-B8dTRzBwhjqexRQ

 

Denigrating Erdogan?! Which North American Neo-Liberal Foundation trying to undermine the Turkish state do you work for?? Can you actually blame the Turkish military for being justifiably alarmed at the encroaching power of subtle Islamist discourses all throughtout the political landscape of an otherwise secular Kemalist state? If I were a Turkish general I sure would be!

You yanks have a history of flirting with these Islamists against secularist and progressive forces throughout the Islamic world. And because of this it stands to reason that an Islamist state in Turkey would actually benefit your long-term geopolitical (and specifically petroleum) interests in the region more than a strong, secular Kemalist state in Turkey presently. Your track record in undermining the secular Shah in Iran over the Ayatollah Khomeini, and then again in Afghanistan when supporting the various regional Islamist actors who went to fight against the Soviet occupation, is another sore-thumb example here!

Erdogan (and the various Islamist interests in Turkey behind him) are potential quislings to the achievements of over 80 years of Kemalist secularism in Turkey. That most of you American Neo-Liberals cannot appreciate this (or, rather, don't care), is solid testimony to the surreptitious, sinister agendas in the region which your lukewarm and transparent advocacies actually serve.

America stay out of Turkey! American Neo-Liberals go fly fluffy kites!

Ya NUR


Dan Huck

NeoCons Would Be Happier With A Military Junta Again In Turkey

by Dan Huck on

The Stratfor.com" Brief: An Award For The Turkish Prime Minister
Stratfor Today »--> March 10, 2010
Applying STRATFOR analysis to breaking news
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan returned from a visit to Saudi Arabia March 10, where a day earlier he was given the King Faisal International Prize for Service to Islam — an annual award given to individuals who make extraordinary contributions to Islam and the Muslim world at large. Receiving an award from the Saudis for his service in the cause of religion — especially at a time of heightened tensions between his ruling Islamist-rooted Justice & Development Party (AKP) and the military-led secularist establishment — will provide the AKP’s opponents with material to attempt to undermine Erdogan’s government. This highlights the dilemma of the AKP leadership as they do not want to appear as a religious force in domestic politics, yet they need to appeal to religion to further their foreign policy objectives, and increase Turkey’s leadership in the Islamic world, and its status as a growing power."
Seems to state what they appear to think is a point. To me, Stratfor's skewed analysis is belabored and transparently aimed at denigrating PM Erdogan who, frankly, should be honored more widely for his successful efforts in raising awareness in the world community over Israel's brutal attack on the Palestinians penned in the barbed-wire encircled Gaza enclave, fourteen hundred of whom they massacred mercilessly.
What did Mr. Ricks or Mr. McCleary add other than a certain cryptic unintelligibility, and hints of negativity?


Anonymous Observer

Really Obama?

by Anonymous Observer on

Tom Ricks is a "Zionist"?!!!  Do you know who this guy is?  Have you read his book "Fiasco"?  he's the one who pretty much debunked the Iraq war and embarrassed the hell out of George Bush. But now that he says something that you don't like, he's all of a sudden a "Zionist"?

Not every IRI f**k up is a "Zionist conspiracy" you know! 


obama

Non-sense article! Zionist PR campagin against iri! Divde&coquer

by obama on

who cares what he writes!