TURKEY tr-diplomacy
Chomsky lauds Turkey's 'independent' actions
ISTANBUL – Daily News with wires | 11/3/2009 12:00:00 AM |
American intellectual Noam Chomsky has praised Turkey’s progress toward becoming a 'significant independent actor' and urged the country to make crucial decisions that will direct the course of its diplomacy.
American intellectual Noam Chomsky praised Turkey’s progress toward becoming a “significant independent actor” and urged the country to make crucial decisions that will direct the course of its diplomacy, The Palestinian Chronicle reported Tuesday.
During two lectures organized by the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, he also blamed Israel for the conflict that erupted in the Gaza Strip earlier this year, accusing the Israelis of resorting to military force before “exhausting peaceful means.”
Chomsky said that Turkey could become a "significant independent actor,” if it chooses to.
"Turkey has to make some internal decisions: Is it going to face West and try to get accepted by the European Union, or is it going to face reality and recognize that Europeans are so racist that they are never going to allow it in?" Chomsky said.
The Europeans "keep raising the barrier on Turkish entry to the EU," he explained.
But Chomsky said Turkey did become an independent actor in March 2003 when it followed its public opinion and did not take part in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Turkey took notice of the wishes of the overwhelming majority of its population, which opposed the invasion.
But “New Europe” was led by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who rejected the views of their populations – which strongly objected to the Iraq war – and preferred to follow former U.S. President George W. Bush, Chomsky said.
In that sense, Turkey was more democratic than countries that took part in the war, which in turn infuriated the United States.
Today, Chomsky added, Turkey is also acting independently by refusing to take part in U.S.-Israeli military exercises.
[HH] Goldstone report
In his speech, Chomsky also appeared to have agreed with Israel that the Goldstone report on the Gaza war was biased, only he saw it as biased in favor of Israel.
Named after former South African judge Richard Goldstone, who headed the inquiry committee, the U.N. report accuses Israel and Hamas militants of war crimes during the 22-day conflict that ended in January, killing some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. The report acknowledges Israel's right to self-defense, although it denounces the method this was conducted.
Chomsky said that the right to self-defense does not mean resorting to military force before "exhausting peaceful means," something Israel did not even contemplate doing.
On Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported that Arab delegates to the United Nations were floating a draft resolution that would require UN chief Ban Ki-moon to bring the report on the Gaza war before the Security Council.
The United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to take up the Goldstone report on Wednesday, a day after the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on a resolution calling on President Barack Obama to reject its findings.
The draft resolution circulated Monday by Arab delegates, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, said the 192-nation assembly calls on Israel and the Palestinians to undertake investigations "that are independent, credible and in conformity with international standards" into the alleged war crimes.
It also requests that Ban monitor the implementation of the draft resolution and report back to the General Assembly within three months.