Shall we mind our own security first?
A set of Turkish ministers and an army of Turkey’s top businessmen and industrialists were at the World Economic Forum at Davos, where the rich, powerful and influential go every year to discuss the world economy, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was not there to make a “One minute” interruption when Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Turkey over the weekend of funding Hamas.
Peres is the most senior active political figure in this region. Because of his background, he knows far better than anyone else what funding means for a clandestine or terrorist organization. If Peres comes up with a statement at a Davos interview on CNN International accusing Turkey, along with Iran and Qatar, of funding Hamas – which is considered by the international community as a terrorist organization but treated by the Justice and Development Party government of Ankara as a “political party,” we have to treat it with importance. According to Peres, Turkey has been providing some 300 million of Hamas’ annual 900 million-dollar budget.
In view of the hundreds of millions of dollars given by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu to Libyan “rebels” – who assumed power in Libya and have since then proven to be at least as cruel as the former Col. Gadhafi – it is indeed impossible to say Peres must have been wrong… Unfortunately, the track record of the over-confident AKP government in Turkey clearly demonstrates that such oddities can indeed happen.
Pragmatism bordering on opportunism, coupled with the shallowness of full submission to the contractor and over-confidence produced by the apparently strong economy and the electoral support from close to one in two citizens, has transformed this country into an adamant and arrogant state. It is a crime under Turkish criminal law, for example, to allow insurgent groups to gather on Turkish territory and operate against the interests of a government in a neighboring country.
Is it not sad to see the foreign minister of Turkey boasting around like that “brave gypsy” in that anecdote who “while boasting about how brave a man he is, lists his crimes?” Just the other day he was confessing that Turkey was helping out the Syrian opposition groups and that those groups were meeting in Turkey…
He did not say how many millions of dollars from Turkish coffers had been spent so far in support of the Syrian rebel groups but he disclosed in all clarity that should the United Nations Security Council listen to those rebel groups and decide to conduct an intervention in Syria, Turkey would participate in such an operation.
At least this time no Turkish leader is saying “What’s NATO doing there?” and then within days provide security for NATO to undertake some criminal operations. Instead, Turkey is prepared to actively participate in an intervention.
Well, did anyone consider for one second the probable spillover of such a development on Turkish security?
The separatist gang and its political contractors are already declaring that this spring and summer will be very hot and bloody.
Shall we mind our own security first?
