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Qatar and Turkey: Toxic Allies in the Gulf

August 28, 2018 By administrator

Qatar and Turkey: Toxic Allies

by Richard Miniter,

Questions began with the arrest of Andrew Brunson, an American-born Christian pastor who has lived in Turkey for 23 years without incident. Then, on October 7, 2016 Brunson and his wife Norine were seized as alleged coup plotters. Norine was released after being held for 13 days, without any charges being filed. Andrew Brunson has remained in detention since 2016 and the charges, when they finally appeared, were numerous and impossible to believe. Example: Brunson is a part of Mormon-inspired CIA plot to topple Turkey’s elected government. (Brunson is not Mormon and has no known CIA connections.) If convicted, he faces up to 35 years in prison.

  • Why not consider expanding the US deployment at Al-Dhafra airbase in the United Arab Emirates as a replacement for the airbases used by the US in Qatar and Turkey, if the UAE accept the idea?
  • If one nation is able to defy or undermine U.S. policy while still pocketing the benefits of America’s friendship, many others may follow Qatar’s example. Why should other Arab nations endure domestic criticism, for supporting America’s war on terror if they can subvert America but still enjoy America’s military protection and their access to the world’s largest market?

Turkey revealed its true intentions when it offered to exchange Brunson for Fethullah Gülen, a self-exiled Turkish Islamic cleric who lives in Pennsylvania. The Turkish government believes that Gülen and his alleged “Fethullah Gülen Terror Organization” are behind the July 2016 alleged attempted “coup” against the Turkish government. Dissidents maintain that the “coup” was manufactured to give the elected Islamist government cover to purge pro-secular senior military officers, opposition politicians and critical journalists. For more than a decade, Turkish politics has been roiled by a debate about undoing many of secular traditions and laws enacted at the founding of modern Turkey in the 1920s, but now moving toward a more Islamic model that is friendlier to Iran’s Islamic dictatorship and less so toward the US and the EU. Brunson apparently became a pawn in a larger chess game.

Enter President Donald J. Trump, who has publicly called for Brunson’s release while privately rejecting the idea of turning over Gülen, a legal U.S. resident, to a foreign court system unlikely to give him a fair trial in a charged political environment. Next, Trump piled on economic sanctions to try to spring the jailed American pastor.

Those sanctions have gravely wounded Turkey’s weakening economy, but not weakened its resolve. Turkey’s currency registered a 40% drop against the U.S. dollar this year. Foreign direct investment into Turkey has also slowed significantly this year. Still, its government has stayed the course and refused to free Brunson. Indeed, it upped the ante: Turkey’s leader called on his followers to boycott iPhones and other iconic American products.

Remember, Turkey is a NATO ally of the United States and the second-largest contributor of troops to that vital alliance. It is also home to key U.S. air bases, including Incirlik, a massive complex near Adana housing some 5,000 US airmen.

As U.S. sanctions tightened, another U.S. ally, Qatar, intervened. Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani pledged to invest $15 billion in the Turkish economy during a recent visit — and plainly declared that the point of the investment was to blunt the force of U.S. sanctions. With friends like these…

It is worth taking a closer look at America’s putative ally, Qatar. It is also home to a major US air base at Al Udeid, from which American warplanes bomb the Taliban, ISIS and elements of Al Qaeda.

Yet Qatar funds some of the same groups that America bombs. The gas-rich peninsula channels money to Al Nusra, a Syria-based affiliate of al Qaeda. It had funded Taliban leaders in the run-up to the September 11 attacks and, just a few years ago, reportedly paid some $1 billion to Iran-backed terrorists to ransom captives held in Iraq and Syria.

Qatar funds still other groups that kills Americans. Qatar’s emir has publicly and proudly announced his financial support for Hamas, which has been officially designated as a “terrorist organization” by the U.S. and the E.U. and Israel. Also, let us not forget the hundreds of millions of dollars that Qatar gives to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the gateway organization for almost every Sunni jihadi terrorist band in the Middle East. Al Qaeda’s current leader, Dr. Ayman al Zawahiri, began his extremist journey in a Brotherhood chapter in Egypt, as did September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in its Kuwait branch. The onetime head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was indoctrinated in the Brotherhood’s Jordan offshoot.

The emir has also welcomed Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual guide, to live in Qatar, as well as various senior Hamas officials.

Al Jazeera, Qatar’s state-run broadcaster, frequently lionizes these groups, giving them air time to legitimize their murderous views toward Israel and America as well as their Arab neighbors.

Add to that, Qatar’s alleged hacking of U.S. citizens (including former Republican National Committee finance chairman Elliott Broidy) and distributing their private emails to journalists, according to U.S. court filings.

In addition, Qatar’s funding of lobbyists (at some $100,000 per month) who are close to the current chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and that committee’s ranking Democrat.

Senator Ted Cruz’s former deputy chief of staff, Nick Muzin, pulled down $300,000 per month from Qatar, according to Reuters.

Finally, Qatar has drawn close to America’s biggest regional rival, Iran. It shares the vast offshore Pars gas field with the Islamic Republic — providing a river of money to the very nation that America suspects of building nuclear weapons and the long-range missiles to carry them to U.S. bases in the Middle East and Europe.

US Representative Ted Budd, a member of the Financial Services Committee and its Terrorism and Illicit Finance Subcommittee, in an essential article, states:

“Iran’s continued support of the Hezbollah terrorist organization with both financial and political assistance, as well as weapons and tactical training, deserves close examination. Western diplomats and Lebanese analysts estimate that Iranian financial support for Hezbollah averages around $100 million each year, sometimes reaching amounts closer to a quarter of a billion dollars…All of these activities pose a direct threat to U.S. security interests, contribute to the prolonging of conflicts across the Middle East, and pose threats to our key allies in the region.”

Taken together, the pattern is clear. Far from faithfully supporting current U.S. policy, Qatar is using every means at its disposal to subvert or alter it. Its slap-in-face funding of Turkey, while a US citizen is held captive there, is simply the latest example of the behavior of Qatar, supposedly a US ally.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Qatar, Toxic Allies, Turkey

Saudi Arabia plans maritime border to turn Qatar into island: Report

April 7, 2018 By administrator

Saudi Arabia turn Qatar into island

Saudi Arabia turn Qatar into island

Amid its bitter diplomatic standoff with Doha, Saudi Arabia is reportedly working on a project to construct a maritime channel along the border with Qatar, practically turning the peninsula into an island.

Saudi daily Sabq reported on Thursday that the Saudi plan is yet to receive official approval.

A consortium of nine local firms is involved in the construction of the waterway that extends from Saudi Arabia’s Salwa region to Qatar’s Khawr Al-Udayd inlet, the report said.

The channel, which is capable of handling all kinds of vessels, is 60 kilometers long, 200 meters wide and between 15-20 meters deep, it added.

The preliminary cost of the maritime channel is projected as nearly 2.8 billion Saudi riyals ($750m). Its construction is also expected to take 12 months.

Meanwhile, a one kilometer stretch of land in the Saudi territory north of the channel would become a “military zone,” according to the report.

It further claimed that the project is meant to activate tourism in the region, with the construction of five hotels and two new harbors along the waterway.

However, observers say it is part of the Riyadh regime’s attempts to further isolate Qatar.

Social media users took to Twitter to criticize the Saudi plan, with the Arabic hashtag #SalwaMaritimeChannel being the number-one trending topic in both Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Last June, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the UAE imposed a land, naval and air blockade on import-dependent Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism, an allegation strongly denied by Doha.

The Saudi-led quartet presented Qatar with a list of demands and gave it an ultimatum to comply with them or face consequences.

Doha, however, refused to meet the demands and stressed that it would not abandon its independent foreign policy.

US, UAE ‘pushing for Persian Gulf unity’

The controversial Saudi plan comes amid claims by the US and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that they are working on a rapprochement between the Persian Gulf Arab countries.

The White House said in a statement that US President Donald Trump and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed had agreed on regional unity during a phone conversation.

The two leaders agreed that members of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) “can and should do more to increase coordination with each other and with the United States,” the statement read.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: island, Qatar, Saudi Arabia

Turkish Invasion of Arab Countries expend, Turkey deploys more troops in Qatar

December 27, 2017 By administrator

A group of Turkish troops have been deployed to a military base in Qatar amid the diplomatic crisis between Doha and a Saudi-led quartet of Arab countries.

The Turkish troops arrived at Al Udeid Air Base in southern Doha on Tuesday, Turkey’s Daily Sabah cited Qatar’s Defense Ministry as saying.

The soldiers will join another group of Turkish troops, which were previously stationed in the Tariq bin Ziyad military base in Qatar.

The deployment is part of a 2014 defense deal between Turkey and Qatar for establishment of a Turkish military base in the Persian Gulf kingdom.

The first group of Turkish troops arrived in Qatar in June and staged their first drill at Tariq bin Ziyad military base.

Turkey has sided with Qatar since Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Doha on June 5, accusing the kingdom of sponsoring terrorism and destabilizing the region.

The four countries have also imposed a series of economic sanctions against Doha while barring Qatari aircraft from using their airspace. Qatar’s only land border with Saudi Arabia has also been blocked as a result.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Qatar, Turkey troop

Steve Bannon: Turkey is more Dangerous than Iran

October 29, 2017 By administrator

Los Angeles – Daphne Barak
He is the scariest name in the US politics (and overseas) these days…

New political candidates are lining up, trying to land a photo op with him, if not a full endorsement.

Incumbents – on the other hand – are trying not to irritate the man, who has declared WAR on many of them except for Senator Ted Cruz and on the Republican National Committee.

So here is what Bannon is thinking about the topics which matter;

“THE PAINFUL TRUTH ABOUT N. KOREA”

Bannon shocked many, when he said to a reporter that – despite his then boss, Trump’s threats – there is not really a military option about North Korea, without killing, “ten million people in Seoul in the first 30 minutes of any US military attack …”

Many believe that, that was the last straw, which caused him to be ousted from the White House.

Bannon doubles down on his infamous remark by now.

I ask if he stands by, “They got us…?”

He says shortly: “No military solution” for the North Korean crisis.

But he is aiming towards, at least two “more dangerous situations, people should pay attention to…”

“MOST DANGEROUS – TURKEY”

“Turkey is the biggest danger for us (US)!” He tells us with conviction. “No, not even close to (its neighbor) Iran…” He waves his hand in total rejection.

“No! We don’t read well what is going on in Turkey right now, under (President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan!! This is an issue I am going to pursue hard.”

“THE MUST ISOLATION OF QATAR”

Bannon simply loves to declare a new war. In fact – when he was fired from the White House, it took, a senior editor of Breitbart, seconds to tweet #WAR.

His next global war – he shares with a smile – is against Qatar.

“I credit Donald Trump on the measures taken against Qatar by the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The boycott happened shortly after the (Trump) visit to Saudi Arabia, just like that…”

According to Bannon, Trump said that he backed Saudi Arabia’s stance even if he recently said he wanted to mediate this dispute.

Bannon added: “Qatar is as dangerous as North Korea! People should pay attention to this important situation.” He was referring to accusations against Qatar of backing extremist and terrorist groups.

Source: https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1066421/steve-bannon-turkey-more-dangerous-iran

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Qatar, Steve Bannon, Turkey

Turkey flexing military muscle in Qatar while U.S. Russia squabble

July 25, 2017 By administrator

Turkey flexing military powerBy Metin Gurcan

One of the key agenda items during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s July 23-24 visits to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar is Turkey’s continued military presence in Qatar. A Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries that cut ties with Qatar in early June is demanding, among a dozen other things, that Turkey close its base there.

Doha and Ankara firmly rejected the demand as “infringement of sovereign rights.” Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in his July 21 address to the nation, praised Turkey’s stand in the Gulf crisis, saying, “We express our gratitude to Turkey for rapidly implementing our cooperation agreement and meeting our basic needs.”

Qatar is suffering under sanctions by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt, which have restricted Qatar by air, land and sea, charging that the country supports terrorists, which Qatar denies.

In my June 12 Al-Monitor article, “Turkish military will protect Qatari regime if necessary,” I emphasized that for Erdogan, the survival of the Qatari regime and the personal fate of Al Thani — who had given Erdogan the strongest support against a failed military uprising a year ago — are vital matters. This is one reason why Ankara is determined to expand its military-strategic partnership with Qatar.

The number of Turkish soldiers at what is called the “joint tactical division headquarters” in Doha has reached 300. There is a company from the 2nd Commando Brigade, one mechanized infantry company from the 5th Corps and two 155 mm howitzers. It is now a battalion-level task force.

According to security sources speaking to Al-Monitor in Ankara, the Turkish presence in Qatar is expected in 2018 to become a brigade-level task force of about 3,000 strong. The Turkish base will have its own naval port and a runway initially for its drones and then for military flights. It is likely that by the end of 2018, there will be Turkish naval elements patrolling the Gulf and Turkish drones and airborne early warning and control system planes flying reconnaissance over Qatari airspace and the Gulf.

According to military analyst Can Kasapoglu, the deployment of 3,000 Turkish troops will equal nearly one-third of the entire active Qatari military. Thus, within the confines of bilateral agreements between Ankara and Doha, the base could play a major role in Qatar’s defense planning, as well as in the emir’s regional affairs agenda.

“Forward deployments in Qatar are likely to bring more competition and strain to the Turkish-UAE relations. Nevertheless, as long as Ankara can compartmentalize its relations with the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council], first and foremost with Saudi Arabia, a political dispute with the UAE would be manageable,” Kasapoglu said in a July analysis for the Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies.

According to the analysis, currently, Turkey has a military presence in:

  • Somalia, for partner capacity-building, foreign internal defense missions and humanitarian assistance. Turkey is building a base there that, when completed, will be its biggest base abroad.
  • Qatar, for assisting with security, building alliances and power projection.
  • Northern Iraq, for counterterror operations, special reconnaissance, and training and equipping missions.
  • Northern Syria’s Jarablus/al-Bab/al-Rai triangle, for counterterror, special reconnaissance, and training and equipping missions.
  • Kabul, Afghanistan, for a peacekeeping mission.
  • Northern Cyprus, with a corps-size military force for collective defense, international obligations and power projection.
  • Azerbaijan, with military bases for alliance-building and foreign internal defense missions.
  • Lebanon, where a naval element serves the UN Interim Force.

It’s no secret that Turkey has been discussing potential military bases in Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. Sources in Ankara have acknowledged that discussions with Saudi Arabia about setting up a base there in the Shiite-populated south and another as a naval sea port have been interrupted because of the Qatar crisis. Many wonder if these two projects in Saudi Arabia will come up during Erdogan’s visit there.

Within three years, Turkey plans to complete the Turkish Coast Guard Anadolu amphibious assault ship and light aircraft carrier. The ship is slated to carry up to 10 F-35B jets that the Turkish navy is planning to deploy in 2021, and new additions to the Turkish Armed Forces’ inventory of CH-47 multipurpose and T-29 ATAK assault helicopters — along with a fully equipped marine battalion to secure beachheads. The project will be a major force multiplier for Turkey in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Many people have also noted Erdogan’s statement that Turkey is among 10 countries that can build warships, and that it is now determined to build its own aircraft carrier.

With all these foreign policy moves and plans, Turkey has been gradually militarizing its foreign policy from soft power to hard power.

Between 2006 and 2011, with a foreign policy shaped by then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his team, Turkey acknowledged that its value in world politics was predicated on its geo-strategic location, historical depth and soft power.

In 2016, after Davutoglu gave up his premiership, and security risks grew primarily in Iraq and Syria, a new foreign policy gained prominence: respond effectively, proactively and assertively to security risks and challenges through hard power.

Fuat Keyman, the director of the Istanbul Policy Center think tank and a professor of international relations at Sabanci University, defined this new paradigm as “moral realism.”

Moral realism “combines hard power-based military assertiveness and humanitarian norms, in addition to new capacity- and strategy-based parameters,” he said.

Turkey’s military is pleased to project regional hard power as a replacement to civilian diplomacy and alliance building. Among the military branches, the naval command has overtaken the army and air force in roles and missions in this new paradigm. That may explain the increasing visibility, especially of naval officers, when Turkish officials visit foreign decision-makers.

A more “muscular” foreign policy also has the domestic benefits of repairing the civilian-military relations that were seriously damaged with the July 15 coup attempt and encouraging the two sectors to work together. Other segments that are benefiting considerably are the defense industry and military technology.

The somber, rocky relations between the military and civilian sectors in Ankara — over the military education system, promotions and appointments, and power relations between the Turkish General Staff and the Ministry of Defense and among the service commands — have spilled over to shaping and implementing foreign policy, the defense industry and military technologies. Smoothing the relations between two prime sectors of the country by resorting to hard policy in foreign relations is welcome news to a polarized public.

Metin Gurcan

Metin Gurcan is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse. He served in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Iraq as a Turkish military adviser from 2002-2008. Resigned from the military, he is now an Istanbul-based independent security analyst. Gurcan

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: flexing, military, Qatar, Turkey

German milk cows arrive in Qatar as Saudi boycott continues

July 12, 2017 By administrator

German milk cows arrive in Qatar as Saudi boycott continuesGerman cows have been flown into Qatar to be milked as Saudi Arabia’s blockade of its neighbor continues. The country plans to fly in more cows from the United States and Australia.

Importers delivered 165 Holstein dairy cows – the first of 4,000 bovines set for shipment to Qatar – late Tuesday. Originally from Germany, the cows arrived from Budapest, where they had previously been milked, a spokesman for the Baladna agricultural company told the German press agency dpa.

The company transported the cows from the airport in Qatar’s capital, Doha, to a purpose-built dairy farm that has capacity for 4,000 animals. The Baladna spokesman said the company would import the next group of cows as soon as the next few days and that the dairy cow imports would come from Germany, Australia and the United States.

Last month, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates launched a boycott of Qatar, accusing the country of supporting terrorism and criticizing its ties to Iran, forcing the Persian Gulf emirate to seek new trade routes. In order to supply the population with dairy, which had previously come from Saudi Arabia, Qatar had begun importing products from Turkey.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in the Middle East in an effort to end the dispute. On Tuesday, he said Qatar’s government had been “reasonable.”

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: german, milk cows, Qatar, saudi

Terrorist State of Turkey rejects demands to close its military base in Qatar

June 23, 2017 By administrator

Turkey military base in QatarTurkey has rejected the demands of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain to close the Turkish military base in Qatar. Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik noted that he had not seen the call, but made it clear that Ankara did not intend to revise the agreement with Qatar, which led to the creation of the base, Reuters reported.

His comments followed after four Arab states send Doha a list of 13 demands, including the closure of the Turkish base.

“If there is such a demand, it will mean interference in bilateral ties,” Isik said, suggesting instead that Turkey might continue to bolster its presence in Qatar.

According to him, the presence of Turkey in Qatar should be considered as an advantage for the entire Persian Gulf.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: military base, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey

Erdogan tones down rhetoric in light of Qatar’s fate

June 21, 2017 By administrator

erdogan, qatar, washington

A poster displayed at a news conference shows four members of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security detail who have been criminally charged following a May incident in Washington, DC, in which they allegedly attacked protesters during Erdogan’s visit. Image uploaded June 15, 2017. (photo by Twitter/@DionNissenbaum)

By Pinar Tremblay,

Will Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ever be welcome in Washington again? Many US legislators would like to think he wouldn’t dare come back after the horrid events of May 16, when his security detail attacked peaceful protesters.

Just days later, a bipartisan House resolution was introduced to condemn Turkey and ask for the perpetrators to be prosecuted. Dana Rohrabacher, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee for Europe, said Erdogan “is an enemy of everything we stand for. … More importantly, he is an enemy of his own people.” These are some of the strongest words of public criticism Erdogan has received from an American lawmaker. In early June, the measure asking that those involved in the Washington mayhem be brought to justice was accepted by a 397-0 vote.

Two powerful members of the Senate also voiced sharp bipartisan criticism of the incident. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John McCain, R-Ariz., in a May 18 letter told Erdogan that his staff had blatantly violated American freedoms and that the “affront … reflects poorly on your government.” McCain chairs the Armed Services Committee, and Feinstein is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee.

On June 15, Washington law enforcement officials announced criminal charges had been filed and arrest warrants issued for 12 members of the detail. Though the guards had already returned to Turkey and it’s unlikely they will ever stand trial, media coverage of their photographs with the word “Wanted” at the top sent shock waves to Turks. Most Turkish media outlets were not quite sure whether to publish the news or ignore it.

Erdogan promptly lashed out at the US justice system, asking, “What kind of law is this?” He claimed the protesters were terrorists — members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Gulen movement — and were demonstrating only about 50 yards from him, yet the US police did not act. Erdogan said, “If these bodyguards would not protect me, why am I taking them with me to the US?”

Erdogan sees any protest as a direct attack on himself, hence his justification of his bodyguards’ physical assaults on peaceful protesters. Anyone in any location who dares protest against Erdogan is seen as an imminent threat — a terrorist who needs to be eliminated.

Yet Erdogan’s fluency in anger didn’t pack much of a punch in this case. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson shared a clear and strong message backing up the bipartisan House resolution and the actions of Washington law enforcement agencies. Although the United States has not expelled the Turkish ambassador and is well aware that the 12 bodyguards won’t be extradited, its strong message has been sent and received.

On June 16, a rather mellow and patient Erdogan gave an interview to a Portuguese TV channel in which he said Turkey is ready to do whatever it takes to be accepted into the European Union. He clearly and repeatedly stated that the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda are terror organizations. So what led to this calmer and compromising Erdogan? It seems the Gulf crisis, in which many countries cut ties June 5 with Turkish ally Qatar, has been quite effective in curbing Erdogan’s anger and serving as a wake-up call for different groups in Turkey. Could the same thing happen to Ankara?

For decades, members of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) along with affluent businessmen operated under the assumption that Turkey is deeply integrated into the West and there is too much money invested to isolate the country.

Al-Monitor has interviewed business elites in the past two years about Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war. The majority were confident that as a NATO member, Turkey need not worry that it might be accused of being a state sponsor of terror. However, since the Qatari crisis began, concern has risen. The thunderbolt sanctions imposed on Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorist networks — which it denies — was a shock for Turks. One businessman told Al-Monitor, “For the first time, I realized that what can be done to Qatar in a day would destroy my family’s businesses overnight” if it happened in Turkey. “I need to secure my assets before it is too late.”

Indeed, Turkey has been associated with Qatar for a while. For example, in 2014, the US Congress held hearings into Hamas’ benefactors in which Qatar and Turkey were named as the group’s two main financiers.

Over the years, Turkish involvement with questionable armed groups in Syria has also been raised by different sources. Several firsthand testimonies blamed Erdogan directly for aiding terrorist entities in Syria and even providing weapons to unvetted groups. Jailed Al-Monitor columnist Kadri Gursel, for example, wrote about these charges multiple times. Now there is a lawmaker, Enis Berberoglu, in jail for publicizing the scandal involving the National Intelligence Organization transporting weapons to Syria.

Also, Turkey’s government has been criticized for punishing left-leaning and peaceful Islamist groups more brutally than those with open links to IS and other armed terror networks.

The Saudi-led coalition’s strong reaction against Qatar grabbed the attention of Erdogan and the secular business elite in Turkey. The fear that Turkey could be the next to come under fire has been voiced not only in Turkish media but also in The Wall Street Journal, which explains Erdogan’s personal stake in the issue.

The anxiety indeed runs deeper than so far acknowledged, and it connects to whether the United States will officially declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terror organization. Some senior AKP bureaucrats known for their history of open and friendly relations with all Muslim Brotherhood chapters now respond angrily to any implication that the AKP is associated with the Brotherhood. Two tweets from a pro-Erdogan journalist who mostly writes for English-speaking audiences provide an example. In one tweet is a picture of Erdogan raising four fingers, a symbol of the Brotherhood and its support of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. In the other tweet is the journalist’s desperate claim that the AKP’s organic connection to the Brotherhood is just a myth. Given the rising international pressure, we can expect to see pro-Erdogan media struggling to distance themselves from the Brotherhood.

One prominent Islamist, who asked to remain anonymous, told Al-Monitor, “We do not forget how Erdogan disowned the [victims of the] Mavi Marmara [the flotilla to break the Gaza embargo in 2010] and turned against them in 2016. Most Islamists in Turkey never even consider armed struggle against the state, so it is easy to discard us when the going gets tough. However, now Erdogan is dealing with different groups. Some of these groups have become militaristic due to their involvement in Syria. Can they be disowned as easily?”

US President Donald Trump initially supported the Saudi-led coalition’s actions against Qatar, and he immediately became the target of outsized Turkish anger, with Erdogan bashing him to express support for Qatar while trying to avoid offending Saudi Arabia. Trump quickly backed off his statements for unrelated reasons, however, and the United States even agreed June 14 to sell F-15 jets to Qatar. Now, with Qatari officials making statements to the international press about the United States, such as “Our militaries are like brothers,” it is understandable that Erdogan would quiet his criticism of the United States and initiate a campaign to distance himself from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Indeed, Turkey was left standing alone and now realizes that the cost of all future angry outbursts will be higher both domestically and internationally. Erdogan’s next trip to the United States, whenever or if ever that might be, could be most interesting to watch after all.

Tremblay is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse and a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is a columnist for Turkish news outlet T24. Her articles have appeared in Time, New

 

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Crime, Erdogan, Qatar, Washington

Iraqi VP Ayad Allawi accuses Qatar of promoting plan to split Iraq

June 18, 2017 By administrator

allawi accuses qatarCAIRO,— Qatar promoted a plan to split Iraq along sectarian lines, Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi said on Saturday, voicing support for the isolation of Doha by some Arab states.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have broken off ties and imposed sanctions on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism and courting regional rival Iran – allegations Doha denies.

Allawi is a secular Shi’ite politician who has some support within Iraq’s Sunni community.

Abadi has refused to take sides officially in the Gulf Arab rift but criticized the sanctions imposed on Qatar, saying they hurt the population, not the Qatari government.

The prime minister belongs to the Dawa party, which traditionally has close ties to Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional foe.

“In Iraq, Qatar adopted a project similar to that of Iran; to split Iraq into a Sunni region in exchange for a Shi’ite region,” Allawi told a news conference in Cairo. “Unfortunately, some Arab states were silent when it came to Qatar.”

Allawi was in Cairo to meet Egyptian leaders including President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for discussions about oil and the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya.

“It is time we all spoke honestly and made things clear (to the Qataris) so we can reach some results,” Allawi said. “After that confrontation, comes reconciliation.”

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: accuses, allawi, Qatar

Qatar crisis opens gates of anti-Trumpism in Turkey

June 15, 2017 By administrator

Qatar crisis opens gates of anti-Trumpism

US President Donald Trump listens to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as they give statements to reporters in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Washington, May 16, 2017. (photo by REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

By Pinar Tremblay,

The election of US President Donald Trump was neither a surprise nor an unpleasant event for Islamists in Turkey. To the contrary, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were making extra efforts to cheer for their newly elected American colleague. Erdogan’s 22-minute March meeting with Trump, despite being a fiasco on multiple fronts, was portrayed as the beginning of an affectionate personal relationship. Pro-AKP media refrained from using negative language against Trump.

However, the tide took a stark turn with the Qatar crisis. As several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, Erdogan decided Turkey would stand with Qatar. Pro-AKP trolls took social media by storm with their #TurkiyeKatarKardestir (Turkey and Qatar Are Brothers) hashtag.

As AKP trolls and newspapers were trying to figure out how best to rally public support for Turkish deployment of troops in defense of Qatar, their mobilized reactions provide us clues about Erdogan’s future plans.

A crucial common point in Erdogan’s speeches and pro-AKP columnists and social media trolls is to refrain from directly criticizing Saudi Arabia. If you follow the Qatar crisis exclusively on pro-AKP media outlets, you may not even be aware of the fact that Saudi Arabia is the main interlocutor in all this. Rather, you are made to believe the problem is the United States — more specifically, Trump.

At the start of the Qatar crisis, the government-paid troll army and media immediately branded the crisis as a US attack on the Muslim Brotherhood. Gates of anti-Trumpism in Turkey are now open, and Trump-bashing is increasingly becoming popular. Not only Islamists but also leftist groups find comfort and joy in blaming the United States for all things wrong in the Middle East. Here are some examples from the media:

On June 6, Trump’s tweets on Saudi Arabia’s and other Arab states’ decision to target Qatar made the waves on Turkish social media. Milliyet reported these tweets by saying, “Now it is revealed who pressed the button. Trump targeted Qatar.”

Several examples of anti-Trump statements dominated the media on June 9.

For instance, a headline from the pro-AKP daily Takvim read, “Trump’s scandal declaration about Qatar.” The story continued with anti-American statements, such as “The United States, known well for its support of terrorism, continues its two-faced declarations.”

The Star Daily, whose owner is now a member of the AKP’s top decision-making unit, had on its first page Trump’s notorious globe photo with the Saudi king and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The title said, “We cracked that globe.” The subtitle read, “Erdogan broke the siege of Qatar through intense phone diplomacy, opposition to the sanctions, accepting the visit of the Iranian minister, passing the legislation to send troops to Qatar and sending food aid.”

Yusuf Kaplan, a provocative Yeni Safak columnist, listed earth-shattering US goals such as getting Muslims to destroy each other, cutting off communication between different Islamist movements and replacing Muslim states with city-states. Kaplan concluded that to defend Islam, one cannot stay silent against the attack on Qatar.

On June 11, Ferhat Unlu, a columnist for Sabah Daily, titled his piece “Trump’s sword dance with the deep state.” Unlu claimed the United States is controlling the Gulen movement and that the new director of the FBI would be pro-Gulen.

One of Yeni Akit’s prominent writers, Ali Karahasanoglu, urged the government to cut off all relations with the United States because it was providing weapons to the Kurdish groups in northern Syria. The piece was published almost a month after Trump’s announcement to arm the Kurds and a few days after the Qatar crisis.

Yeni Safak on June 14 referred to the United States as the “Gangster United States.” The columnist, Tamer Kormaz, referred to Trump as “the enemy of Islam,” which is posted in bold letters. On June 6, the same columnist penned a piece titled the “US is not our ally, but our enemy,” and throughout the piece the United States is referred to as the “engineer of terror” with the “US flag symbolizing terrorism.” It reads, “Behind the July 15 Gulen coup attempt is NATO and the US.”

There were dozens of tweets about Trump’s invitation extended to the Qatari emir as being a setup or a trap, congratulating the emir for his refusal to go. The common theme in all of these columns, reports and social media posts was that the United States is the culprit of all the troubles in the Muslim world, and that it supports terror and cannot be trusted. Several tweets alleged that the purpose of the United States was not to end terror but to get money from Qatar.

Why is the crisis between Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) being presented in such a light while any direct criticism or even mention of Saudi Arabia is so diligently omitted? One of the reasons is the possibility that Erdogan could flip-flop on his promise in his savvy way, as he has done with other cases. Whomever Erdogan calls his brother could potentially become a threat — Fethullah Gulen and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are prime examples. Knowing well that Saudis will not tolerate any sort of demeaning and belittling allegations, Erdogan — who is ever so fluent in anger — is now urging Saudi Arabia to act as an older brother. Trying and failing utterly to act as the mediator, Erdogan has referred the crisis to the Saudi king and asked him to act as the peacemaker, referring to him as the “elder of the Gulf.”

Another possible reason is that Turks really do not know the differences between the GCC states. For example, although protests are banned under emergency law, a group of pro-AKP protesters marched in Taksim Square at the heart of Istanbul with bright, red-colored Bahraini flags in solidarity with Qatar. Yet they were under the assumption that they were displaying the Qatari flag, which is burgundy and white. Although Turkey has developed rather complex relations with Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia due to the lack of transparency, the Turkish public is not aware of how the UAE and Saudi Arabia have become challenges for Turkey over the last couple of years. Now, slowly, the Turkish media are portraying Qatar as a friend who stood by Erdogan during the July 15 coup attempt, while the UAE is likely to be one of the forces behind the attempt against Erdogan. Yet Turkey refrains from targeting the Saudis.

At this point, the United States presents itself as the easy target. With already skyrocketing levels of anti-Americanism in Turkey, it is not difficult to put all the blame on the United States to rally the public. The interesting observation here is how fast pro-AKP figures went from applauding and cheering Trump to scapegoating him. Trump-bashing is seen as a lower-cost activity than criticizing the Saudi king in Turkey. Yet the unknown here rests with Trump: Will he tolerate the increasing Turkish hatred and wild criticism?

Correction: (June 15, 2017): An earlier version of this article misstated Ali Karahasanoglu’s affiliation. He writes for Yeni Akit, not Yeni Safak.

Tremblay is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse and a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is a columnist for Turkish news outlet T24. Her articles have appeared in Time, New

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Qatar, Trump, Turkey

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