Obama warns Turkey
It's being described as an 'ultimatum,' but I think that's an exaggeration.President Obama has warned Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan that unless he shifts his positions on Israel and Iran by toning down his rhetoric over the Mavi Marmara and cooperating in the Iran sanctions regime, Congress will not approve the sale of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV's or drones) that Turkey wants to buy.
Mr Obama’s warning to Recep Tayyip Erdogan is particularly significant as Ankara wants to buy American drone aircraft – such as the missile-bearing Reaper – to attack the Kurdish separatist PKK after the US military pulls out of Iraq at the end of 2011.Let's get this straight. Obama is willing to sell drones to Turkey which would be used against Iraqi Kurds who - as far as we can tell - have not yet attacked Turkey, despite the fact that we have seen evidence that Turkey used chemical weapons against its own Kurds. And the only reason this might not happen is because Congress may turn down the weapons sale because Erdogan has been acting against US interests in Israel and Iran?
The PKK has traditionally maintained bases in the remote mountains in the north of Iraq, near the Turkish border.
One senior administration official said: “The president has said to Erdogan that some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised on the Hill [Congress] . . . about whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally. That means that some of the requests Turkey has made of us, for example in providing some of the weaponry that it would like to fight the PKK, will be harder for us to move through Congress.”
Something really smells rotten here. Congress should block that drone sale regardless of whether Turkey gets its behavior in order regarding the Mavi Marmara and the Iran sanctions (which I don't expect them to do anyway and which I don't believe would last for the long term anyway).
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:31 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Carl.
Is this not a bit of an "Empty" warning?Israel sold Turkey drone aircraft,wich Turkey has started to produce themselves by now,so i don't see the pressure in his statement.But it's good of you to point out it will be used against the Kurds.
"Let's get this straight. Obama is willing to sell drones to Turkey which would be used against Iraqi Kurds who....
Oh hold your horses Carl. Angst of Obama selling drones to Turkey to use against Kurds is as disingenuous as the silence when our former President ignored the Kurdish problem and allowed our "good friends and allies in the war on terror" Egypt and Jordan to get away with sending in insurgents (who killed our boys and made the war all the tougher) all through the Iraq war who btw did very horrible things to the Iraqi Kurds...lol, and with the help of Turkey. (drones or no drones) All of a sudden since a black closet Islamist, liberal dem is president everyone is NOW CONCERNED WITH THE KURDS a decades old matter the conservatives and democrats have not given two hoots about for political reasons. The plight of the Kurds is stained on the hands of every U.S president since Woodrow Wilson broached the subject of Kurdish Statehood. Futhermore, the problem of Kurds has been made worse by the Iraq war and turning an even further blind eye to their plight!! The idea Turkey is NOW,out of the clear blue skygetting away with murder and that Obama's warnings appear to ring hollow is nothing more than hypocritical hyperbole.
Can't have it both ways, INDEED! You bet your life you can't and even when the shoe is on the other foot! Let's call a spade a spade if the real interest in winning the war on terror is truly an urgent matter.
Scroll past this post if you want as you say you do but not one word is nothing but the truth.
Obama is coming under pressure due to the mid-terms and wants to avoid being perceived as anti-Israel and anti-Western. Which of course has been his foreign policy for two years now. And the Democrats are not faring too good at all with the GOP having a hefty generic ballot lead two months before November.
Heh
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