Turkish opposition no better than the AKP
The leader of Turkey's Kemalist opposition party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has announced that his party is opposed to NATO stationing x-band radar on Turkish soil, calling the radar an '
Israel shield' (Hat Tip:
Joshua I).
“The CHP [Republican People’s Party] is opposed to the idea of an ‘Israel Shield,’ which will be established only to protect the benefits of Israel,” Kılıçdaroğlu wrote on Monday on his official Twitter account.
The main opposition leader also said his party has launched a nationwide protest campaign against the radar base.
A memorandum of understanding signed last week by Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and U.S. Ambassador to Ankara Francis J. Ricciardone earlier this month envisions the deployment of a U.S. AN/TPY-2 (X-band) early warning radar system at a military installation at Kürecik in the eastern province of Malatya as part of the NATO missile-defense project.
As part of the project, missile shield interceptors and their launching system will be deployed in Romanian and Polish territory, in 2015 and 2018, respectively.
Of course, one cannot expect the Obama administration to try to bring the Turks into line. After all, they're a sovereign country....
Labels: Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Turkish obsession with Israel, x-band radar
Turkish opposition leader blasts Erdogan over Israel
Turkish Opposition Leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu blasted Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to downgrade relations with Israel, calling the decision '
pointless.'
"No good can come of it and there is no need for us to risk our interest with petty actions," he told the Turkish news agency on Sunday.
Turkey's decision, which included expelling the Israeli ambassador to Ankara and suspending military contracts, was in response to the UN's Palmer Report, which it dubbed as biased.
Kilicdaroglu agreed with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu that the Palmer Report was damaging to Turkey, but insisted that downgrading diplomatic relations with Israel would only work against Turkey.
Kilicdaroglu defined the UN-commissioned report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid as an "impediment" to Ankara, adding that he was more concerned with the overall tone implied by the report, which he said was "negative towards Turkey," and less with its overall conclusions.
"There was a Turkish delegate on the Palmer commission, but I guess his minority opinion was not expected," Kilicdaroglu said. "Turkey should have known this could happen. It you forge ahead without assessing the situation properly, you hit these kinds of walls. We have to find a way around this now."
The leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP) has so far refrained from joining others in his government who were quick to bash Israel over the report.
By expelling the Israeli ambassador and downgrading the diplomatic relations between the two countries, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's has effectively painted himself into a corner, Kilicdaroglu explained.
"This is a blow to our foreign policy and no one wanted to see this happen. What's the use? Tomorrow Israel will claim that the UN has sided with it on the Gaza blockade. Who brought about the (raid's) results? The Marmara. We should have thought about that in advance. There was no need to risk Turkey's interests like that," he concluded.
Indeed. But Erdogan and Davutoglu are too busy throwing a temper tantrum to notice.
Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish obsession with Israel
The leader of Turkey's Kemalist opposition party, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, has announced that his party is opposed to NATO stationing x-band radar on Turkish soil, calling the radar an 'Israel shield' (Hat Tip: Joshua I). 
