[A-List] Turkey: Yassin, Water & Weapons Conduit

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     Turkey: Turkey Repudiates Israel, Rules Out Sending Troops to Georgia
      Posted on Monday, March 22 @ 21:15:00 EST by CDeliso   
        
         In a statement having somewhat ambivalent implications, Turkey has repudiated long-standing ally Israel for its assassination of Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Yassin. 

      A dawn helicopter assault on Monday morning targeted the paraplegic, wheelchair-bound Yassin as he was leaving a Gaza mosque. Six others were killed and 17 wounded. 

      While the rest of the world harshly criticized Israel, both for its policy of targeted assassinations and for the inflammatory impact the killing will have, the US was merely "troubled" by the event and reminded that Hamas was after all a terrorist organization.

      UN Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the attack as contrary to international law and harmful for the Middle East peace process. Ominously for Israel, Hamas warned that Israeli leader Ariel Sharon through the assassination had ".opened the gates of hell and nothing will stop us from cutting off his head." Yet they didn't stop with threatening Israel. Now the oversized client state whose foreign policy is increasingly inseparable from the Israeli one, America, has also been served notice:

      "'.the Zionists didn't carry out their operation without getting the consent of the terrorist American administration and it (the United States) must take responsibility for this crime,' Hamas said in a statement. 'All the Muslims of the world will be honored to join in on the retaliation for this crime.'"

      In typically flamboyant style, Sharon personally congratulated the assassins. In a grandiose comment that could have just as well been made by George Bush, Dick Cheney or Paul Wolfowitz, Sharon said, ".the war against terror has not ended and will continue day after day, everywhere."

      Most countries don't find such black-and-white stances prudent. Turkey, for example, is a Muslim country which shares borders with Iran, Iraq and Syria. Yet it is also a secular state, with a developed Western consumer society, and is actively seeking membership in the EU. The sometimes uneasy balancing act between the country's twin orientations has been exacerbated by the war with Iraq and now, by the increasingly belligerent actions of traditional ally Israel.

      According to Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül, Monday's assassination will increase the risk of retributive terrorism:

      ".we consider the attack which Israel has launched this morning very dangerous. I am very concerned about this issue. Many innocent civilians and children are also killed in such incidents. We also condemn the suicide attacks. We continue to condemn such attacks."

      Gül's lament was made especially bitter by the revelation that Turkey had warned "on a number of occasions" that Yassin would be targeted, "adding that Ankara had always viewed such an action as a threat to stability":

      ".because of this, we have said everybody should be more cautious and should avoid actions that will aggravate incidents. but, I sadly see that the attack which is launched today has become a very dangerous event."

      It's not often that Turkey criticizes Israel so harshly. They are in some ways natural allies. They have common enemies, common buffer states, formidable militaries and vast importance for the US. Not coincidentally, neocons like Richard Perle played a large part in bringing the leaders and foreign lobbies of the two countries together in the 1980's and 90's. The victory was confirmed in 1996 when the two countries signed an agreement for ".reciprocal naval visits, military academy exchanges and the use of each other's air space. Later that year a defense industry collaboration deal was established which provided for the transfer of technologies and technical collaboration."

      Turkey, which has already suffered coordinated terrorist attacks last fall, is keen to avoid provocations that could cause repeats. The relationship with Israel has had its rocky moments in the past, and the Yassin assassination may presage another one.

      Nevertheless, the two states have stepped up similar cooperation in recent months. One complex deal looks especially likely to increase Turkey's strategic regional importance. The deal would see Turkey send its outdated military hardware to its ethnic ally to the east, replacing it with new Israeli equipment. This is sure to cause concerns for another neighbor, Armenia, which has a feud of long standing with Azerbaijan concerning the contested province of Nagorno Karabakh.

      A recent report claimed that in the deal ".Israel would supply components and technology for the assembly of weapons platforms in Turkey. Turkey would then deliver the weapons to Azerbaijan."

      If successful, the cooperation could be expanded to other Central Asian and Caucasus countries. Azerbaijan already employs Israeli contractors for airport and border security systems. Now Azerbaijan is seeking military help from Israel and Turkey ".amid a deterioration in Baku's relations with Iran that stems from a dispute over the energy-rich Caspian Sea."

      Sunday night, only hours before the fateful assassination of Yassin, the Israeli Foreign Ministry warned its citizens not to travel to Turkey for Passover, for the first time putting the country on its terrorism danger list. At the same press conference where he criticized Israel's action against Hamas, Gül hit back over the travel warning. When asked for his reaction, the Foreign Minister said:

      ".that is their business. Istanbul is one of the safest places in the world. They should leave Israel. Terrorism is much more common in Israel than in Istanbul."

      This response was quite appropriate. Despite the twin terrorist attacks in Turkey's European capital last fall, Istanbul is generally speaking one of the safest cities in the world, especially after dark. The Israeli government's remarks were unhelpful, especially at a time when the Jewish state should try to avoid isolating itself further on the world stage. More immediately, Turkey has a truly vital relevance for it- as a future supplier of water. On March 4, Israel signed a "guns for water" agreement to import water from Turkey. Under the agreement,

      ".Israel will import 50 million cubic meters of water per year from Turkey for a 20-year period. The amount would constitute 3 percent of Israel's drinking-water consumption. Finding sources of water in the parched Middle East has long been a source of concern, with some experts predicting water disputes could prompt the next great Middle East war."

      There had been fierce speculation that the deal would not be signed, ".to avoid possible angry reactions from Muslim countries." Israeli objectors have also recently demanded concentrating on desalinization plants instead, which they argue is cheaper in the long-term.

      As part of the deal, Turkey will buy Israeli tanks and aerial technology. Now, bidders from 5 countries are making offers for the actual importing, pledging ".to lower the cost of transportation by 15%, which will make the deal much more economically feasible."

      In one of the chief areas where the two countries are closely associated, i.e., their allegiances to the US, a distancing is also taking place. One year ago Turkey refused American orders to open the country up as an attack route against Iraq- a rare display of democratic defiance and a move that indicated Ankara's ability to respect limits and adhere to its principles. Now, with its prime focus being EU membership, Turkey is more eager to make its own foreign policy harmonize with that of the EU, which is also distancing itself more and more from an increasingly isolated America.

      Turkey is also enjoying its increasingly important role in regional foreign policy. Ankara played the recent Georgian showdown carefully, refusing to be drawn into the fray on behalf of Adjara's separatist-minded leader, Aslan Abashidze. He recently told Interfax that Turkey was duty-bound to protect his "autonomous republic" from the Georgian central authorities under the 1921 Treaty of Kars. Georgia repudiated this as an absurd anachronistic reference, and Turkey confirmed that the Ottoman-era agreements were best left to the past:

      ".asked if Turkey could send soldiers to Adzharia within the framework of its right as the guarantor power stemming from the Kars agreement, (Turkish EU Adjustment Commission Chairman Yasar) Yakis said, 'Turkey has never had such an intention. None of 70 million Turks will think of sending soldiers to Adzharia.'"

      Instead, while meeting Saturday with Georgian Parliament Speaker Nino Burjanadze, the envoys also said that Turkey attaches ".great importance to Georgia's territorial integrity." Referring to the two nations' historic friendship, Yakis added, ".there are always steps we can take together with Georgian authorities to further improve our friendship." This weekend Yakis and former Turkish State Minister Refaeddin Sahin also held meetings in both Batumi and Tbilisi to ".exchange views about measures to be taken between two sides to prevent [the] reoccurrence of such a tension in the future."

      While the near violent showdown between Abashidze and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili seems to have been averted, the latter threatened to reintroduce sanctions Monday against Adjara, if Abashidze doesn't allow Georgian government representatives to run the region's customs operations. Adjara has a key geographic position, on the cusp of the Black Sea and the border with Turkey. Customs revenues, which Abashidze has refused to turn over to the central government in the past, provide the majority of Adjara's revenue and go towards propping up Abashidze's personal suzerainty over the area. Unrest there, such as last week's showdown, has a direct effect on Turkish transportation, shipping and local economy. Hence it remains in the country's interests to facilitate a peaceful resolution of Georgian disputes. 
     

  http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=302
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