Even before this current crisis, I’ve written about the changes in Turkey, for example here and here, and testified in Congress on the topic, here. Over the past few days, I’ve been covering the new crisis between Turkey and Israel over at Commentary’s “Contentions” blog, for example, here, here, and here.
It seems, however, that while the confluence of evidence of Turkey’s change overwhelms even former U.S. ambassadors to Turkey who normally can be relied upon to spin events in a positive direction, the Obama administration is completely oblivious and living not only in a fantasy world, but actually making matters worse. Against the backdrop of the 9/11 anniversary, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced a new counterterrorism body which the United States would co-chair with Turkey. At the same time, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu had this to say, according to the Turkish press (emphasis added):
“Israel has not yet fully understood the change in the region and has condemned itself to complete isolation,” said Davutoğlu on Sunday, referring to the Egyptian protesters’ attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday, adding that the demonstrations were not the result of Turkey’s recent actions toward Israel. “[Israel] despises and plays with the people’s honor in this region,” Davutoğlu said, adding that Turkey would continue to highlight Israel’s unlawful acts in all international platforms.
So the Obama administration encourages Israel to go to the United Nations. That body sets up the Palmer Commission to examine the law and the Mavi Marmara incident and finds in Israel’s favor. The Turkish government, which provoked the incident in the first place, throws a temper tantrum. The foreign minister promises to drag Israel through the mud in every forum and at every opportunity. So what does the State Department do? They sign off on a Hamas-supporting, virulently anti-Semitic, and anti-Israeli regime to chair a new forum from which they have already promised to bash Israel.
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I think the US and Europe have to realize that Turkey is not an ally anymore and they should ask themselves if Turkey really should remain a NATO member. The US have supported Turkey for decades and also pushed for EU membership, but I think it´s time to concede that we won´t be able to integrate Turkey, as an Islamic country, into the West.
I´m Austrian and I admire the United States, but dealing as a lawyer primarily with asylum cases, most of them from the Islamic world, I had to realize that the US (and Europe too) don´t really understand the Islamic world. The world view of the Islamic world is based almost entirely on conspiracy theories. Even for those Muslims who have been living in the West for decades and are well educated America (and Israels) are the scapegoat for everything (even tsunamis, earthquakes, aids, cancer) because even secular Muslims don´t dare to question their religion, which is actually the main root cause for the problems in the Islamic world. As long as Islam is the dominant force and there is no enlightenment in the Islamic world, the West will have a problem and the Arabic spring will probably turn into an Islamic winter. My thoughts about 9-11 and the inability of America and Europe to challenge the root causes of Islamic terror, on my blog austroamericanfriendship.wordpress.com