Turkey seizes 'Iranian' weapons

[Eugene]

Source: Al Jazeera

Turkey seizes 'Iranian' weapons

Turkish authorities have seized weapons hidden on a Syria-bound
train from Iran after Kurdish separatist fighters derailed it with a
bomb, a prosecutor said.

The arms were found by authorities after the attack on the train
on Friday near the town of Genc in southeastern Bingol province,
Ismail Sari said on Wednesday.

The Iranian embassy issued a statement on Wednesday denying
that the weapons belonged to Iran.

-snip-

Turkish authorities suspect Iran is using Turkey as a transit route
to send arms to Hezbollah, the Shia group in Lebanon, via Syria.

-snip-

Read more: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E87E33A0-E9FC-4724-90EC-5DA293E0F566.htm

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Related: Turkey Seizes Syria-Bound Weapons - AP

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1. Heck, maybe we can get Iran and Turkey to fight.

Then NATO can jump in and off we go ...

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2. Operation in N. Iraq: division through invasion?

A journalist close to military sources outlined Turkey’s strategic priorities as follow: to prevent the establishment of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq, keep Kirkuk out of a Kurdish federal administration and fight against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). If this analysis reflects the position of Turkish high command then the main target is not the PKK, but Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani. This explains why a parliamentary mandate is sought before launching an operation into Iraq: The military favors not a limited and surgical strike against the PKK formations in northern Iraq but wants to establish a permanent presence in the region. So what is being contemplated is not a “hot pursuit,” which has been conducted many times without a parliamentary decree, but “sending troops to a foreign country,” which requires an a priori mandate from parliament. This unspoken objective that makes the government, aware of its implications on Turkey’s foreign affairs as well as domestic politics, reluctant to take the matter to parliament.

Hawks in the security establishment and the media who advocate a war in northern Iraq are sick of democracy, human rights and law, and of an international community that constantly remind them of these values, and would put an end to all these. They are happy that the EU process is somehow halted due to the Cyprus issue, which pleasantly provoked nationalist sentiments in Turkey. Now they want to finish off the job of isolating Turkey from the world by dragging it into a war.

I should warn these hawks that what is at stake is not only Turkish democracy but its territorial integrity. An invasion into northern Iraq will trigger a process through which Turkey may be divided. If they are prepared to take responsibility for this they should go ahead, but remember how the patriotic Unionists between 1914 and 1918 broke an empire into pieces and brought the nation to the edge of total destruction.

Capitalizing on the growing wave of nationalism and anti-Americanism among the people the hawks think that the Turkish people are ripe for a confrontation with the US without calculating the cost. Sending troops to northern Iraq is also viewed as an opportunity to corner the justice and Development Party (AK Party) government in the run-up to the parliamentary elections as a party incapable of taking decisions independent of the US and incompetent in fighting terrorism.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=112435

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3. A pro-Russian Turkish general?

A retired general and former head of the National Security Council (MGK) Tuncer Kılınç, speaking at a meeting in London organized by the Kemalist Thought Association (ADD), declared that Turkey should leave NATO. He said “to emancipate us from Western hegemony and colonization Turkey should put an end to its NATO membership.” The retired general also added that the US is not Turkey’s friend or strategic ally. His speech received huge applause form the ADD crowd at the meeting.

Such a call by a Turkish general who has served at the top post of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), an armed force that has been deeply integrated into NATO structures for last 50 years, may be shocking to many. But as I wrote some two weeks ago, “it would be a mistake to assume that the military’s commitment to the Western alliance is as solid as it used to be.”

Co-speaker at the conference in which Kılınç made this remark was another retired general, ADD President Şener Eruygur. We remember Gen. Eruygur from the allegations that he was planning a coup against the government in 2004 when he was the commander of the gendarmerie.

An increasing number of critical statements have been coming from the security establishment against the West. This is certainly an important trend that is becoming increasingly visible. Given the fact that the ADD -- an NGO very popular among the retired army officers -- is now headed by a retired general, I wonder if Gen. Kılınç’s call for abandoning NATO reflects the view of a significant portion of the Turkish military. Does this call have anything to do with the claims of the Washington-based journalist Yasemin Çongar, who argued the other week that there are pro-Putin generals in the military? It is hard to believe this, but she points to the unusual practice of broadcasting the Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Munich speech challenging the US in global politics on the TSK Web site.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazarDetay.do?haberno=112681

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4. sigh---King Gorge brings nightmare to Mideast