TURKEY LOST TO THE WEST: THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS SCOOPS INSTAPUNDIT AND RCW BY MONTHS

• UPDATED: POWER LINE DAYS AFTER US TOO; WE ARE THE EFFIN BEST!

• REALLY. WE LINK TO MORE EMERGING STORIES F-I-R-S-T - BEFORE ANYONE ELSE DOES.

INSTAPUNDIT:

HOW TURKEY was lost to the West. “Once the apotheosis of a pro-Western, dependable Muslim democracy, this week Turkey officially left the Western alliance and became a full member of the Iranian axis.”

Posted at 8:40 am by Glenn Reynolds

GLICK/RCW:

TURKEY'S BREAK with the West; its decisive rupture with Israel and its opposition to the US in Iraq and Iran was predictable. Militant Islam of the AKP variety has been enjoying growing popularity and support throughout Turkey for many years. The endemic corruption of Turkey's traditional secular leaders increased the Islamists' popularity. Given this domestic Turkish reality, it is possible that Erdogan and his fellow Islamists' rise to power was simply a matter of time.

... The Bush administration ignored the warnings of secular Turkish leaders in the country's media, military and diplomatic corps that Erdogan was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Rather than pay attention to his past attempts to undermine Turkey's secular, pro-Western character and treat him with a modicum of suspicion, after the AKP electoral victory in 2002 the Bush administration upheld the AKP and Erdogan as paragons of Islamist moderation and proof positive that the US and the West have no problem with political Islam. Erdogan's softly peddled but remorselessly consolidated Islamism was embraced by senior American officials intent on reducing democracy to a synonym for elections rather than acknowledging that democracy is only meaningful as a system of laws and practices that engender liberal egalitarianism.

In a very real sense, the Bush administration's willingness to be taken in by Erdogan paved the way for its decision in 2005 to pressure Israel to allow Hamas to participate in the Palestinian elections and to coerce Egypt into allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to participate in its parliamentary poll.

...Turkey is lost and we'd better make our peace with this devastating fact. But if we learn its lessons, we can craft policies that check the dangers that Turkey projects and prepare for the day when Turkey may decide that it wishes to return to the Western fold.

TAB - 3 DAYS AGO:

TALKING TURKEY: IT'S TIME WE ACCEPTED THE TRUTH ABOUT TURKEY AND KICKED THEM OUT OF NATO

TURKEY IS BECOMING AN ADVERSARY OF IRAQ'S AND AN ALLY OF SYRIA (MORE HERE) - WHILE MOVING AWAY FROM NATO AND ISRAEL.
THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH TURKEY IS THAT IT'S NOW RUN BY ISLAMISTS.

NOT ONLY SHOULD WE OPPOSE TURKEY'S ENTRANCE TO THE EU, WE SHOULD KICK TURKEY OUT OF NATO.

TAB 4 DAYS AGO:

TURKEY-ISRAEL SPLIT WORSENS; TURKEY-SYRIAN ALLIANCE GROWS

TURKEY - WHICH RENEGED ON HELPING THE USA JUST BEFORE THE IRAQ WAR - IS DRIFTING FURTHER AWAY FROM THE WEST AND TOWARDS THE UMMAH:

Less than a week after Turkey informed Israel that it was unwelcome in the Anatolian Eagle military exercise, 10 Turkish ministers are scheduled to travel to Syria on Tuesday to take part in a meeting of the newly formed Turkey-Syria High Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

TURKEY IS AS GOOD AN ALLY AS PAKISTAN - AND THAT'S NOT SAYING MUCH.

I WOULDN'T TRUST EITHER AS FAR AS I COULD THROW A PIANO.

TAB 5 MONTHS AGO:

MOOKIE WENT TO TURKEY AND MET WITH GUL AND ERDOGAN!

FP:

We haven't heard much lately from Moqtada al-Sadr, the erstwhile leader of the Sadrist movement and the Jaysh al-Mahdi who is reportedly living in Iran. Sadr has not been officially been seen in public since June of 2007, and last appeared on the media in al-Jazeera interview in May 2008. So it is a bit of a surprise to see him suddenly appear in Turkey for two days of talks. What's he up to?

According to Turkish reports, Sadr met with Prime Minister Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul, along with other Turkish officials.

THIS IS A BAD DEVELOPMENT:

• MOOKIE'S HIGH STATUS ON THIS VISIT IS TROUBLE FOR IRAQ'S FUTURE.

  • AND THE FACT THAT ERDOGAN ROLLED OUT THE RED CARPET PROVES THAT HE AND HIS AKP ARE A REAL ISLAMIST MOVEMENT AND NOT TO BE TRUSTED:

• TURKEY SHOULD BE EXPELLED FROM NATO AND KEPT OUT OF THE EU.

TAB 6 MOTNHS AGO:

MORE PROOF TURKEY IS DRIFTING INTO THE AXIS OF EVIL: HOLDS JOINT MILITARY OPERATIONS WITH SYRIA

DAILY STAR/AP:

The Turkish military said it launched a joint drill with Syrian soldiers on their shared border Monday in order to improve security. Israel, an ally of Turkey and a longtime foe of Syria, expressed concern.

TURKEY IS NOT ONLY GRADUALLY BECOMING MORE ISLAMICIZED, IT'S BECOMING ANOTHER PAKISTAN.

THIS IS BAD FOR NATO, ISRAEL, THE EU AND THE USA.

IT SENDS A NASTY MESSAGE TO LEBANON, TOO.

THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS HAS FOLLOWED TURKEY'S SPLIT FROM THE WEST FROM THE START, AND WAS OUT IN FROM ON THE ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY.

BEFORE ANYONE ELSE - ANYWHERE.

REGULAR READERS KNOW THE HAPPENS ALL; THE TIME.

SPREAD THE WORD.

FOR THE WEST'S MUTUAL SAFETY AND SECURITY: TURKEY NO LONGER BELONGS IN NATO

SEE CAPTION:

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, left, talks to his Turkish counterpart, Vecdi Gonul, at NATO headquarters in Brussels one day after the U.N. vote on Iranian sanctions, which Turkey opposed. (Carolyn Kaster / Pool Photo / June 10, 2010)

ALLOWING TURKEY TO REMAIN IN NATO IS INSANE:

TURKEY IS PRIVY TO THE ALLIANCE'S PLANS AND CAN - AND PROBABLY DOES - SHARE THEM WITH IRAN AND SYRIA AND HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH --- WHICH MEANS AL QAEDA HAS THEM,TOO.

KEEPING TURKEY ION NATO IS INSANE. IT'S LIKE CALLING ISLAM A "RELIGION OF PEACE" - IT'S NUTTY AND A FAILING STRATEGY.

ANOTHER THING IS NUTS:

WHILE AT THE NATO MEETINGS, GATES ARGUED THAT TURKEY'S SHIFT TOWARD THE AXIS OF EVIL WAS EUROPE'S FAULT!!!!

AFP:

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday he was "disappointed" that Turkey voted against imposing UN sanctions on Iran, but acknowledged allies sometimes disagree.

"I was disappointed by the Turkey vote on the Iranian sanctions," Gates told a news conference after a meeting of NATO defence ministers, including Turkey's representative.

"That said, Turkey is a decades long ally of the US and a member of NATO. Turkey continues to play a critical part in the alliance," he said.

Gates said Washington had "strong" defence ties with Ankara as well as military bases on Turkish territory.

"Allies don't always agree on things. But I think we move forward from here, and we'll just do that," he said.

Turkey, along with Brazil, voted against fresh sanctions against Iran, which the UN Security Council adopted on Wednesday.

Ankara argued that Tehran should be given a chance to carry out a nuclear fuel swap deal, brokered by Turkey and Brazil last month.

Gates on Wednesday blasted the European Union over its treatment of Turkey, saying the EU's reluctant stance towards possible Turkish membership was a factor behind Ankara's perceived foreign policy shift away from the West.

BLAMING EUROPE FOR TURKEY'S MOVE EAST IS INSANE!

IT'S LIKE BLAMING THE BATTERED WIFE FOR THE BATTERING HER HUBBY DOLES OUT ON HER FACE!

• TURKEY IS RUN BY THE AKP - A SELF-DESCRIBED ISLAMIST PARTY.

• SIDING WITH IRAN IS WHAT ISLAMISTS DO.

• IT'S NOT A REACTION TO ANYTHING WE DO; IT'S WHAT ISLAMISTS DO: SIDE WITH EACH OTHER AGAINST INFIDELS!

GATES HAS BEEN TRULY AWFUL. AND YET: HE'S THE BEST THING ABOUT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION!

UGH!

JUST AS I PREDICTED: ISLAMIST TURKEY GETTING READY TO EXPLOIT FLOTILLA

REUTERS:

Turkey, Israel's strongest Muslim friend in the region, summoned Israel's ambassador and said it would recall its own.

"This action, totally contrary to the principles of international law, is inhumane state terrorism. Nobody should think we will keep quiet in the face of this," Erdogan told reporters from Chile, where he was cutting short an official visit to Latin America to deal with the crisis.

NYTIMES:

The Israeli commando raid Monday on an aid flotilla, which left at least nine people dead, has dragged relations between Israel and Turkey to a new low, political experts here say, threatening to derail diplomatic relations between two close American allies.

Turkey, a NATO member, has long been Israel’s closest friend in the Muslim world, with $3 billion in trade and strong ties between the countries’ militaries and governments. But relations began to deteriorate during Israel’s war in Gaza, when Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, publicly sparred with Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Monday’s raid prompted street protests in Turkey and a strong official reaction, with Ankara recalling its ambassador from Israel, summoning Israel’s ambassador and canceling planned joint military exercises. That was enough to raise alarms among analysts here, who said it could seriously jeopardize already battered diplomatic relations between the countries.

“This will be perceived as a kind of declaration of war on Turkey,” said Cengiz Candar, a columnist for Radikal, a Turkish daily. “Political dialogue will cease. It’s not possible to contain the deterioration in relations anymore.”

REPEAT: “This will be perceived as a kind of declaration of war on Turkey,”

REPEAT: “This will be perceived as a kind of declaration of war on Turkey,”

THIS WAS THE WHOLE POINT - AS I PREDICTED LAST WEEK.

AND OBAMA WAS PART OF THE PLOT.

MORE FROM THE NYTIMES:

Asli Aydintasbas, a columnist at the Turkish Daily Milliyet, argues that the episode was a dramatic failure in diplomacy, for both the United States and Turkey. The new foreign policy pursued by Turkey’s government has given it a confidence that sometimes results in overreaching. For example, Turkey believed it could change Israeli policies towards Gaza.

“This was a disaster waiting to happen,” said Ms. Aydintasbas. “Both Turkish and American officials could have stopped the boats from moving forward. It’s clear they didn’t try hard enough.”

DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH?!?

THAT IS O SO SO SOOOOOOOOOO FUHREEEKIN' NAIVE.

THE FLOTILLA AND THE INEVITABLE IDF RESPONSE AND THE PREDICTABLE EXPLOITATION OF THAT RESPONSE BY THE ISLAMISTS AND THE LEFT AND THE MSM AND THE "INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY" (BOLSTERED BY OBAMA) WAS THE PLAN (A PLAN PROBABLY HATCHED UP BY AYERS AND CODE PINK AND OBAMA), NOT THE FAILURE OF PLANNING!

IOW: NOT A BUG, A FEATURE:

• BOTH ERDOGAN AND OBAMA WANT ISRAEL DESTROYED.

• THE FLOTILLA WAS TIMED TO COME A WEEK AFTER THE NPT AGREEMENT ISOLATING ISRAEL AND THE DAY BEFORE A VISIT TO DC BY BIBI.

• NEITHER THE TIMING OF THE NPT DEAL OR BIBI'S INVITE COULD BE DONE WITHOUT THE USA'S AGREEMENT - MEANING OBAMA WAS EXPLICITLY INVOLVED.

I THINK ERDOGAN WILL ORDER THE PURGED TURKISH MILITARY TO ACCOMPANY ANOTHER TURKISH "AID" SHIP TO GAZA AND THEN ENGAGE THE IDF AT SEA, AND THEN INVOKE NATO'S ARTICLE 5. I PREDICTED THIS ON 5/26/10.

EITHER NATO JOINS ATTACKING ISRAEL OR NATO IS DESTROYED. DESTROYING NATO HELPS RUSSIA AND THE TALIBAN AND AL QAEDA.

STAY TUNED...

(MORE ON ANTI-WEST ANTI-NATO ISLAMIST TURKEY HERE.)

PROOF TURKEY IS PART OF THE AXIS OF EVIL: ERDOGAN WANTS TO VISIT GAZA, AND SEND THE TURKISH NAVY TO ACCOMPANY THE NEXT FLOTILLA

HOT AIR:

Ynet

The next provocation: Turkish PM wants to visit Gaza

The newspaper said that “as part of the open conflict between Turkey and Israel following the massacre against the ‘freedom sail’ to Gaza and the protest sparked in the world, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan is considering going to Gaza himself in order to break the blockade imposed on the Strip.”…

According to the report, Erdogan told the American administration he was planning to ask his navy to escort another aid flotilla,

IT'S NO ACCIDENT THIS COMES RIGHT AFTER TURKEY CAME TO IRAN'S RESCUE.

TURKEY IS HELPING HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH AND IRAN.

BY HELPING IRAN, TURKEY IS UNDERMINING THE EU, NATO AND ISRAEL AND THE USA.

IT'S NO COINCIDENCE THAT ERDOGAN'S TURKEY DENIED THE USA USE OF TURKEY DURING THE IRAQ WEAR INVASION.

NOW, BY THREATENING TO SEND THE TURKISH NAVY TO ACCOMPANY THE NEXT FLOTILLA, ERDOGAN IS THREATENING ISRAEL WITH NOT ONLY A WAR WITH TURKEY, BUT ONE WITH NATO IF TURKISH NAVY ENGAGES THE IDF AND THEN INVOKES NATO'S ARTICLE 5.

(I BELIEVE THIS HAS BEEN TURKLEY'S AND IRAN'S STRATEGY FROM THE START AND HAVE POSTED THIS FOR WEEKS.)

IT'S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO CONCLUDE THAT TURKEY UNDER ERDOGAN IS PART OF THE JIHADIST AXIS; THEREFORE:

• TURKEY SHOULD BE EXPELLED FROM NATO AT ONCE.
• KEEPING THEM IN NATO MEANS OUR ENEMIES ARE PRIVY TO OUR DEFENSES.
• IT'S INSANE TO KEEP TURKEY IN NATO.
• AND DANGEROUS.
• IT MAKES US LESS SAFE.

TURKEY: NON-JUDEO-CHRISTIAN; NON-WESTERN; NON-EUROPEAN AND NOT A GOOD ALLY

The Dem anti-Armenian Genocide Resolution was a bad idea.

It was hatched by the traitorous Dems to hurt Bush and our allies in the Iraq War.

But in ridiculing the traitorous Dems for this little bit of treachery we should keep in mind that Turkey has been a lousy ally - one we should get tougher with, if not abandon.

The Turks prevented us from using our airbases there for troops deployments before the Iraq War, and this was a huge blow to our war plans and war efforts. NYTIMES:

Turkish Parliament Refuses to Accept G.I.'s in Blow to Bush
By Dexter Filkins
New York Times

Saturday 01 March 2003

ANKARA, Turkey, March 1 - The Turkish Parliament today dealt a major setback to the Bush administration's plans for a northern front against Iraq, narrowly rejecting a measure that would have allowed thousands of American combat troops to use the country as a base for an attack.

That was done by newly elected Erdogan and Gul - the same islamists calling the shots today.

Many analysts say this move by Turkey helped create or strengthen the insurgency because we couldn't smash the enemy between the anvil and the hammer. The troops coming from Turkey were going to be the hammer, but Turkey vetoed that and the hammer was never brought down on the enemy as a result.

And since then they've continued to be very uncooperative - and they've been messing with the Kurds. The Kurds have been better allies than the Turks - we should reward our good allies and chastise our bad ones.

There are now reports that Turkey is aligning itself with IRAN in order to defeat the PKK. This is bad for us and our allies in Iraq.

The Turks have been no better than Putin - which is to say they have not been good allies at all.

On top of these un-allylike moves on their part, they have continuously demonstrated a few hallmarks of islamism: thin-skin and hypocrisy.

Why do the Turks care what resolutions get passed in Congress!? BECAUSE THEY ARE MUSLIMS - and Muslims are generally intolerant and use they have repeatedly and publicly used violence and the threats of violence to foster dhimmitude. Muslims don't want to let non-Muslims draw pictures of Mohammed, or call genocide genocide. Well, I say "EFF YOU; WE WILL CALL A SPADE A SPADE." When we cannot speak the truth to our allies then they are not allies.

That's why I think we should (a) move our bases and relocate them to friendlier European nations like Bulgaria - where we have a burgeoning base in Bezmer. And we can new build bases in Iraq and in Central Asia.

We shouldn't keep troops in Germany or Turkey - it's so WW3/Cold War/yesterday.

And we should (b) make sure that Turkey doesn't get into the EU. I agree woith Sarkozy: Turkey doesn't belong in the EU because they are not IN Europe and not OF Europe.

And we should (c) throw them out of NATO.

In a war between Kurds and Turks we should be able to side with the Kurds, but NATO prevents that by tying our hands to the member state.

So we should throw Turkey out.

WW4 is a war in defense of the West. Turkey has chosen NOT to be a good ally of the West. We should treat them that way.

BOTTOM-LINE: I liked Bush most when he told the world that you are either with us or against us.

Turkey has shown that since 2003 - and the ascent of Erdogan and Gul and the islamicists - that they are NOT with us.

It's time to jettison them.

NOTE: Musharraf has been a much better ally than Turkey; he's actually deployed troops and jets in WW4 and killed thousands of the enemy. If Turkey wants the perks of NATO membership - and membership in the West, then Turkey has to be at least as good an ally as Pakistan. That's NOT asking too much.

TURKISH FM MAKES A REVEALING FREUDIAN SLIP: CALLS FLOTILLA RAID "TURKEY'S 9/11"

TURKEY'S FM CALLED THE FLOTILLA RAID "TURKEY'S 9/11".

FORGET THE RIDICULOUS HYPERBOLE.

WHAT'S TELLING ABOUT THIS IS HOW IT RELATES TO WHAT I'VE SAID FOR WEEKS IS TURKEY'S STRATEGY AND THEIR MOTIVATION FOR TAKING PART IN FLOTILLA.

• AFTER 9/11 THE USA INVOKED NATO'S ARTICLE 5 - FORCING NATO TO PARTICIPATE IN THE AFGHAN WAR, WHERE THEY ARE FIGHTING THE ENEMY TO THIS DAY.

• BY COMPARING THE FLOTILLA RAID TO 9/11 THE TURKISH FM, HAS REVEALED THAT TURKEY INTENDS ON INVOKING ARTICLE 5 AND EITHER FORCING NATO TO ATTACK ISRAEL OR IN EFFECT DISBAND.

AND ANOTHER THING NO ONE ELSE HAS SAID:

IF WE HAD A TRULY PRO-ISRAEL AND A PRO-WEST ADMINISTRATION - WHICH WANTED TO DEFEAT THE ISLAMIST ENEMY - THEN THIS FLOTILLA COULD BE MADE TO BACKFIRE ON THE TURKS:

• THIS FLOTILLA PROVES THAT THE ISLAMIST GOVERNMENT OF TURKEY - ERDOGAN AND GUL AND THEIR AKP - IS ACTUALLY COOPERATING WITH IHH - WHICH IS AN ORGANIZATION ALLIED TO AL QAEDA.

• THIS MAKES TURKEY ALLIED TO AL QAEDA.

• AND ... THIS MEANS WE CAN FORCE NATO TO ATTACK TURKEY.

I THINK THERE SHOULD BE AN INTERNATIONAL INVESTIGATION OF THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT TO SEE IF THEY ARE COOPERATING WITH AL QAEDA.

I THINK THEY ARE - JUST LIKE THEIR ALLY IRAN.

• WHICH MEANS WE SHOULD KICK TURKEY OUT OF NATO
• AND HAVE SANCTIONS AGAINST THEM -
• AND STOP RUSSIA FROM BUILDING TURKEY NUCLEAR REACTORS; (RIGHT NOW THEY PLAN ON BUILDING THE TURKS SEVERAL).

TOO BAD FOR THE FREE WORLD OBAMA IS EITHER AN APPEASER OF ISLAMISM OR A CRYPTO-MUSLIM.

UPDATED!: IT'S TIME TO EXPEL TURKEY FROM NATO

SCROLL DOWN FOR IMPORTANT UPDATES!

ERDOGAN CALLED ISRAEL A THREAT TO WORLD PEACE:

Until recently, Turkey had been a solid ally of Israel's from the Muslim world. However, Ankara has taken a stance against Israel over last year's war in the Gaza Strip, leading to a deterioration of ties.

"Is the Israeli government in favor of peace or not?" Erdogan said. "Gaza was bombed again yesterday. Why?... There were no rocket attacks."

Erdogan was referring to an Israel Air Force strike Sunday on a rocket-launching ground in central Gaza, where three Islamic Jihad militants posing to fire at Israel were killed. Approximately four mortar shells were also fired from Gaza toward the western Negev on Sunday.

UPDATE: Turkey also airs TV shows which would make Hitler and Nasrallah happy.

FRANCE RECALLED ITS AMBASSADOR.

WHAT WILL OBAMA DO?

PROBABLY SAY ERDGONA'S SPEECH AND THE TV SHOW ARE JUST WORDS.

UPDATE #2: Gaza rocket hits Israel for fifth consecutive day

A Qassam rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip struck the Western Negev on Monday, a day after an Israel Air Force assault killed three Islamic Jihad men posed at a launching ground in the coastal territory.

There were no casualties or damages reported in the incident Monday. Israeli security forces were summoned to the area to identify the location of the rocket.

The IAF strike Sunday came hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed a "powerful response" to recent rocket and mortar shell attacks from the coastal territory. The strike targeted a cell as its members, which included a senior Jihad field commander, were launching rockets at Israel.

Four mortar shells were also fired at Israel from Gaza on Sunday, but they exploded on the Palestinian side of the border.

Addressing an increase of rocket fire into Israel from Gaza, Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday advised Gaza's Hamas rulers to "watch their step, and not to cry crocodile tears if they force [Israel] to take action."

ERDOGAN IS WRONG ABOUT WHETHER THERE HAVE BEEN ROCKET ATTACKS, THE IDF, AND WRONG ABOUT ISRAEL'S RIGHT OF SELF-DEFENSE.

ERDOGAN IS AN ISLAMIST WHO HAS TAKEN TURKEY OUT OF THE WEST AND PLANTED IT FIRMLY IN THE ENEMY CAMP.

• ERDOGAN IS AN ISLAMIST WHO HAS TAKEN TURKEY OUT OF THE WEST AND PLANTED IT FIRMLY IN THE ENEMY CAMP.

• ERDOGAN IS AN ISLAMIST WHO HAS TAKEN TURKEY OUT OF THE WEST AND PLANTED IT FIRMLY IN THE ENEMY CAMP.

THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF AN ISLAMIST TURKEY MORE ALIGNED TO IRAN THAN NATO IS A THREAT TO NATO AND OUR MUTUAL SECURITY.

UPDATE#3:

Turkish PM awarded King Faisal Int''l Prize

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was awarded on Monday with the King Faisal International Prize for his service to Islam for the year 2010, while four other scholars won the prize for their studies in various domains.

UPDATE#4: TURKEY REJOINING THE UMMAH:

Ankara will send foreign staffers to work in border regions before they take office in an effort to remove diplomatic walls, the Turkish foreign minister said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the government is embarking on a new campaign of diplomacy aimed at shoring up relations with neighboring countries, Turkish daily Today's Zaman reports.

The minister said diplomats would be assigned to work in provinces neighboring Iraq, Syria and Bulgaria before taking office in order to make sure envoys understand bilateral issues at a local level.

"There will be no more borders or walls," he said. "Of course this doesn't mean the border between the two countries will be removed. What we mean is that we are people that have ties that transcend the borders."

RE: BULGARIA:

Bulgaria PM Boyko Borisov has stated that ethnic Turkish DPS party leader Ahmed Dogan will try to use ethnic tensions to hit his center-right GERB government.

“I have always pointed at Dogan as a strong political opponent as he is most able to use ethnic tensions and economic lobbies with enormous financial capital masked as firms to hit us badly,” Borisov told bTV.

Borisov predicted that there maybe social protests organized by Dogan in February/March when the financial crisis is at its worst; “They will try to destabilize – of course with the help of Yane Yanev.”

Borisov’s comments follow former Deputy Chair of the ethnic Turkish DPS party Osman Oktay’s recent statement that Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) party leader, Dogan, is preparing social protests to destabilize Bulgaria.

TURKEY IS NO LONGER AN ALLY OF THE WEST.

THE CONTINUED PRESENCE OF AN ISLAMIST TURKEY MORE ALIGNED TO IRAN THAN NATO IS A THREAT TO NATO AND OUR MUTUAL SECURITY.

TURKEY WANTS A BACKSTAGE ROLE IN NATO

Turkey, already a facilitator of Islamofascism, is seeking to meddle in NATO affairs:

Turkey is the big Muslim power that sits atop raging conflicts in Iraq and Syria, so it might be expected to take a leading role in the NATO coalition announced this month to take on the Islamic State group.

Instead it has told allies that it will stay quietly behind the scenes, keeping its soldiers out of combat operations and even declining to allow NATO to use its bases or territories to launch air attacks.

The reticence has roots in two dilemmas: the Islamic State group holds dozens of Turkish hostages, including diplomats, and Turkey is wary of boosting its rebellious Kurdish minority in the battle against Islamic State group enemies in Iraq.

Turkey's position is complicated by its eagerness to uproot the Syrian regime of Bashar Assad, which led to tolerance of anti-Assad Islamist fighters taking refuge on its side of the Syrian border — and may have given the Islamic State group some breathing room in Turkey. More recently, it has been forced to confront the threat that the group posed.

Only to its own regime, not Syria's. We shouldn't be surprised if Turkey would want to take over Syria! Indeed, that's a vision doubtlessly shared by opposing Muslim factions, to take over the other's territory.

The only reason why Turkey is getting involved here is obviously because of the hostages taken from their side. It has nothing to do with any British or American hostages who've been taken by ISIS. Regardless of that, Turkey shouldn't be trusted to be of any help to NATO, and their involvement here could be very dangerous.

FRANCE AND TURKEY SHOULD BOTH BE THROWN OUT OF NATO

ARTHUR HERMAN - VIA (ANDY MCCARTHY):

The Gaza convoy incident underlined the growing support of Iran and the terrorist group Hamas by Turkey -- a NATO member since 1958.

That one of the NATO allies now wants to ally with the jihadist cause -- and a country that is NATO's face in the Middle East -- should get everyone's attention.

France, having rejoined NATO's military structure in 2009 (after leaving in a huff back in 1966), is about to sell up to four Mistral-class helicopter assault ships to Russia. The warships include sophisticated technology that integrates the ships with the military command and information systems used by NATO and the United States, including in Afghanistan.

[IT GET'S WORSE!] ... only five of NATO's 28 members live up to the 2 percent defense-spending requirement. Worse, Karl Heinz Kamp, director of the research division of NATO Defense College, has found that, of Europe's 2 million men and women in uniform, only 3 percent to 5 percent are actually deployable in combat. And the cash-strapped Europeans want to cut NATO's budget almost out of sight.

... Today, NATO is letting the Americans and Afghans down, allowing the Russians and Iranians in -- and letting everyone else off the hook.

So why are we still part of it?

INSTEAD OF QUITTING NATO WE SHOULD THROW FRANCE AND TURKEY OUT OF NATO.

HOW? BY WITHHOLDING MONEY UNTIL THEY WITHDRAW.

RELIAPUNIDT RIGHT AGAIN: PREDICTED TURKISH NAVY WOULD GET INVOLVED - AND NOW THEY ARE!

NOBODY ANYWHERE IN ANY MEDIA PREDICTED IT EXCEPT FOR ME:

Holy Sweet Lord, Turkey has announced they will send another flotilla to Gaza—escorted by the Turkish Navy!

2010 May 31
by Ian Welsh

If they actually do this, it is the very definition of throwing down.

Wow.

Does Israel want a war with Turkey? They can’t win it, short of using nukes, and Turkey is a NATO member, if Israel attacks NATO ships, Turkey can invoke Article V (in fact, they can invoke it already, since the ships were attacked by a non NATO power on the high seas.) If Turkey does so, of course NATO nations will refuse, but doing so will break NATO.

This is high stakes.

HIS SOURCE:

New Delhi: Turkey has threatened Israel with unprecedented action after Israeli forces attacked an aid vessel, killing 10 peace activists headed to Gaza.

Israel said 10 people died while those on the ship said at least 15 were killed.

A shocked world has responded with outrage. Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel and warned of unprecedented and incalculable reprisals.

Two Turkish activists were reported to be among those killed in the flotilla. Ankara warned that further supply vessels will be sent to Gaza, escorted by the Turkish Navy, a development with unpredictable consequences.

Israel has sounded an alert throughout the country fearing rocket attacks by Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Arab League has called an urgent meeting on Tuesday to decide on a common response. Egypt is under pressure to end the blockade of Gaza while Greece has cancelled a military exercise with Israel.

I PREDICTED THIS HERE - BEFORE THE FLOTILLA LEFT TURKEY.

NO ONE ELSE DID.

REGULAR READERS KNOW I DO THIS ALL THE TIME.

SPREAD THE WORD.

TURKEY IS LOST YET NO REAL LOSS

Caroline Glick writes about how Turkey is going downhill in their backtrack to Islamofascism, and even reminds of something very dumb the Bush government once did:

Once the apotheosis of a pro-Western, dependable Muslim democracy, this week Turkey officially left the Western alliance and became a full member of the Iranian axis.

It isn't that Turkey's behavior changed fundamentally in recent days. There is nothing new in its massive hostility towards Israel and its effusive solicitousness towards the likes of Syria and Hamas. Since the Islamist AKP party first won control over the Turkish government in the 2002 elections, led by AKP chairman Recip Tayyip Erdogan, the Turks have incrementally and inexorably moved the formerly pro-Western Muslim democracy into the radical Islamist camp populated by the likes of Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, al Qaida and Hamas. What made Turkey's behavior this week different from its behavior in recent months and years is that its attacks were concentrated, unequivocal and undeniable for everyone outside of Israel's scandalously imbecilic and flagellant media.

Until this week, both Israel and the US were quick to make excuses for Ankara. When in 2003 the AKP-dominated Turkish parliament prohibited US forces from invading Iraq through Kurdistan, the US blamed itself. Rather than get angry at Turkey, the Bush administration argued that its senior officials had played the diplomatic game poorly.

That's right, don't forget one of the Bush administration's poorer steps there.

Initially, this week Israel sought to continue its policy of making excuses for Turkish aggression against it. On Sunday, after Turkey disinvited the IAF from the Anatolian Eagle joint air exercise with Turkey, and NATO, senior officials like Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Opposition leader Tzipi Livni tried to make light of the incident claiming that Turkey remains Israel's strategic ally.

But Turkey wasted no time in making fools of them. On Monday eleven Turkish government ministers descended on Syria to sign a pile of cooperation agreements with Iran's Arab lackey. The Foreign Ministry didn't even have a chance to write apologetic talking points explaining that brazen move before Syria announced it was entering a military alliance with Turkey and would be holding a joint military exercise with the Turkish military. Speechless in the wake of Turkey's move to hold military maneuvers with its enemy just two days after it cancelled joint training with Israel, Jerusalem could think of no mitigating explanation for the move.

Tuesday was characterized by escalating verbal assaults on the Jewish state. First Erdogan renewed his libelous allegations that Israel deliberately killed children in Gaza. Then he called on Turks to learn how to make money like Jews do.

Erdogan's anti-Israel and anti-Semitic blows were followed Tuesday evening by Turkey's government-controlled TRT1 television network's launch of a new prime-time series portraying IDF forces as baby and little girl killers who force Palestinian women to deliver stillborn babies at roadblocks and line up groups of Palestinians against walls to execute them by firing squad.

Yep, that was one of the most vomit inducing stunts they could pull. The Jerusalem Post tells that no Israelis want to fly to Turkey now with the way things are going:

With a new wave of anti-Israel sentiment in Turkey, and a furious response in Israel, the once-booming tourism trade between the countries is already feeling the effects.

"I can't sell a Turkish Air ticket going via Istanbul," Mark Feldman, CEO of Zion Tours, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday. Istanbul is a common stop-over point on the way to many other destinations.

"Nobody, but nobody, wishes to fly there... packages are very cheap, the airline is a good airline... [but] people are voting with their feet," Feldman said.

Relations with Turkey have recently been strained, due to Turkey's withdrawal from an international military exercise involving Israel, a series of verbal assaults from Turkish leaders, and the premiere of a new television series portraying IDF soldiers as murderers. The first episode of the series aired in Turkey on Tuesday evening and depicted IDF soldiers in the West Bank killing a baby and a young girl, and lining up Palestinians to be shot before a firing squad.

According to Feldman, "This [tourism decline] is getting intensified, and the television series will accelerate it. I expect this [Israeli tourist] boycott and this anger to last throughout the fall and winter."

Maybe even longer than that. But if I were him, I'd rather not rely on countries like Turkey to sell tickets for tourism. This is what happens when no serious attempt is made to make clear to a country with a horrific past like Turkey's that they must own up for their past evils and crimes and abandon all ideologies that could one day lead back to more of the same. That's why their backtrack is no real surprise, and come to think of it, their loss is yet no real loss. If they're going to boomerang to such mostrosities, it's hard for me to feel sorry to "lose" their alliance.

And if Jews in Turkey are afraid that the TV propaganda they launched will boost anti-semitic violence, which is quite likely to happen, that's exactly why they should start packing. No need to remain in a country that's backtracking to Islamofascism.

And Armenia's government made a serious mistake in accepting the deal to open wider relations with Turkey without their agreement to recognize the Armenian Holocaust in WW1, something I get the feeling much of the Armenian public is angry about, with good reason. I won't be surprised if it falls apart sooner or later, and if Turkey starts spewing similar racism against Armenians as well on their government controlled TV.

BY INVOKING NATO ARTICLE 4, HAS TURKEY SET THE STAGE FOR DRAGGING US INTO THE CIVIL WAR IN SYRIA A LA "GULF OF TONKIN"???

BBC:

Turkey has called a meeting of Nato member states to discuss its response to the shooting down of one of its warplanes by Syrian forces on Friday. Ankara has invoked Article 4 of Nato's charter, under which consultations can be requested when an ally feels their security is threatened, officials say. 

... Nato spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the North Atlantic Council, the principal political decision-making body within the military alliance, would meet in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the incident.
"Turkey has requested consultations under Article 4 of Nato's founding Washington Treaty," she told Reuters. "Under article 4, any ally can request consultations whenever, in the opinion of any of them, their territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened." 

Turkey wants to be sure of the strongest backing once it decides its official response, reports the BBC's Jonathan Head in Istanbul.
The government has promised that it will be strong, decisive and legitimate, and that it will share all the information it has with the public.

THIS COULD BE OBAMA'S EXCUSE FOR DOING A LITTLE "WAG THE DOG" BEFORE THE ELECTION.

ALL TURKEY HAS TO DO NEXT IS INVOKE ARTICLE 5 - AND THEN NATO HAS TO HELP TURKEY "DEFEND" ITSELF FROM SYRIA.

HE CONSIDERS ERDOGAN A VERY CLOSE ALLY AND THEY FREQUENTLY CONSULT ON THE PHONE.

PERHAPS THIS TURKISH JET IS OBAMA'S AND ERDOGAN'S "GULF OF TONKIN" INCIDENT?

REFRESHER: 

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident', or the USS Maddox Incident, are the names given to two separate confrontations, one actual and one now recognized as non-existent, involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol as part of DESOTO operations, engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron.[1] A sea battle resulted, in which the Maddox expended over two hundred eighty 3-inch and 5-inch shells, and in which four USN F-8 Crusader jet fighter bombers strafed the torpedo boats. One US aircraft was damaged, one 14.5 mm round hit the destroyer, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed and six were wounded; there were no U.S. casualties.[5]The second Tonkin Gulf incident was originally claimed by the U.S. National Security Agency to have occurred on August 4, 1964, as another sea battle, but instead may have involved "Tonkin Ghosts"[6] (false radar images) and not actual NVN torpedo boat attacks. 

The outcome of these two incidents was the passage by Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by "communist aggression". The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying U.S. conventional forces and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam.

STAY TUNED...

SPECULATION: ISLAMIST TURKEY IS TRYING TO GET NATO TO ATTACK ISRAEL

NYSUN:

A drama on the high seas is brewing in the Mediterranean as a Turkish government-backed flotilla, laden with various goods and carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists, is attempting to reach Gaza’s shores in the next few days to deliver what its members say is much needed humanitarian aid to the Hamas-controlled strip.

Israel’s Navy said it would prevent the flotilla from entering Gaza and, if necessary, board the eight boats and arrest the activists. Nevertheless, government spokesmen say the cargo, estimated at $20 million worth of material, would then be delivered to Gaza from Israel, but only after undergoing inspection to assure it includes no terror-related items.

The drama, which is expected to further heighten the already tense relations between Ankara and Jerusalem, will peak Friday, when the boats, loaded with 800 activists, mostly from Turkey, Europe, and Israel, will set sail from Cyprus toward Gaza. Earlier today, military spokesmen publicly detailed plans to bar their entry into Israeli controlled waters.

Activists, including a handful of Americans, have been just as adamant that they will not obey the Navy’s orders to turn around.

THE THE ESS HITS THE EFF.

• IF SHOTS ARE FIRED, THEN WILL THE TURKISH NAVY ATTACK ISRAEL?

• AND IF THEY DO, THEN WILL TURKEY INVOKE NATO ARTICLE 5?
• ARTICLE 5:
  

  Article 5

  The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

  Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security .

  (WE ARE USING ARTICLE 5 TO GET NATO TO HELP US IN AFGHANISTAN.)
  

• AND IF TURKEY DOES, THEN WILL OBAMA JOIN THEM AND ATTACK ISRAEL AS THE NATO TREATY REQUIRES?

I FEAR TURKEY IS TRYING TO START A WAR, NOW THAT ISLAMIST TURKEY IS MORE OF AN ALLY TO IRAN AND SYRIA AND GAZA THAN TO THE WEST & NATO.

AND IT MAKES ME WONDER:

• WAS NOKO'S ATTACK ON THE SOUTH KOREAN SHIP MERELY A PROBE BY THE AXIS OF EVIL (IRAN, SYRIA, NOKO AND NOW TURKEY) TO TEST WHETHER OBAMA WOULD REACT KINETICALLY?
  

• OBAMA DID NOT, AND SO THE AXIS OF EVIL HAS BEEN EMBOLDENED - ON ALL FRONTS
  

• NO SURPRISE: APPEASEMENT ALWAYS INVITES MORE AGGRESSION.

• AS A RESULT OF OBAMA'S APPEASEMENT, WE ARE LESS SAFE - US AND OUR ALLIES.

• EITHER OBAMA IS UNBELIEVABLY DUMB OR ACTUALLY WANTS THE USA AND THE WEST TO LOSE.

• EITHER WAY: SAME RESULT.

WE CAN RESTORE THE DEFENSES OF THE FREE WORLD STARTING THIS NOVEMBER: VOTE GOP.

TALKING TURKEY: IT'S TIME WE ACCEPTED THE TRUTH ABOUT TURKEY AND KICKED THEM OUT OF NATO

TURKEY IS BECOMING AN ADVERSARY OF IRAQ'S AND AN ALLY OF SYRIA (MORE HERE) - WHILE MOVING AWAY FROM NATO AND ISRAEL.

• THIS IS VERY TROUBLING.

• FOR OBAMA AND HILLARY AND GATES TO HAVE ALLOWED TURKEY TO DO THIS TO ISRAEL AND TO NATO IS OUTRAGEOUS.

• OBAMA AND HILARY ARE INCOMPETENT. (AS WAS COLIN POWELL FOR FAILING TO GET TURKEY ON BOARD BEFORE THE IRAQ WAR.)

• OF COURSE, THE MAIN PROBLEM WITH TURKEY IS THAT IT'S NOW RUN BY ISLAMISTS.

NOT ONLY SHOULD WE OPPOSE TURKEY'S ENTRANCE TO THE EU, WE SHOULD KICK TURKEY OUT OF NATO.

PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN PUTS TURKEY'S ISLAMIST AND ANTI-WEST CARDS ON THE TABLE: CALLS ISRAEL TURKEY'S CENTRAL THREAT

JPOST:

The Turkish National Security Council approved a few days ago significant changes in a document which contains threats against Turkey claiming that Israel is now a major threat to the country, Turkish media reported Saturday.

Israel was redefined as a "major threat" in the document called "The Red Book."

This is the first time that Turkey has defined Israel's actions in the Middle East as a threat towards it.

The document also stated that Israel's actions may cause countries in the region to begin an "arms race."

At the same time the Council decided to remove Syria, Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia from the list of countries that pose a threat to Turkey.

Iran, which was previously a major threat to Ankara was also removed from the list of countries.

THIS PUTS TURKEY SQUARELY ON THE SIDE OF IRAN AND AGAINST ISRAEL - AMERICA'S BEST ALLY.

BY SIDING WITH IRAN AND AGAINST ISRAEL, IT PROVES - ONCE AGAIN - THAT TURKEY DOESN'T BELONG IN NATO.

ALLOWING TURKEY - WHO SHOULD NO LONGER BE TRUSTED WITH ANY MILITARY INFORMATION OF NATO'S OR THE USA'S - TO REMAIN IN NATO AND REMAIN IN THE COALITION IN AFGHANISTAN THREATENS NATO FORCES EVERYWHERE.

BESIDES GEERT WILDERS, IS THERE A POLITICIAN ANYWHERE WITH THE COURAGE TO SAY AND DO WHAT MUST BE DONE!?

SADLY NO.

TO DATE IN EUROPE, SARKOZY AND MERKEL COME CLOSEST, BUT THEY'VE NOT GONE FAR ENOUGH.

PERHAPS THIS WILL BE THE STRAW TO BREAK THE CAMEL'S BACK?

I HOPE SO.

FINALLY: RALPH PETERS SEES WHAT WE SAW: TURKEY IS NO ALLY OF THE WEST

RALPH PETERS TODAY:

The US and the European Union cling to the fiction that Turkey's a "westernized Muslim democracy." But Turkey's moving to the east as fast as the Islamist leaders of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) can drag it there.

Turkish leaders visit the West and sing, "Democracy, democracy, democracy!" We coo and clap. Then they go east and cry, "Islam, Islam, Islam!" And we insist they don't mean it.

Then there's Turkey's unfortunate NATO membership. Since the rise of its Islamists, Turkey has been a Trojan horse, not an ally. What happens now if Ankara provokes a military confrontation? How would we respond, given NATO's mutual-defense agreements?

THE WEEKLY STANDARD NOTICES FOR THE FIRST TIME, TOO:

The most ominous aspect of the flotilla incident is Turkey's involvement. The flotilla bound for Gaza, in violation of the blockade, was allowed to leave a Turkish port. The main sponsor was a Turkish charity known for ties to jihadist groups. The Turkish diplomatic and governmental apparatus sprung into action at the first sign of trouble -- which of course there was, since the "peace activists" onboard the flotilla were masked and armed with lead pipes and knives.

Why is this troubling? Because Turkey is a member of NATO

WE'VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOR MONTHS.

THE FIRST TIME HERE - IN JANUARY!

I'M GLAD THE BIG-TIMERS AND FRONTBENCHERS ARE WAKING UP.

IT'S TIME TO KICK TURKEY OUT OF NATO.

THEY ARE MORE ALIGNED WITH IRAN THAN THE WEST.

TURKEY THREATENS ISRAEL'S NAVY AND THE ISRAELI NAVAL BLOCKADE OF GAZA WITH TURKISH NAVY AND NATO ARTICLE 5

The Turkish Navy will bolster its presence in the eastern Mediterranean Sea to prevent Israeli operations, Turkish officials said over the weekend, as the crisis between Jerusalem and Ankara intensified following the publication of the Palmer Report on last year’s flotilla conflict.

“A more aggressive strategy will be pursued. Israel will no longer be able to exercise its bullying practices freely,” a Turkish diplomatic source was quoted as saying in the Hurriyet Daily News. The source said that the navy would accompany ships bringing aid to the Gaza Strip.

Turkey has threatened to deploy its navy to accompany aid ships to the Gaza Strip in the past.

Ahead of the recent flotilla that tried to set sail from Greece in June, the Israel Navy had raised concern that Turkish Navy ships would accompany Turkish aid ships. Such a scenario however never materialized.

I THINK THAT AFTER SO-CALLED "PALESTINIAN" ARABS DECLARE ANOTHER STATE IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA, THAT TURKEY WILL ACCOMPANY A FLOTILLA AND COUNTER-ATTACK.

IN CONCERT WITH IRAN AND FATAH AND HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH, TURKEY IS ATTEMPTING TO FORCE NATO TO ATTACK ISRAEL - OR AT LEAST COMPLETELY ISOLATE ISRAEL.

YES, IMHO: TURKEY WILL ATTEMPT TO USE NATO ARTICLE 5, (THE WHOLE FLOTILLA STRATEGY IS BASED UPON IT).

HERE IS NATO ARTICLE 5:

Article 5 of the Washington Treaty:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

NATO's Strategic Concept recognises the risks to the Alliance posed by terrorism.

What does Article 5 mean?

Article 5 is at the basis of a fundamental principle of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. It provides that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked.

This is the principle of collective defence.

STAY TUNED...

JUST AS I PREDICTED: TURKEY CALLS ON NATO!

AP/JPOST: NATO calls for probe into raid

Call for investigation of Gaza flotilla raid instigated by Turkey.

NATO called Tuesday for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation" into Monday's Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that ended with the deaths of nine activists.

Representatives of the alliance's 28 nations met on Tuesday to discuss the incident. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen demanded the immediate release of the detained civilians and ships held by Israel.

THIS IS JUST A HOLDING MOVE - LIKE MOVING A PAWN - IN PREPARATION FOR SENDING A TURKISH NAVAL SHIP WITH THE NEXT FLOTILLA AND DELIBERATELY ENGAGING THE IDF IN ORDER TO INVOKE NATO ARTICLE 5.

AS I PREDICTED LAST WEEK.

NO ONE ELSE DID.

ONLY I SAW IT COMING.

SIGH. SPREAD THE WORD... STAY TUNED ...

UPDATE: TURKEY IS PRESSING FOR AN ISRAELI/USA SPLIT:

Turkey demanded on Tuesday that the United States condemn the botched Israeli raid on an aid flotilla that ended with Israeli soldiers killing nine activists.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters ahead of a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that Turkey was disappointed with the Obama administration's response to the raid.

He said that he had scheduled a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Monday to discuss indirect talks with Syria before Netanyahu canceled his trip Sunday.

The White House has reacted cautiously, asking for disclosure of the full facts about the raid. The killings have put the administration in an awkward position between two allies at a time that it is trying to refocus Middle East peace talks and win new sanctions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council.

In a sign of the sensitivity of the raid on U.S.-Turkish relations, the State Department closed coverage of the meeting to the press. It had previously scheduled a photo opportunity, a venue in which reporters probably would have tried to ask questions.

Before they met, however, Davutoglu was perfectly open about the message he would convey to Clinton.

''I have to be frank: I am not very happy with this statement from Washington yesterday,'' Davutoglu said. ''We expect a clear condemnation.''

A USA-ISRAEL SCHISM IS WHAT THE LEFT HAS WANTED FOR A LONG TIME - AND IT'S WHY THEY WERE A BIG PART OF THE FLOTILLA; THEY WERE THE FLOTILLAS "COVER".

TURKEY IS USING THE FLOTILLA AND THEIR NATO MEMBERSHIP TO HELP DRIVE THE WEDGE.

AND OBAMA IS INCLINED TO AGREE.

STAY TUNED...

ON THE FIRST DAY OF HER TRIP TO TURKEY, COURAGEOUS MERKEL TELLS ERDOGAN THAT TURKEY IS UNSUITABLE FOR EU MEMBERSHIP

BBC:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeated her belief that Turkey is not suitable for full EU membership, on the first day of an official Turkish visit.

Turkey should not view her offer of a "privileged partnership" - rather than full membership - negatively, she said.

Turkey, which began negotiations to become a member in 2005, has dismissed that offer as an insult.

There were also disagreements over Iran, Cyprus and educating Turkish children in Germany in Turkish.

Germany is Turkey's biggest trading partner, its biggest foreign investor, its biggest source of tourist revenue, and nearly three million Turks live in Germany.

Brava Angela! MORE:

Turkey's sometimes fraught relationship with the European Union will not be helped by this visit.

On Iran, Mrs Merkel wants Turkish support for international sanctions, which Mr Erdogan argues are counter-productive and hypocritical.

Turkey has recently strengthened its relations with Iran and opposes the tougher sanctions threatened by Western governments.

MAYBE IF TURKEY BEHAVED LIKE A DEPENDABLE ALLY OF EUROPE AND THE WEST THINGS MIGHT BE DIFFERENT VIS A VIS THEIR ASPIRATION TO JOIN THE EU.

BUT THE AKP'S ISLAMIST CORE DOESN'T REALLY PERMIT THEM TO FAVOR CHRISTIAN EUROPEANS OVER THEIR FELLOW MUSLIMS.

WHICH IS WHY - WHILE FIGHTING WW4, WHICH IS A WAR AGAINST GLOBAL JIHADISM - IT'S INSANE TO KEEP TURKEY IN NATO.

TURKEY SHOULD NO MORE BE IN NATO THAN THE EU.

ANOTHER SIGN THAT KEMALISM AND A SECULAR TURKEY ARE DYING: ADMIRAL OF THE TURKISH NAVY ARRESTED

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:

'Excuse us, admiral, but we must arrest you now." With these words, Turkey this year crossed a threshold into a new era. Since General Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded modern Turkey in 1923, the military considered itself the untouchable guardian of the secular state.

But with the polite intrusion of the police upon the breakfast of the revered former commander-in-chief of the navy, Ozden Ornek, on February 22, that became history: "The untouchables have been touched!" declared the daily newspaper Zaman.

Turkey has the biggest military of any NATO country other than the US. In defence of the secular principles established by Ataturk, it staged four coups since 1960.

On news Ornek and other officers had been arrested on charges of plotting a coup, top military leaders called a hasty meeting. Instead of overthrowing the government, they produced a statement. "The days when the army would stage a coup are gone," the army chief-of-staff, General Ilker Basbug, later confirmed.

Is this the welcome arrival of liberal democracy in a key pivot country between east and west, and an encouraging sign for democracy in a Muslim-majority country? Or is it troubling that Turkey is discarding Ataturk's vision and turning unstoppably into an Islamic republic?

IT'S THE LATTER.

ONE REASON FOR ISLAM'S ASCENDANCY IS DEMOGRAPHIC: SECULAR TURKS AREN'T HAVING KIDS, BUT THE ISLAMIST TURKS IN THE BOONIES ARE - AND THEY'RE TAKING OVER.

STEYN:

... in the 80-year history of modern Turkey, the population has increased from 14 million in 1923 to some 70 million today. The vast majority of that demographic surge comes from Anatolian Turkey - ie, eastern, Asian, traditional, Islamic Turkey, which never accepted Ataturk's reforms and whose sons and daughters have spilled out of their rural hinterland and populated the cities. Rumelian Turkey - ie, western, European, secular, Kemalist Turkey - is in steep demographic decline. In every election, there will be fewer Kemalists.

Many of us English-speakers use the phrase "young Turks" without pondering the origin of the expression: The original "young Turks" were the youthful activists agitating for reform in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. The phrase itself recognizes a connection between political energy and demography. As yesterday confirmed, today's young Turks are Islamist. The Kemalists are old Turks.

TURKEY - A SUPPORTER OF HAMAS AND HIZBALLAH AND SYRIA AND IRAN - SHOULD BE THROWN OUT OF NATO.

AND HAVE NO SPECIAL STATUS - LET ALONE MEMBERSHIP - IN THE EU.

THEY MUST PAY THE PRICE FOR THEIR DECISION TO ALLY THEMSELVES WITH IRAN AND THE ISLAMISTS.

IF WE DON'T MAKE THEM PAY A PRICE, THEN MORE ISLAMIC NATIONS ON THE CUSP WILL SWING IN THE SAME DIRECTION.