al-Bashir in town

update:

Bashir cancels visit to Istanbul ;Sudan’s President Bashir, indicted for war crimes in Darfur, pulls out of a summit in Istanbul, following pressure from the EU and US.

Turkey on Friday rebuffed a European Union call to reconsider its decision to host Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, who is wanted for alleged war crimes in Darfur, saying it had no plans to arrest him.(AFP/File/Ashraf Shazly)

Turkey seems to be one of the rare countries in the world where Omar Al-Bashir is welcome. Although I tend to be excited with gov’t’s foreign policy fantasies in general, Al-Bashir case is less exciting….

Turkey defends Sudan leader visit

ABGS has a new logo. VIA

EU report on Ergenekon: slap in the face for skeptics

by LALE KEMAL

Many Turks may have an excuse for their rather bizarre stance in the face of the ongoing bitter debate over the disclosure of many classified documents prepared within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), revealing decades-long smear campaigns on certain segments of society and coups planned to unseat democratically elected governments. Turkish society is deeply polarized over whether the TSK has been facing a plot initiated by the ruling authority.Turkey put on defensive as al Bashir?s planned visit invites controversy – The National Newspaper

David Schenker: A NATO Without Turkey? – WSJ.com

Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband (L) attends a joint news conference with Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Ankara, November 5, 2009.REUTERS/Stringer

The Rise and Rise of Turkey

No one has the right to block Turkey?s EU negotiation process: president

Bratislava. Turkish President Abdullah Gül said Monday no one had the right to block directly or indirectly Turkey?s EU accession talks, An?dolska Agency informed. Turkey has been a member of the Customs Union since 1995, the head of state noted during a joint news conference in Bratislava with his counterpart Slovakian President Ivan Gasparovic. Gül pays an official visit to Slovakia and has held talks with Gasparovic.”

The Role of Turkish Diplomats in Saving Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944

By Arnold Reisman

During World War II, Turkish diplomats saved Turkish Jews living in France (many were French citizens others were holding Turkish passports) from certain death, a fact of which the Anglophone world was ignorant until Stanford Shaw first revealed the historical data in 1995.1 Up until that time, this important piece of history had been ignored by historians. Mistakenly however, Shaw attributed the actions of Turkey?s legations in both occupied and Vichy France to a well articulated policy created by the Turkish government in Ankara, when in fact these brave acts of heroism were devised by the diplomats themselves as a matter of conscience.”

[CROSS READER] East-oriented diplomacy is no indication of a shift in axis

While Turkey is trying to bring about solutions to its most pressing problems, such as the Kurdish issue and anti-democratic elements vis-à-vis civilian-military relations in the domestic agenda, Turkey has also been taking giant steps over the last few months in its foreign policy, signing historic deals with neighbors Armenia, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Prodromos Mavridis: Les Turcs dans l?Union européenne.

Agence Europe, Bibliothèque européenne n° 844, 27 octobre 2009 (extrait)

Michel Theys

La question de l?éventuelle adhésion de la Turquie à l?Union alimente une controverse passionnelle qui, trop souvent, se nourrit d?a priori dictés par l?idéologie, voire par les fantasmes et le fanatisme. Professeur de droit à Paris X Nanterre et directeur d?études à l?École de hautes études en sciences sociales, Antoine Lyon-Caen le confirme dès l?entame de la préface qu?il a donnée à cet ouvrage, lorsqu?il relève que la Turquie bénéficie du ?triste privilège? de susciter ?la plus riche floraison de lieux communs, ces idées sommaires, sans fondement analytique qui, pour cette raison, circulent sans retenue?. À entendre les uns, la Turquie admise en Europe ne serait rien d?autre qu?un ?cheval de Troie islamiste? ; d?autres leur rétorquent, sur le même mode abominablement simpliste, que s?ouvrir aux Européens reviendrait à ouvrir les portes de la Turquie aux ?croisés des temps modernes?. Ce n?est pas sur le terrain de ces anathèmes croisés, aussi stériles que dangereux, qu?entend se situer Prodromos Mavridis, même s?il reconnaît être parti du principe, pour rédiger cet ouvrage, qu?une adhésion de la Turquie à l?Union ?pourrait servir de trait d?union pour une meilleure compréhension des différentes cultures?. En l?occurrence, ce qui est intéressant n?est pas tant le fruit de sa réflexion personnelle que le chemin intellectuel qu?il emprunte pour l?étayer.

Is Turkey Iran’s friend?

by Katinka Barysch

Is Turkey really Iran?s ?friend?, as Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed in a recent interview with the Guardian newspaper? Erdogan?s visit last week to Tehran suggests so. He met not only President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but also Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a rare honour. He announced plans for energy and commercial co-operation with Iran and defended the country?s right to civilian nuclear power, calling its energy programme ?peaceful? and ?humanitarian?. Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, thanked Erdogan for his critical stance on Israel.

Understanding Turkey’s Foreign Policy – The Washington Note