Posted on 09/21/2011 5:58:41 AM PDT by jhpigott
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described offshore gas drilling by estranged ally Israel and Cyprus as "madness" on Wednesday, raising the stakes in a confrontation over potentially huge deposits in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The quarrel over gas has escalated in recent weeks, just as relations between Israel and Turkey abruptly broke down over Israel's refusal to apologize for its raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla last year in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists died.
(snip)
"The Greek Cypriot administration and Israel are engaging in oil exploration madness in the Mediterranean," Turkish state news agency Anatolian quoted Erdogan as telling Turkish journalists in New York ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting.
"Actually, the Greek Cypriot administration's drilling activity is nothing but sabotage of the negotiation process between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots," he added.
(snip)
Erdogan again emphasized Turkish military prowess on Wednesday: "Our assault boats and frigates are already in the region," Anatolian quoted him as saying.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
The dude is itching for a fight, or at least a way to flex his muscles.
Turkey and Iran have always been rivals.
Does anyone even recognize “Turkish Cyprus”?
Israel has aligned with Greece and Cyprus to drill this gas - very smart of Israel because they draw a wedge further between Turkey and the EU, call attention to Turkish aggression on Cyprus, and of course give themselves a defensive shield. While Israel is not in NATO, Turkey and Greece both are. By working with Greece, Turkey would be attacking NATO if it were to attack these Israeli/Greek installations.
They pretended to be docile and friendly for years, hoping the EU would let them in. The EU decided to put off their application for a few years and they went over the edge, threw their lot in with the Arabs. That was the dumbest thing they could do - align themselves with some of the poorest people on earth. What good is that going to do their national self-interest? Can’t trade with poor people. Can’t really learn anything from the Arab countries they have no technology. The Turks don’t need cheap Arab laborers.
Turkish foreign policy = “madness” but I don’t really care if their country implodes so long as they don’t cause wars or make trouble for people I do care about.
If the right people take over again, things could change on that front. History is bound to repeat itself on that front again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.