Turkish foreign policy

Erdogan's lament

What lies behind Turkey’s ambivalence over NATO’s operation in Libya

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Readers' comments




I have no issue with the liberals. I voted for them last time, stupid me. The problem is Westerwelle and their crony lobby politics. If they can find a good leader – Rösler perhaps? – they can climb back over the 5% hurdle in time, as their policies are valid, if applied as under Genscher or Otto Graf Lambsdorff.

However, Germany’s future is green, green, green. No atomic power. No involvement in foreign adventures and rather use the money to bail out our weaker members. The Libyans can sort out their problems on their own, as they had done for the last 2000 years before the Italians colonized them. Not on our turf.

Fahrettin Tahir


Nice to see Germany with an intelligent foreign policy, for a change.


the liberals are not dead yet. I remember the early 1970ies where people were discussing the impending death of the fdp.



Thank God for Germany only sending humanitarian aid and the military force to protect it and staying out of the bombing, which will not solve anything and only cause collateral damage, as recently experienced when the British bombed tanks of the so-called “rebels” probably because the latter never told them that suddenly they had tanks (who supplied them with these tanks, by the way?)and, therefore, did not apologize, which is understandable. It is tragic if people die as a result of stupidity by the ones in charge of their fate but this happens in every war.

Then we are being told by American sources that Al Qaida is fighting on the side of “the rebels”, the same guys we are fighting in Afghanistan. Suddenly we are supposed to fight alongside Al Qaida like in the good old days in Afghanistan, when USA supported Bin Laden against the Russians. Gadaffi, for sure, is a mad dog but are we supposed now to drive out Beelzebub with the devil Bin Laden?

It is the usual homemade can of worms, as only the Middle East knows how to open and should be left to Arab countries to sort out, as otherwise it will always be seen as “colonialists going for the oil”, as some comments here already reflect. For once I actually believe that Sarkozy really wanted to help on the “liberté” side but also with an eye on the camera to enhance his image and record bad ratings. Sadly he did not do his homework like Frau Dr. Angela Merkel and Mr. Erdogan, who are to be complimented for their thoughtful handling of this problem in order to avoid a full blown civil war.

It is not our business except helping the civilians and wounded on any side with humanitarian aid and medical supplies, as Turkey already does and Germany just decided to also do, after German voters kicked some a.. with our present so-called "foreign minister" Westerwelle and his sorry sad liberal party now designed to the dustbin of history. Bravo.

Marie Claude

Fahrettin Tahir

Tell your leader to not hold a double language, wether he is for Kadhafi, then he pull out his ships and troops, wether he is for the rebels and help them to win !

h is he dreaming to win the butter and not pay for it ?

Fahrettin Tahir

Marie Claude

Turkish policy must be helping the Libyans make a peace which will prevent further dying and keep opportunistic colonialist powers like France out.

Colonel Kaddafi whom the West loved until three days ago is one partner for this policy, the opposition another.

There is no law on this planet which says that Turks must hate whomever France wants hated.

Marie Claude

"At a news conference in Bengahzi on Thursday, a senior rebel medical official waved in the air a military-ration food packet, which he said was recently found amid the supplies carried by captured loyalist soldiers on the front lines.

The packet had Turkish labels on it and a production date that indicated it was manufactured in January. The official said that suggested Ankara was helping to supply the forces of Col. Gadhafi.

"We found this food with Gadhafi soldiers," the medical official, Dr. Gebril Hewadi, said. "It's newly produced and it's from Turkey. I think there is a special agenda between Col. Gadhafi and the Turkish government


Erdogan = Foe


Nobody can beat Turkish propaganda, I take my hat off to all of you...

1.5 million Ottoman citizens massacred (a bit like Qaddafi massacring his own citizens) in the Armenian Genocide and Turkey still gets away with its Denial!!!


to the editors of the economist, you are just calling this terror and drug and human-smuggler organisation ''outlawed'', these are terrorists and drug sellers , yes they are drug sellers and thet finance their terrorism by selling those drgugs to our sons, daughers, husbands and wiwes, and you avoid writing this reality, and just call them ''outlawed''; i know you are journalists, but first you are human beings, right?

here is some links for those who may claim they are not terrorists and drug sellers:





Are you talking about the ones with the crosses removed or the ones tunred into mosques???

IN Cyprus, Turkey was more original; they turned our churches into animal pens, toilets and ammunition damps.


wow i am impressed, in the same direction i want to go,

- there is a president in US called Obama, and this president is now being accused of being a muslim, as if being a muslim was a crime, so what kind of democracy, minority right, tolerance, human right is that, after all he is the president, and even this happnes him, i cannot imagine what happens to regular muslim americans,

- there ara hunders of churches in turkey, open to everybody; howevere there is no mosque in Athens in greece, greece is the member of the eu, and turkey is not ; so i can simply claim there is more tolerance in Turkey to minorities ,

- i think no need to mention about Afghanistan or Iraq...


Many Turks see only Christians and Muslims around. They know nothing about Democracy, human rights, minority rights, social providence or even legitimate sharing of common interests. The extreme nationalism and fanatism have never been important points when evaluating the reliability of allies by NATO and the free West. They will now once more face the consequences of their shortsightness.


''Many are sympathetic to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)''

the writer of the article, could you please tell me , according to what you claim that?


Turkey does not want another muslim country to be bombed by another western country; as everybody can guess, France bombed Libya due to the oil, not the freedom of Libyans, if they claim the otherwise, then why have they so far said nothing about Yemen or S. Arabia?

i think we all should keep it in mind that what happened in Algeria when France was there, if we care the future of Libyans...

Marie Claude

Fahrettin Tahir

I doubt so,
but you'll have to listen to Russians voices instead of, they are coming into the deal too !


Turkey's attempt to sabotage the NATO mission in Libya will be very costly indeed, diplomatically and economically.

Erdogan will have alienated both his European NATO allies and the Arab street. Yeni Osmanlıcılık will be stillborn, and instead of being a bridge for the West in the Middle East, Turkey will be seen as a roadblock.


Erdogan is a very smart man. He is playing it right and has been doing so since he took office. His party is not too Islamist but not following a strict secular doctrine either and thereby alienating a large portion of rural Turkey that is otherwise observant and conservative. Internationally, going against the flow is not smart (like Iran), and being pragmatic and holding the stick in the middle is a skill of the politically savvy. Libya in particular is a roll of the dice, and only ones that are savvy will know how to play it right. Qatar recognizing the council of the rebels as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people from day one is not political savvy. It could backfire. Helping the injured and playing fair might pay off for Erdogan when all is over.

Marie Claude

Fahrettin Tahir

the French government didn't call Libya intervention a "crusade", Medvedev did, and a former Sarkozy spokeman did too, it doesn't mean that that reflects the french government sight as a whole !

as far as the Kurds vs Turkey, I'd like to hear Kurds voices instead of Trukish's !


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