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WSWS : News & Analysis : Europe : The Balkan Crisis
Why is Turkey supporting the war against Serbia?
By Justus Leicht
26 May 1999
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Turkey has made its military air facilities available to NATO for the
alliance's attacks against Yugoslavia, as well as supplying F-16
fighter jets as escorts for the squads of bombers. In recent days
Turkish planes have directly taken part in the bombing, and Turkey
has provided several hundred men for NATO ground missions.
In contradistinction to the United States and Europe, the media and
politicians in Turkey have not limited their arguments for
participation in the war to the plight of the Albanian population in
Kosovo. From time to time they have quite bluntly asserted the real
aims behind the war: the control of the Balkans as a strategically
and economically important region.
On May 17 a commentary by a former Turkish ambassador, Sukru Elekdag,
appeared in the newspaper Milliyet, dealing at length with Turkish,
NATO and Western interests in the region:
�Turkey is deeply concerned with the security and stability of the
Balkans because of her geo-strategic interests, and has to follow an
active policy towards this region. The Balkan peninsula is an
advanced defence zone for Thrace, the Turkish Straits and Istanbul.
Therefore, Ankara's sensitivity toward the conflicts and geopolitical
changes in the region has an understandable source.... Turkey, in a
key location and a bridge between three continents, has a unique geo-
political identity within the region, controlling all the
communication lines via air, land or sea. With its location Turkey is
a focus of power not only for the Balkans, but also for the Caucasus-
Central Asia corridor and the Middle East. If the future EU strategy
is to open itself up to Eurasia, Turkey's integration with the
defence system of the [European] Union is a must� (quoted from
Anadolu Agency).
Control over the region from the Adriatic to Asia�known historically
as the �Silk Road��was already dealt with in the Milliyet of April 26
. A report on the NATO summit read as follows: �President Suleyman
Demirel, who delivered a speech during the �Silk Road' countries
meeting organised with the participation of a number of Central Asian
and Caucasian countries as part of the NATO summit in the US,
remarked that the Silk Road is still of remarkable geo-political
significance, and that Turkey functions as a bridge between the East
and the West. Demirel also noted that there are ongoing efforts to
facilitate the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline and Transcaucasian energy
corridor, which will supplement peace and stability in the region�
(Anadolu Agency).
In the West, Turkey's arch-rival Greece and its ally Serbia stand in
the way. Turkey is therefore deliberately using the war against
Yugoslavia to secure its domination in the Balkans in opposition to
Greece. On May 21 a commentary along these lines appeared in
H�rriyet, shortly after it was made known that Turkish bombers would
not just act as escorts, but actively take part in the bombing:
�What can be the reasons or expectations which have changed our
policy? President Demirel has answered this question with the
statement that we cannot act like Greece. This statement shows that
the main consideration is to place Turkey above Greece, which is
standing close to Serbia. The president went on to say that loyalty
was one of the main factors in deciding Turkish policy. He added that
Turkey was a first-class member of NATO, and to drop to the position
of a second- or third-class member would go against Turkey's
interests. In NATO, Turkey is among the top five states, and she
should not lose this position. This means that the decision is being
taken to consolidate Turkey's position in the West and strengthen its
pro-Western policy� (Anadolu Agency).
The enormous economic and political significance of the �Silk Road�
and the status of the pipeline from Baku in Aserbaidjan on the
Caspian Sea to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan is explained
in a report from the May 17 Turkish Daily News on the Trade
Exhibition �Petroleum �99�, which was also featured in other Turkish
newspapers:
�Energy will remain one of the most critical factors in national
economies in the twenty-first century, said [Turkish] Energy and
Natural Resources Minister Ziya Aktas. Aktas made a speech at the
Petroleum '99 fair on �Caspian Petroleum and Turkey's Strategy over
the Transportation of Petroleum'. He said that providing for the
transportation, distribution and marketing of energy is as important
as owning energy sources for strengthening one's position in
international bargaining talks. Turkey is a natural bridge between
the Middle East and Central Asia, where most of the world's energy
sources are located, and Western countries, which are the major
consumers of energy, giving Turkey a great advantage.... The energy
minister added that, as stressed by both the president and the prime
minister, the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline and Turkmenistan natural gas
pipeline are priorities for Turkey.�
Here is made clear not just Turkish interests in the war against
Yugoslavia, but also why the Turkish army receives military hardware
and know-how from NATO for the massacres and expulsions it carries
out in Turkey's own �Kosovo�, i.e., in the southeast province of
Turkey which is predominantly occupied by Kurds. What does it matter
if human lives are lost when what is up for grabs is control of the
�Silk Road� and billions of dollars to be earned from oil and gas?!
See Also:
Why is NATO at war with Yugoslavia?
World power, oil and gold
[24 May 1999]
Turkey sentences Kurdish leader to death
[22 May 1999]
Repression in Turkey exposes NATO "humanitarianism"
[11 April 1999]
75 years of the Turkish Republic
A balance sheet of Kemalism
[17 November 1998]
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