2012-06-24

Turkey Doing the Bidding of the Dying Democracies Within the Antiquated Structure of NATO?





[S]ince the war against Libya was launched by U.S. Africa Command under the codename Operation Odyssey Dawn to the present NATO-run Operation Unified Protector in place since March 31, air operations have been run from NATO’s Air Command Headquarters for Southern Europe in Izmir, Turkey.

[T]urkey hosted a conference of Syrian opposition forces called “Change in Syria” from May 1-June 2 in the city of Antalya. Although held under the sponsorship of the Egyptian-based National Organisation of Human Rights, logistics and security were provided by the host country.

“[T]he West wants to put the region under Turkish control like in the Ottoman days. Turkey is a NATO member and embodies a safe kind of Islam for the West, so they have done a deal to give everything to Ankara.”
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/turkish-actions-designed-to-trigger-nato-confrontation-with-syria/

SHANGHAI: In a statement that may be interpreted as the harshest response yet to the escalating 13-month-old Syrian crisis, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the first time on Wednesday raised the possibility of calling on the NATO military alliance to protect Turkey’s border against incursions by Syrian forces.
http://syria360.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/turkey-can-invoke-natos-article-5-for-syrian-intervention/

Istanbul (CNN) -- Turkey officially considers the shooting down of one of its military fighter jets by Syria to be a hostile act, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Sunday.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/24/world/meast/turkey-syria-plane/index.html

[T]he Turkish warplane shot down by Syria's air defense forces might have violated Syrian airspace, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Saturday.
"It is routine for jet fighters to sometimes fly in and out over [national] borders... when you consider their speed over the sea," Gul told the state-run Anatolia news agency. "These are not ill-intentioned things but happen beyond control due to the jets' speed."
http://en.rian.ru/world/20120623/174202636.html


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned Syria's downing of a Turkish fighter yet as "brazen and unacceptable" on Sunday and vowed close U.S. cooperation with Turkey to promote a political transition in Syria.
"The United States condemns this brazen and unacceptable act in the strongest possible terms," Clinton said in a statement following a conversation on Saturday with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-syria-crisis-clintonbre85n0l2-20120624,0,5568280.story


Turkish fighter jets violated Greek air space on February 9 2010, Greek daily Kathimeriny reported on February 10.
Reportedly, this was the first such trespassing of sovereign air space at the Aegean Sea perpetrated by the Turks since the turn of the new year, the report said quoting Greek defence officials.
The violation, as on previous occasions, was conducted by four F-16s and four Phantoms F-4s which penetrated Greek airspace at the south-eastern island of Samos, a touching distance from mainland Turkey.
Kathimerini said that the Phantoms peeled off from the initial formation and conducted a low flight over the islet of Farmakonisi. Greek fighter jets chased off the Turkish planes, the report said.
The Greek embassy in Ankara lodged an official complaint.
http://sofiaecho.com/2010/02/10/855589_eight-turkish-planes-violate-greek-airspace-and-are-chased-off-by-greek-fighters


The Associated Press
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish rebel hideouts deep inside northern Iraq, and Kurdish rebels killed one policeman and wounded three others in a roadside bomb attack inside Turkey on Sunday, authorities said.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/turkey-hits-kurdish-rebels-1463570.html