Turkey drifts South and East

Submitted by Jon (France), Oct 28, 2009 at 07:53

Turkey was an extraordinary counter example in the debate over the thesis of a conflict of civilisations.

Turkey's AKP"s bid to roll back the reforms of Mustafa Kemal, and its relocation of its strategic focus to the Middle East is a game changing issue.

Turkey has to understand that its disengagement from the "West" bears costs. This is not only in our interests is in in Turkey's interests as well, as the country might reflect again on it's new course if the costs became significant, very quickly.

It seems to me that the Nabuko pipeline route might be reconsidered, to exclude transition via Turkey. Turkish banks (whose laundering of Russian "black money" has been critical to the maintenance of a "stable" exchange rate for the Lira) might be put under detailed examination, with "source of funds" documentation being examined with real attention. IMF support should be reduced to the same criteria afforded to Syria, and, of course, Turkish Nato membership examined if we do not want our military planning documents to arrive by courrier daily in Teheran.

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