Turkey recalls its ambassador to US over Jerusalem embassy move
Is this part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s plan to build Ottoman Empire v 2.0?
Earlier this week, I pondered the lack of American ambassadors to 32 countries, including some critical regional or economic allies.
Now, we are down a Turkish ambassador, albeit temporarily, as that nation has pulled its envoy in response to the opening of the American embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.
The Turkish Embassy in Washington says the Turkish ambassador to the United States is being called home over the Trump administration moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Turkey is also recalling its ambassador to Israel for consultations. Turkey’s Foreign Affairs Ministry says it strongly condemns the decision to move the embassy and deems the move “legally null and void.”Turkey says the move “disregards the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people” and “will not serve peace, security and stability in the region.”
The recall and “consultations” come on the heels of a series of massive protests in Istanbul over the embassy move.
Thousands of people rallied in Turkey and Jordan on Friday to protest against the decision to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and to mark the 70th anniversary of what Palestinians call their “nakba,” or catastrophe of Israel’s founding.
…In Istanbul, several thousand people marched with Palestinian and Turkish flags. Many carried signs reading “Palestinian belongs to the Palestinians” and “Al-Quds belongs to Muslims.”
However, I suspect Turkey’s move is related to the fact that its current head, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, wants to build Ottoman Empire v 2.0. To start with, Turkey has just called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
Ankara wants the meeting of the 57-member-state body to be held on Friday, spokesman Bekir Bozdag said.
…Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of the U.S. move and the violence in Gaza, with the government declaring three days of mourning for those killed.
President Tayyip Erdogan described the actions of the Israeli forces as a “genocide” and Israel as a “terrorist state”.
“No matter from what side, whether from the United States or Israel, I curse this humanitarian plight, this genocide,” he said.
Turkey’s regional antics have now inspired another multi-national meeting. EU leaders will meet their counterparts from six western Balkan countries — Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia — in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. In part, it will be to discuss how to deal with the Turkish interest in the Western Balkans.
European leaders have expressed concern over Turkey’s expanding influence in the western Balkans, particularly since the country has taken a more authoritarian turn. Speaking to the European Parliament last month, French President Emmanuel Macron put Ankara and Moscow in the same bracket, saying he did not want the Balkans to “turn towards Turkey or Russia.”
Turkey’s economic presence is generally not what worries Ankara’s European allies. They fear that Turkey may gain political influence at the expense of Brussels.
That remark ruffled feathers in Ankara, even prompting a rebuke from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan himself.
Turkey considers the Balkans part of its natural sphere of influence as the former imperial power, with the Ottoman Empire famously stopping only at the gates of Vienna at its peak.
Looking at the data, I think there is much more to the Turkish reaction to the embassy move that meets the eye.
I might suggest that President Donald Trump recall our ambassador to Turkey for a “consultation” about these issues, but Turkey is one of the 32 nations that doesn’t have one appointed.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Where is that gif of Powers Booth in Tombstone saying, “Well bye!”?
Turkey is really turning into a pain and is a dubious member of NATO.
Trump should be proactive in protecting nations friendly to the US but disliked by Turkey and block the sale of the F-35 to Turkey and return its money. The aircraft’s bugs will eventually be worked out like other, past, expensive high tech U.S. aviation platforms, and it could be a menace to countries like Greece.
Turkey has attacked Greece before and the world acquiesced in the land grab (Cyprus). Turkey is also a threat to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Perhaps less of a threat to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania (50% to 70% Muslim majority) and Kosovo with 90%+ Muslim population. Needless to say the Serbs see a large problem with any attempt by Turkey to gain ascendance over the region.
The USA really needs to reevaluate its relationship with Turkey before it delivers the F-35 fighter jets scheduled for the end of June. There are too many investments in advanced technology in the F-35 to simply hand it over to a Russian ally.
Now that the Ambassador is gone, we need to kick the rest of the diplomatic personnel out.
http://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases-statements/turkey-postpones-hearing-july-18-sends-pastor-andrew-brunson
“WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was deeply disappointed today by a Turkish court decision to once again postpone proceedings in the case of Pastor Andrew Brunson, an American citizen and leader of a small Protestant Christian church who is facing up to 35 years imprisonment on false terrorism and espionage related charges. Vice Chair Sandra Jolley attended today’s hearing in Aliaga and witnessed the nearly eleven hours of proceedings. USCIRF has condemned the charges against Pastor Brunson and called for his immediate release.
‘We leave the courthouse with serious concerns. Today’s eleven hours of proceedings were dominated by wild conspiracies, tortured logic, and secret witnesses, but no real evidence to speak of. Upon these rests a man’s life,’ said Vice Chair Jolley. ‘Worse still, the judge’s decision at the conclusion of today’s hearing to dismiss all of the witnesses called by Pastor Brunson’s defense without listening to a single minute of their testimony is simply unconscionable…'”
Turkey is more and more like Iran everyday. They’re railroading an American citizen because they think Obama is still in office, and Obama would love to railroad American citizens if he still could. Erodogan is taking hostages, pure and simple.
Time for a little brinksmanship with Turkey (thanks, Obama, you worthless POS; now it’s time for brinksmanship everywhere after our historic first anti-American invertebrate President).
And definitely no F-35s. Ever.
Good-bye TURKEY Good-bye!
LOL
Hey Turkey, don’t let the gibbets hit you were the …..
President Trump should recognize the land controlled by the Kurds as its own sovereign nation. Kick Turkey out of NATO and then offer the Kurds membership in NATO.
Trump should send them all back and a map with Constantinople restored. Send them the right message. Make Constantinople Christian Again.
Depending on the location, maybe DJT will build a second Trump International hotel at the site of the former Turkish embassy. Location is everything.
Time to kick all their diplomats out, and to “recall” the 150 million dollars that we give them every year.
After 20+ years of ruminating over the total failure of Islam as a social structure, thoughts of Turkey having a little snit fit just makes me laugh. The ONLY THING that Muslims (and Turkey) understands is power; nothing else matters. Totally stomp them into the mud and you’ll get begrudging respect for 10 years, until they feel frisky again and decide to cut your throat.
Turkey made claims of Palestinian genocide, but just the opposite is true – and provable with facts. However, Turkey has practiced genocide or ethnic cleansing with the Greeks, the Armenians and the Kurds – and this is also provable with facts. Perhaps it’s time to just do a total blockade on Turkey. They still have Germany as a client state, let’s check back on that circus in 20 years. Turkey and the Fourth Reich should get along well.
All this is just noise. Turkey’s value to the US and to Europe is just what it’s been for all of modern history—it blocks Russian expansion in the Mediterranean.
Turkey has not been a menace to western Europe since its severe drubbing at Lepanto in the sixteenth century and its second defeat at Vienna in the seventeenth. Unfortunately it’s not a serious menace to Russia, either. So Christian Europe has been propping Turkey up for centuries. The obvious object, then as now, was to keep Russia confined, as well as possible, to Asia. Europe continued to support Turkey throughout its wars with Russia in the nineteenth century, and again after it was whipped by the goofy little Balkan states in 1912. In fact after the first Balkan War the European powers connived to return Turkey’s foothold in the Balkans, just to the west of Constantinople, probably reasoning that if the Bosporus and the Dardanelles were in a border area, it would be hard for anyone to keep Russia out. (The loser of 1912’s Second Balkan War was Bulgaria, which wasn’t of quite as much geopolitical significance.)
Continued containment of Russia is the rationale behind the pretense that Turkey has any remote involvement with the North Atlantic theater of operations. And that’s why it’s still worth putting up with some annoyance, no matter what silly noises Erdogan makes.
Actually, Turkey’s role in the event of any form of hostilities with Russia, in the Med, in Europe, or the North Atlantic is as likely to be an enabler of Russia. At every turn, they have acted against us in recent years. They are not on our side.
We have to deal with the reality of the situation.
In 1922 Ataturk perceived Europe as the Strong Horse, and the Ottoman Empire as a sick old man that had finally reached the end.
Now it’s Europe that’s becoming a sick old man, and Ataturk’s vision of Turkey as a liberal, modern, secular nation (but not an empire, and with a minimal role for Islam) just doesn’t look as attractive to Turks as it did a century ago, does it?
The decision to move the US Embassy is legally null and void? Huh? Does this mean that if for some reason Turkey needs to deliver a message to the US Embassy in Israel, it will still use the old address in Tel Aviv? Do we still have an office (a Consulate) at the old address? Do we give a damn if Turkey recognizes the change of address?
And I really could care less if the Turks remove their ambassador to the US (or the one to Israel). Maybe we should ban Erdogan from the US, based on the unprovoked attacks by his guards on the peaceful protesters in New York. “Peaceful” by normal standards, not by Gaza MSM standards.
Null and void. How silly. Imagine Isreal dictacting where the capitol of Turkey is. Did we accidentally ship a Gaggle of SJWs to Turkey?
President Trump should declare we recognize Constantinople not Istanbul. Lol.
Know what? I think I’ll fire off a letter to Turkey”s leader doing just that. How can it be wrong for me if it’s not for John Kerry?
Look, name your country after poultry and you can only expect problems.
Is that what happened to Guinea, Cornwall, and Canada?
What happens when you name your country after porcelain, lacquer, leather, or little bits of paper?
Only a short matter of time before Turkey attacks Greece (undefended border with lots of Turkish illegals crossing over), the non-Muslim part of the Balkans, and probably the remainder of Cyprus. Their invasion force in Germany will keep them under control should Merkel balk, while the Muslims in the rest of Europe will do the same to keep everybody else in line. They’ll dare us to to stop them. If we don’t we’ll as much as admit we’re ceding Europe to Islam.
Turkey is mad, does anyone care? America needs to make it clear that we will not put up with any Muslim BS. How about we insist that since Turkey has such strong feelings about Palestinians, Turkey should take in all Palestinians. Clean them out of Gaza and the West Bank, territory which is Israel’s.
Who gives a shit about what Turkey does? Kick them out of NATO. They do not belong in the first place. In reality, they are allies of the Russians and the civilized world does not need them.
Will Netanyahu finally find the balls to stop chasing after Turkey and kissing Erdogan’s behind? Will he demand the return of the millions of Israeli taxpayers’ money he paid in compensation for the terrorists the IDF killed on the Mavi Marmara?
We don’t call them “Turkey” for nothing.