Bharat Rakshak

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Erdogan pursuing Islamist agenda against India

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Erdogan pursuing Islamist agenda against India

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The intelligence report also mentioned that Turkey is funding Islamist groups in Kerala and the separatist leaders in Kashmir.

It seems like every wannabe tinpot demagogue can easily meddle in India's internal affairs with impunity. I hope India returns the favor although it seems like we are just sitting on collective buttocks twiddling thumbs

https://www.spiegel.de/international/eu ... 13505b5084
Border Conflict Escalates
Erdoğan Risks War with Greece
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to redraw national borders in the Mediterranean region and is alienating neighboring countries. Turkey and Greece, both NATO allies, are mobilizing their navies against each other.
By Maximilian Popp, 25.08.2020.
In June 2006, Cem Gürdeniz, the head of the Turkish Navy’s planning staff, outlined a foreign policy concept that interested few at the time because it seemed overly audacious and aggressive. In a speech he gave in Ankara, Gürdeniz called for Turkey’s expansion in the Mediterranean region, saying the government needed redraw its borders, taking up arms if necessary, to secure the country’s economic and political interests. He called his plan "Mavi Vatan,” Blue Fatherland. "I wanted Turkey to rise to become a real maritime power," he said in a Skype interview.
The reason people in Ankara didn’t take the proposal seriously back then was that Turkey was still striving to become a member of the European Union. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was prime minister at the time and has since become president, had no interest in a territorial dispute with neighbors like Greece.
Gürdeniz’s own career came to a sudden halt when, like hundreds of other officers, he was arrested in 2011. The self-described Kemalist felt more committed to the secular heritage of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern-day Turkey, than Erdoğan’s Islamist-conservative government. Erdoğan had no use for such people. Despite his innocence, Gürdeniz spent three and a half years in the high security Silivri prison near Istanbul before he was rehabilitated. Since then, Turkey has reoriented its foreign policy. Erdoğan has abandoned the goal of EU membership and is now pursuing a more nationalist course. The government has also rediscovered Gürdeniz’s old plan.
"It’s About the Future of Turkey”
Erdoğan has placed the eastern Mediterranean Sea at the center of his maneuvers to attain greater geopolitical power. The president, his foreign minister and the right-wing extremist party he shares power with in a coalition government are all suddenly speaking publicly about the "Blue Fatherland.” Furthermore, Gürdeniz has risen from being an enemy of the state to the architect of the government's foreign policy - a reality that he is more surprised about than pleased with. "This is not about Erdoğan,” he says. "It’s about the future of Turkey.”
The territories in the Mediterranean region are currently defined by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, but Erdoğan is no longer willing to accept its terms. His country, he claims, was disadvantaged by the way the border was drawn. Both Turkey and Greece have mobilized their navies in recent weeks. The last time the situation in the region grew this tense was back in 1996, when Turkish and Greek warships faced off over two uninhabited islands in the Aegean Sea. The issues underlying the conflict are rather technical, but that doesn’t make them any less explosive. At the heart of the matter is which country is entitled to what share of the eastern Mediterranean.
Up in Arms
Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, individual countries may exploit raw materials within a radius of 200 miles of their islands in a so-called Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Turkish government is currently up in arms over that provision because several Greek islands are located only a few kilometers from the coast of Turkey, and the size of the Turkish EEZ is much smaller than Ankara would like it to be. The dispute could be resolved if both sides were to refer the matter to an independent institution - the International Court of Justice in The Hague or a court of arbitration. The parties would have to agree to share the disputed sea area until a verdict is reached. Instead, however, they are insisting on maximum demands.
......
Gautam

https://tfipost.com/2020/09/from-being- ... se-colony/
From being an Islamic Republic, Turkey is heading towards being a Chinese colony
Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra, 21 September 2020
Turkey, under the reign of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is working overtime to join the club of North Korea, Pakistan and Nepal to emerge as yet another client state of Communist-ruled China, which is pretty much buying the entire country as a part of its unending appetite for territorial expansionism and neo-colonial control over what prior to Chinese hijacking are a free people. Like Iran, Turkey too is being quite literally bought by China, which is using its state-owned companies to push in money into the nosediving Turkish economy.
While China’s deal with Iran, spread over a span of the next 25 years to attain complete control over Iranian society has been leaked to the press, the Chinese Communist Party has so far kept its Turkish cards close to its chest.
However, the bailing of the Turkish economy by China is so brazenly overt that it does not take an intelligent guess to arrive at the conclusion that Erdoğan is selling Turkey away.
Ankara’s Forex reserves are dwindling, its currency is hitting record lows against the US dollar and the plight of its tourism industry coming to a standstill are all contributing to an easy Chinese walkover in Turkey. To add to Turkey’s woes, the sanctions threat and the COVID-19 pandemic are further obliterating whatever remained of the Turkish economy. Also, Erdoğan’s lacklustre fiscal policies are killing what was once a booming economy.
In every sector of Turkey which is vital to its economy, the Chinese have inexplicably become an inherent feature. Energy, infrastructure, transportation and hence tourism, telecommunications, et al; the Chinese can be seen everywhere. As part of the infrastructure-building initiative, Turkey completed a railroad from Kars into its east, via Tbilisi, Georgia, to Baku, Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea, from where the railroad is linked to transportation networks to China. While Turkey gets development done on Chinese expenses, the Chinese enter Europe, West Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean by bailing out Erdoğan.
......
Gautam
Added much later: Anyone with a lot of time in his hands who is watching "Ertugrul Gazi" dubbed in Urdu?

I've watched it on Netflix with English sub-titles... until the end of the first season, a large number of episodes. Erdogan's behaviour is modelled to some extent on that mythical Turkic figure. Of course, it is another matter that both Suleyman Shah and Ertugrul (his son) were probably not Muslims in the conventional sense. Ertugrul's son Othman (founder of the Ottoman Dynasty) was one however.

But the Paks love it, for obvious reasons. They even criticised the leading female role Esra Bilgic, for appearing in a bikini on a personal vacation... Naturally, the Turks treat the Paks as servants at every level.

One country creating so many problems, has Unkil thrown in the towel and ceded ground to PRC/CCP ? Looks like the only braveheart in the town standing up to these bullies is us(meaning Indians not US)

JE Menon wrote:I've watched it on Netflix with English sub-titles... until the end of the first season, a large number of episodes. Erdogan's behaviour is modelled to some extent on that mythical Turkic figure. Of course, it is another matter that both Suleyman Shah and Ertugrul (his son) were probably not Muslims in the conventional sense. Ertugrul's son Othman (founder of the Ottoman Dynasty) was one however.
But the Paks love it, for obvious reasons. They even criticised the leading female role Esra Bilgic, for appearing in a bikini on a personal vacation... Naturally, the Turks treat the Paks as servants at every level.

I found it in YouTube dubbed into Urdu. Watched parts of the first episode, but it was so irritatingly Islamic that I was getting khujli in my privates. I might watch some more episodes to see if it gets better.
Gautam

It does not get better. But it is still worth watching to understand the psychology of the present day Paktugruls... and their Turkish "cousins". It is reasonably well made, and it is very popular across the Turkic world - Central Asia, etc. This and other programmes have helped Turkey expand its Islamo-Turkic lebensraum well beyond its shores. It is an overestimation of the impact of that which is feeding Erdogandu's current posturing. The Turkish strategic community is very pragmatic. This yelling and threatening is intended to gain mental space, not territorial. In fact, it has already done so. There is an agreement to talk between Greece and Turkey, for instance. However, when you look at it, what has actually happened is that Greece has agreed to talk about what is its own territory by international law as understood in the Treaty of Lausanne, which Turdogan now rejects. Does this "unequal treaty" approach sound familiar? Sure it does. China is the leading proponent of changing ground realities by citing unequal treaties.

So much more is to come. Only question is how violent it is. Meanwhile, France & Germany have started playing Kancho with one another over the issue of how each is responding to the Turkish challenge in the Mediterranean - never a good sign. Germany is pretending that has nothing to do with the fact that it hosts around 5-10m ethnic Turks, gastarbeiters and citizens; while France is pretending it has not much to do with its own neo-colonial interests in the Mediterranean, particularly the Eastern Med.

JE Menon wrote: So much more is to come. Only question is how violent it is. Meanwhile, France & Germany have started playing Kancho with one another over the issue of how each is responding to the Turkish challenge in the Mediterranean - never a good sign. Germany is pretending that has nothing to do with the fact that it hosts around 5-10m ethnic Turks, gastarbeiters and citizens; while France is pretending it has not much to do with its own neo-colonial interests in the Mediterranean, particularly the Eastern Med.

The Turkish Gastarbeiters in Germany are 6 or more generations living in that land. The first groups started coming from the 1960s or thereabouts. I have worked with them for 8 long years in Berlin. They are now "Turkish" in name only and often can not speak either Turkish or German fluently. Those with even a small amount of education or saved money left for Turkey long ago, some have developed entrepreneurship and opened small business (Donner Kebap shops) that give them some hope of achievement. But the bulk of them are today completely rudderless and without any hope of future advancement. They are aliens in Germany and aliens in Turkey, when they go visiting there. Their accents, attire and attitude set them apart in both countries. We are sure to see some of this group into terrorists if the environment permits. The difference between foreign workers in the UK and France and that in Germany is that France and UK had colonies. So, there is/was some sympathy for immigrants from those countries. Germany did not have a colony in Turkey. In my last visit to Berlin about 2 years ago for about 8 weeks, I found that currently Germany is flooded with Arabs immigrants who bring with them another set of troubles. Well, what goes my father and so on.
Gautam

Yes I agree. It is useful also to note that Turdogan's Turkey has done an effective "outreach programme" to the extent that now Turkish politicians campaign in Germany/Netherlands in order to secure victory back home. Sometime in 2017, IIRC, one Turkish politician was prevented from doing this by the Dutch authorities, as they had their own local elections at around that time.

Turkey Pakistan China Iran North Korea Malaysia and who else?

Russia will be outside wont be inside...


Turkey keeps dragging Kashmir in UN

https://m.timesofindia.com/india/turkis ... 269414.cms

rpartha wrote:Turkey Pakistan China Iran North Korea Malaysia and who else?

Russia will be outside wont be inside...


Turkey keeps dragging Kashmir in UN

https://m.timesofindia.com/india/turkis ... 269414.cms

Russia will never truly tie up with the others you mentioned because of it's strong orthodox traditions and its bloody past vs Islamics. They will use them as they used kadyrov in Chechnya. But they will ditch them at a time that is suitable.

For now they are very useful against the US, and the Russians will use them for that purpose.

In the meanwhile India needs to up its PR game. I'm shocked that the bjp which is so savvy in the use of SM within India, has had no real answer to these jokers....time to tighten the screws a bit....

For starters they should propose a resolution in the UN against genocide and war crimes with specific references to Armenia, Bangladesh and Kashmir. and set up a commission to investigate the same.

Create compelling videos and flood SM media with these.

https://scroll.in/article/973620/why-a- ... ium=public
Why a Turkish historical drama has become wildly popular with India’s Muslim youth
Ikramul Haque & Saheed Meo
They draw inspiration from the characters in ‘Dirilis: Ertugrul’ exemplifying courage, loyalty and sacrifice in order to fight for their own rights and dignity.
Since October 2017, when Dirilis: Ertugrul (Resurrection: Ertugrul), began streaming on Netflix, the Turkish historical drama has become immensely popular in India – especially among young Muslims. The drama first aired in Turkey in December 2014 and ran for 448 episodes over five seasons.
In Kashmir, several babies have been named after the protagonist Ertugrul. During the winters, Ertugrul-style caps with claret-coloured fur have become popular in the Valley. In May, Riyaad Minty, a senior official at TRT, the Turkish broadcaster that produces the show, took to Twitter to express his excitement at the dramatic increase in the number of Indians searching for the show on YouTube. Facebook.
Filled with captivating plots, religious overtones, heroic fights, mysteries and myths, Dirilis is a fictional drama that traces the prehistory of the formation of the Ottoman Empire. It tells the story of the 13th-century Oghuz Turks led by the legendary hero Ertugrul, father of Osman who is considered to be the founder of the Ottoman Empire.
Political controversy
However, the show has been banned in Saudi Arab, United Arab Emirate and Egypt because of a controversy around the political message and cultural meaning of the drama. In February, the highest fatwa council of Egypt issued a statement accusing Turkey of trying to create an “area of influence” for itself in the Middle East using its soft power.
Critics in Turkey claim that Dirilis reinforces a message of Muslim nationalism that has helped President Recep Tayyeb Erdogan legitimise his power. The fact that the writer and producer of the series, Mehmet Bozdag, is linked to the President’s Justice and Development Party and the President Erdogan has publicly lauded the series and its cast seems to strengthen this claim.
The show is also extremely popular in Pakistan. The TRT Ertugrul PTV YouTube channel, which is airing the Urdu dubbed episodes of Dirilis, has 8.8 million subscribers. In June, there were reports that two statues of Ertugrul had been erected in Lahore. Perhaps the appeal for Pakistani Muslims lies in the fact that they are trying to construct a sense of the past that is attempting not to dentify itself with the history of the subcontinent but instead takes pride in being part of the wider Muslim ummah.
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Gautam

Looks like MBS is turning the screws on Turdogan!!
Given the First WW and the Lawrence of A notwithstanding, the Arabs hate the Turks
https://tfipost.com/2020/10/arab-world- ... -movement/
If this is true then, another military coup in Turkey is not too far away!!
This probably depends on the 'Secular' high level officers in the Army who have not been purged by Turdogan
And if that happens then, Dimran woint be far behind!!
One down, one hanging by the thread and the third depends solely on the unwashed abduls and the mullas ( I meant Mahathir/Turdogan/Dimran)

Turdogun,Murdogun,Erdogun,thy name in any lingo is son-of-a-gun, in Wild West fashion. Nevertheless,in waging war against Armenia ,as is your genocidal bent, on behalf of the Azeris,you've made a fatal mistake.

France recalls its ambassador from Turkey after Erdogan's insensitive and insulting statements against Emmanuel Macron ! Just days after a teacher was beheaded in France by a islamic fundamentalist, Erdogan accused Macros of harboring "islamophobia" and suggested Macron needs mental health advise ! Man..its no wonder the pakis consider the turks as their mai-baap, both are complete nutjobs with delusions of grandeur and a yearning for return to an imaginary past glory.

Ambar wrote:France recalls its ambassador from Turkey after Erdogan's insensitive and insulting statements against Emmanuel Macron ! Just days after a teacher was beheaded in France by a islamic fundamentalist, Erdogan accused Macros of harboring "islamophobia" and suggested Macron needs mental health advise ! Man..its no wonder the pakis consider the turks as their mai-baap, both are complete nutjobs with delusions of grandeur and a yearning for return to an imaginary past glory.

Kuch link-wink, pichar-wichar toh dalo saar!

https://www.france24.com/en/france/2020 ... n-comments

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... an-comment

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/ ... since-1999
The Turkish lira is on its worst losing streak since 1999
Low real interest rates, rising geopolitical risks and ebbing foreign investor interest in Turkish assets pressure lira.
Ugur Yilmaz and Tugce Ozsoy, 23 Oct 2020
Turkey’s lira headed for its longest weekly slide since 1999, abandoning a tentative rebound after the central bank spooked investors by refraining from an interest-rate hike just when economic and geopolitical risks are mounting.
The ninth week of declines also took the currency closer to the psychological 8-per-U.S. dollar mark, underscoring markets’ concern that the country’s monetary policy remains too loose for its economic and credit conditions.
After an unexpected rate hike in September encouraged wagers that the central bank had shifted to a hawkish stance, policy makers surprised the markets by keeping the policy rate on hold in their latest meeting Thursday. While the bank continued tightening by expanding another rate corridor, traders saw it as inadequate to defend the lira.
“The willingness is not there yet,” said Viktor Szabo, a senior fixed-income manager at Aberdeen Asset Management in London. “Years of policy mistakes are now culminating in the loss of reserves and pressure on the currency. Yesterday’s decision also underlined that authorities are not willing to slow down credit growth, which is essential to restore the balances.”
The current streak of losses evoked memories of 1999, a turbulent year for Turkey. The government was dissolved, early elections were called, and two devastating earthquakes killed thousands. The troubles eventually led to the economic crisis of 2001.
......
Gautam

Turks in Gemrany support Erdogan.


https://www.dw.com/en/why-many-turks-in ... a-38472130

https://theprint.in/defence/ertugrul-se ... ir/527819/
Ertugrul series, propaganda, money — security agencies flag growing Turkey sway in Kashmir
From shows capturing Kashmiri youth’s imagination to money trickling in via NGOs & businesses, steady increase seen in Turkish influence & projection of President Erdogan as role model.
Snehesh Alex Philip 21 October, 2020
Srinagar: Security forces and agencies have flagged Turkey’s growing influence in Kashmir and are keeping a close watch on the money coming in from the West Asian country that has increased its focus on the region, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said Turkey’s growing influence began over the last few years and increased with the visit of top Pakistani army generals to the country in 2019.
“A number of journalists, including two relatives of separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, are now working for Turkish media organisations or pursuing courses in Turkish universities. Suddenly one finds more and more people getting tied up with Turkey,” a source said.
The source pointed out an effort is being made to increase Turkey’s influence in Kashmir especially with the young population.
Multiple sources in the defence and security establishment and the civil society seconded this observation.
Shows, secret visits
The first development that caught the eyes of the security agencies was the Turkish web show Dirilis: Ertugrul (2014), which has now become a rage in Kashmir, especially among the youth.
Dirilis: Ertugrul is a historical fiction based on the life of Ertugrul, father of Ottoman Empire founder Osman I. It highlights the struggles of Kayi, a Turkic tribe that went on to establish one of the most powerful global empires in the Anatolia region.
......
Gautam

Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 is a datapount that is not on radar as yet.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17217956

If good old Erdu wants to re-establish the Ottomon caliphate , he certainly cannot do it on the back of Turkish economy ! The Lira broke through the psychological barrier of 1 USD = 8 lira against the US greenback this week.

Turkey is demonstrating their claim to the throne of Islamic world by displaying military prowess over their rivals in middle east. TSP will provide the foot soldiers and China will happily bank roll this campaign if it can upset the apple cart of the west and create another global distraction it can take advantage of. Azerbaijan campaign is an experiment and so far it is going well for Turkey and co.

How soon will China, Pakistan, Turkey try to replicate the Azerbaijan vs Armenian experiment in Kashmir/Ladakh?

Russia will sit out out the Himalayan conflict as they did in the Caucasus.

Armenia == India
Azerbaijan == China

tandav wrote:How soon will China, Pakistan, Turkey try to replicate the Azerbaijan vs Armenian experiment in Kashmir/Ladakh?

Russia will sit out out the Himalayan conflict as they did in the Caucasus.

Armenia == India
Azerbaijan == China

Azerbaijan's role will be taken up by TSP. Turkey and China will provide arms and funding respectively.

TSP does not have 5X military power over India... only China does

Dilbu wrote:Turkey is demonstrating their claim to the throne of Islamic world by displaying military prowess over their rivals in middle east. TSP will provide the foot soldiers and China will happily bank roll this campaign if it can upset the apple cart of the west and create another global distraction it can take advantage of. Azerbaijan campaign is an experiment and so far it is going well for Turkey and co.

Dilbuji,
Turkey is hated by the Arabs and other countries that they have ruled in the past. Their poor financial condition does not enable them to have a large army that they need to become the modern Ottoman Empire. Turkey may have the man power to create a large army. But they are piss poor and backward. TSP will betray any country for just a few dollars. No one trusts them. Furthermore, they have been spoilt by the mighty Khan, and they will not be satisfied by the measly amount offered by either Turkey or the Lizard.
Gautam

^^^ If you look at the history, the troops were paid from looting after conquest (in the initial periods and later from tax collected from the trade that passed the lands as Turkey sat on the cross-roads)
The elite Janisarries started from the Child-Slave armies.
They were one on the troika of 'Gun-powder Islamic hordes' (others being Mughal and Persians Safavids)
But again gun powder come from China via the Mongols Khanates
Check out one important invention by the Muslim world which helped them to control trade and make money.
Until oil discovery and Petro-Dollars the middle-east was a cess-pot
So where will TSP/Turks get money for paying the fidayeens!!
Chin will only fund for land mass gain as their population is growing just like the locusts and they want to emulate what the locusts do (after eating a field out they fly to the next one)!!

China wants to be the new US and it is only a matter of time before they start using their 10T or whatever economic power to maintain an assorted bunch of mercenaries in different parts of the world. Pakis true to their nature have been the first in line to GUBO. Many will follow.

Dilbu wrote:Turkey is demonstrating their claim to the throne of Islamic world by displaying military prowess over their rivals in middle east. TSP will provide the foot soldiers and China will happily bank roll this campaign if it can upset the apple cart of the west and create another global distraction it can take advantage of. Azerbaijan campaign is an experiment and so far it is going well for Turkey and co.

Turkish economy is sliding. A couple of operations inside Turkey by the Kurdish elements and you will see the Turkish Lira being used as Toilet paper. Turkey is overestimating itself and the cowardly inaction so far by the Russians has emboldened it to punch way above its class.

Vips wrote:

Dilbu wrote:Turkey is demonstrating their claim to the throne of Islamic world by displaying military prowess over their rivals in middle east. TSP will provide the foot soldiers and China will happily bank roll this campaign if it can upset the apple cart of the west and create another global distraction it can take advantage of. Azerbaijan campaign is an experiment and so far it is going well for Turkey and co.

Turkish economy is sliding. A couple of operations inside Turkey by the Kurdish elements and you will see the Turkish Lira being used as Toilet paper. Turkey is overestimating itself and the cowardly inaction so far by the Russians has emboldened it to punch way above its class.

May be thats why Russia is not taking any action and let Turkey sink on her own and they fill in the void without getting committed in one more front?

Turkey has in the recent past shown the willingness (recklessness) to wade into wars far way and closer to home. As is evident from the case of TSP and its fourfathers, funds will find its way to you one way or another if you are ready to get your hands dirty. All you need is a bottle of vaseline and the right attitude. So counting on the bad shape of Turkish economy alone to solve the problem is not a good idea.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/11/17/bi ... -on-track/
Biden Can’t Avoid Erdogan, but He Can Keep the U.S.-Turkish Relationship on Track
Turkey’s leader has caused many headaches in Washington in recent years, but letting ties deteriorate further would be disastrous.
By Michael Singh, Sinan Ulgen | November 17, 2020
When Joe Biden assumes office as U.S. president in late January, one of the thorniest foreign-policy challenges he will inherit is not one of his predecessor’s creation. Indeed, the problem of U.S. relations with Turkey has wrong-footed U.S. administrations from both parties in the past two decades.
From Ankara’s refusal to permit U.S. troops to cross the Turkish-Iraqi border in 2003, to sharp bilateral disagreements over Syria policy during the Obama administration, to Turkey’s more recent acquisition of Russian air defense systems despite its NATO membership, the U.S.-Turkish relationship has given headaches to a long series of American presidents.
Yet lingering threats in the region and rising risks globally underscore the continuing value of U.S.-Turkish cooperation to both countries, and they highlight the importance that a Biden administration seek to rescue the relationship from its sharp deterioration, which under President Donald Trump deepened further due to disagreements over Turkey’s incursion into northeast Syria and its opposition to Arab normalization agreements with Israel.
Turkey, which bridges Europe and Asia, also finds itself straddling the fault line of a seismic shift in U.S. foreign policy. U.S. strategy is consciously moving away from an emphasis on fighting terrorism and nonstate actors to a focus on great-power competition, particularly with Russia and China. Washington and Ankara have clashed on both fronts under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, disagreeing over how to fight terrorism in Syria, for example, as well as how to manage relations with Moscow.
In any reformulation of U.S. policy in the Middle East, the role Turkey chooses to play will be important—for better or for worse.
The coronavirus pandemic may not usher in a new world, but it has accelerated a transition in the global order. The crisis has exacerbated U.S.-China tensions and has highlighted for many states the risks of supply chains heavily dependent on Beijing. While the resulting shift in U.S. foreign policy in East Asia is plain to see, its implications for U.S. strategy elsewhere have not been clear.
In the Middle East, which has been the prime focus of U.S. foreign policy for the first decades of this century, it is unclear whether Washington intends to execute the same strategy—defending a broad array of U.S. interests, especially counter terrorism, through direct intervention and heavy support for allies—with fewer resources, or forge a new regional strategy.
This new strategy would consciously seek to look at Middle East issues through a great-power competition lens—preserving close relations with the region’s medium-sized powers and preventing inroads by Moscow and Beijing even at the expense of other concerns such as terrorism, as the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy foreshadowed.
The likely answer is a bit of both. Facing a need to shift resources toward Asia, the U.S. government will increasingly look to outsource to its regional partners the safeguarding of mutual interests. Yet it will also seek to recruit those partners in a broader effort to buttress global order and norms against increasingly bold challenges from great-power competitors.
In any such reformulation of U.S. policy in the Middle East, the role Turkey chooses to play will be important—for better or for worse. It is the region’s largest economy, with a GDP reaching $750 billion.
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_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
https://www.israelhayom.com/2020/11/15/ ... or-turkey/
What a Biden administration means for Turkey
President-elect Joe Biden's history with Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdoğan gives mixed indicators of how he might deal with Ankara's increasingly authoritarian leader.
By Burak Bekdil, 11-15-2020
President-elect Joe Biden's history with Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan gives mixed indicators of how he might deal with Ankara's increasingly authoritarian leader.
From the first day of the US presidential race, pro-Erdogan media and pundits vocally supported the incumbent, even though Donald Trump's planned design for the Mideast, including Arab-Israeli normalization, clashed with their Islamist, anti-Israeli, pro-Hamas militant raison d'être. "Devil you know" thinking fails to fully explain that support, especially as Trump was widely viewed as an anti-Islamic racist. Why, then, would Turkey's Islamists side with a pro-Israel, allegedly Islamophobic president? Because they viewed a prospective Biden administration as potentially devastating to the Erdogan government.
When in 2019 a perfect storm was expected in Turkey's relations with the United States, Trump confounded expectations by warmly praising Erdogan shortly before his state visit to Washington. "He's a friend of mine, and I'm glad we didn't have a problem because, frankly, he's a hell of a leader, and he's a tough man," said Trump. "He's a strong man, and he did the right thing and I really appreciate it, and I will appreciate it in the future."
The meetings in Washington went much better than expected, despite several deeply problematic dossiers. They ended with an exchange of compliments and paved the way for Trump to put off the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which would have imposed sanctions on Turkey at a time when its economy was on the brink of collapse.
The sanctions garnered massive support in Congress after Turkey insisted it would activate a Russian-made long-range air- and anti-missile defense system on its soil. Washington feared that activation of the S-400 system would compromise US and NATO aerial military assets stationed in Turkey. Trump apparently did not share this fear. And as it turned out, there was more to his generosity to Turkey's Islamist strongman than sidestepping the CAATSA.
It eventually surfaced that Erdogan had been pressing Trump for months to quash a criminal investigation into a Turkish state lender—an investigation that threatened not only the bank but members of Erdogan's family and political party. Halkbank was being probed on charges that it had undercut Trump's policy of economically isolating Iran, a centerpiece of his Middle East plan. Without Trump's help, Halkbank could have been slapped with sanctions to the tune of several billions of dollars. And it still can—unless Joe Biden morphs into another Erdogan fan.
Biden's history with Erdogan gives mixed signals as to the possible future direction of his dealings with an increasingly authoritarian leader.
As vice president, Biden paid four official visits to Turkey between 2011 and 2016. His portfolio with Erdogan contained difficult dossiers, such as northern Syria, the fight against Islamic State (ISIS), and US military and logistical support for Kurdish fighters. But Erdogan got his much-wanted go-ahead for a military incursion into northern Syria from Trump, not his predecessor, in October 2019. Turkish troops have deployed there, tensely neighboring Kurdish troops who are viewed by Ankara as terrorist forces and by Washington as allies.
.......
Gautam

http://www.istanbulvisions.com/itu.htm

With a history stretching back over 227 years, providing technical education within a modern educational environment and strong academic staff, ITU is strongly identified with architectural and engineering education in Turkey. Since its inception and foundation under Ottoman rule, ITU has constantly lead the way in reform movements, and in the latter era of the Republic of Turkey, ITU has assumed pivotal roles in the reconstruction, modernization, and administration of the country. The efforts and expertise of ITU graduates have been major contributors in the planning and construction of Turkey?s roads, bridges, dams, factories, buildings, energy plants, communication networks, villages and cities.

What is happening to the Indo-Turkish Fleet Supply Ship deal ?

Is it still on?

Latest seems to indicate it's going ahead.

Why not just pay the paks ?

From March 2020
https://www.new-ships.net/prospects-ord ... -deal.html

Moving form the US thread:

https://greekcitytimes.com/2020/12/04/t ... s-kashmir/
Turkey is preparing Syrian mercenaries to fight in Kashmir: report
by Paul Antonopoulos
Turkey, which has previously sent Syrian mercenaries to Libya and Azerbaijan, is preparing to send fighters to Kashmir to fight against India.
According to ANF News, which quoted local sources in northern Syria, Abu Emsha, the head of the Turkish-backed Suleyman Shah Brigades terrorist organization that is a part of the so-called Syrian National Army, informed his members five days ago that Ankara wanted to reinforce Kashmir.
The head of the terrorist groups, Abu Emsha, said that Turkish officers would later ask the commanders of other terrorist groups to list the names of those who want to go to Kashmir.
Abu Emsha stated that those who will go from his terrorist group will be registered in a list and they will receive $2000 in funding. Abu Emsha told the militant fighters he met that Kashmir is a mountainous region like Artsakh.
Local sources stated that Ankara has been conducting this activity in Azaz, Jarablus, Al-Bab, Afrin and Idlib for a short time, picking the names of the fighters to go. The sources say they will be transported secretly.

"I am not very sanguine about information from Greek sources about Turkey. To be taken with a pinch of salt?"

Sounds true to me. Turkey under Erdogan, with popular backing from the neo-pakis in Turkery, is taking over the "eff with India" project from the pakis -- check out all the "pakis and turkeys are tr00 brothers" attitudes and posts from the Turkish men and women, and their "democrat-loving" bernie-brothers like TheYoungTurks.

Turkey is also working with PFI cadre in creating terrorism iin India -- this was reported by norwegian intelligence reports.

https://www.republicworld.com/india-new ... l-ban.html

https://goachronicle.com/india-needs-to ... -accident/

https://www.nordicmonitor.com/2020/11/t ... itant-pfi/

" Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief" -- sounds like the entire "UN Human Rights Council" which comprises of all countries that fall under "murderous and genocida scum on this planet", including the Pakis. The turks are handing out 2000$ a head allegedly for mercenaries -- pakis are beggars, so who's actually funding all of this?

Turkey and Qatar are doing this with support from the US govt -- Qatar is "Top ally" in the region, with Ilhan Omar working as liaison between the US govt and the Qatari govt., given her background as an al-qaeda terrorist. @ImamTawhidi had released the full report to the US govt., only to see it vanish like the pakistani grenade cap evidence.