Cyprus-Forum.com

[Lit]

I just heard on the television that the Prime Minister of Turkey said in parliament today that the next flotilla to Gaza will very likely be accompanied by a Turkish warship.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, is considering the use of the navy to break the siege on Gaza.

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article. ... d+for+Gaza

[Lit]

I just heard on the television that the Prime Minister of Turkey said in parliament today that the next flotilla to Gaza will very likely be accompanied by a Turkish warship.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, is considering the use of the navy to break the siege on Gaza.

http://www.speroforum.com/site/article. ... d+for+Gaza

Turkish security sources quoted Prime Minister Recep Erdogan as preparing to go beyond abusive rhetoric against Israel and considering using his navy to break Israel's siege of Gaza - or even sailing aboard the next flotilla to break the blockade in person on the assumption that Israel would not dare stop him.
According to debkafile's sources in Ankara, the Obama administration is in contact with the Turkish PM and trying to cool him down.

http://www.debka.com/article/8837/

[turkkan]

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/le ... v-1.294359

Published 20:45 05.06.10 Latest update 20:45 05.06.10 Leftist and rightist Israelis clash at Gaza flotilla protest in Tel Aviv
Smoke grenade hurled at left wing protesters from unknown source; demonstrators carry banners saying 'the government is drowning us all.'
By Chaim Levinson
Tags: Israel news protest Gaza flotilla Leftist and rightist demonstrators clashed Saturday night in Tel Aviv as more than 6,000 Israelis gathered to protest the Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship earlier this week, in which nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed. Leftist protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday, June 5, 2010.

Photo by: Nir Keidar


The protest was originally planned by to mark the anniversary of the Six Day War which broke out 43 years ago today. Among the organizers were left wing parties Meretz, Hadash and Peace Now organization. The demonstrators carried banners saying "The government is drowning us all," "We must stride for peace," and "A right wing government = clear and immediate danger to state security."

As the demonstrators marched from the Rabin Square near the city's municipal building toward the Tel Aviv museum several hundred of rightist demonstrators followed the demonstration. Upon their arrival at their final destination the spirits heated up between the two opposing groups, during which they two sides cursed and shouted at each other.

A smoke grenade was also hurled at the left wing demonstrators from an unknown source.

Police were deployed to keep the two sides apart. Clashes were also reported on the central Ibn Gevirol Street.

Hundreds of left wing demonstrators carried Israeli flags to establish that they were not demonstrating against Israel nor questioning the country's existence, but rather protesting the actions executed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government.

[turkkan]

Haaretzs main editorial today.


http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/turkey-i ... y-1.294203

Turkey is not an enemy
Compared to Egypt, Turkey has for years maintained close and cordial ties with Israel at all levels. Israelis have considered it a sister nation, trade with Turkey has expanded, and military cooperation has been perceived as a given.
Haaretz Editorial Of all Israel’s ties with Muslim countries, those with Turkey are the oldest. Until recently, in terms of strategy, that country was considered no less important than Egypt. The affair of the Gaza aid flotilla and the harsh and excessive comments by Turkey’s prime minister against Israel have dramatically shaken the stability of these ties. Israelis now perceive Turkey as an enemy that should be denounced, or at least boycotted.


But it should be pointed out that compared to Egypt, Turkey has for years maintained close and cordial ties with Israel at all levels. Israelis have considered it a sister nation, trade with Turkey has expanded, and military cooperation has been perceived as a given. Visits by the leaders of both countries have also become a standard part of our political lives. Turkey’s involvement in the indirect talks between Syria and Israel helped forge understandings between Damascus and Jerusalem, and normalization was not a subject Turkey and Israel disagreed on. Normalization actually preceded official ties between the two countries.


The change did not happen because of the victory of the Justice and Development Party and the election of Recep Tayyip Erdogan as prime minister. That party has been in power since 2002, and despite the dark prophecies that accompanied its rise to power, relations between the two countries continued normally. Turkey’s anger exploded when its prime minister felt betrayed by former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who allowed Turkey to try to mediate between Israel and Hamas on the eve of Operation Cast Lead. Turkey realized then that Israel considers it a given; that it has to agree with all of Israel’s whims.


Erdogan’s criticism of Israel is not different in substance than the criticism by other friends of Israel in Europe and the United States. But his style is more blatant and direct. Erdogan does not agree with Israel on continuing the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and he is finding hard to understand, like many Israelis, the logic behind the blockade after four years in which it has not achieved Israel’s goals. Erdogan’s backing of the flotilla was just a continuation of the view that the blockade cannot go on.


Israel can ignore Turkey’s serious arguments, slander its prime minister and describe the flotilla’s activists as terrorists. This will not be enough to remove the stain of the operation that dragged Israel’s image − not Turkey’s, eight of whose citizens were killed − into the mud internationally.


Israel, which is now struggling to save its good name, considers public relations the sole means for achieving its goals. But without wise policy, public relations will prove empty of substance. The first step is to rehabilitate relations with Turkey, especially with its prime minister.


For this, political courage is necessary, which will lift the blockade on Gaza Strip and bring Turkey closer to the region’s political process. Without all this, Israel can only continue being pleased with itself under the political blockade imposed on it.

[Lit]

Israel and Turkey: It's Complicated
The flotilla foul-up pits former friends against each other.

By Christopher Hitchens Monday, June 7, 2010, at 11:01 AM ET


I hope that by now the state of Israel regrets its past collaboration with some of the worst elements in modern Turkey. It's not so long since American Jewish lobby groups, and reportedly even the Israeli ambassador in Washington, were successfully lobbying Congress to vote down the resolution condemning the genocide of the Armenians. (The narrow passage of the resolution this year seems to have contributed to the increasingly evident paranoia and megalomania of Turkey's thuggish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.) And, even as Turkish troops occupied one-third of Cyprus and expelled one-third of its Greek population, as well as mounted illegal incursions into Iraq in pursuit of rebel Kurds, the Israeli armed forces happily embarked on joint exercises with them. If this era of unseemly collaboration is over, then so much the better. Even so, there's something slightly hypocritical about the way in which Israeli crowds have suddenly discovered the human rights record and the regional imperial ambitions of their former ally.

Talking of hypocrisy, though, how do you like the way that the words activist and humanitarian have suddenly made their appearance in our media? Activist is employed to describe a core group of Turks and Arabs, very many of them identifiable by name as affiliates or members or emulators of the Muslim Brotherhood. (I suppose in fairness it also covers such figures as the credulous Irishman Denis Halliday, who used to campaign so loudly for the lifting of sanctions on Saddam Hussein.) And humanitarian is used to describe the materials that these worthies are seeking to donate to Hamas. But is it really humanitarian to make contributions to a ruling party that has a totalitarian and racist ideology and is in regular receipt of nonhumanitarian aid from Syria and Iran, two of the most retrograde and aggressive dictatorships in the world?

Those who care about justice and self-government for the Palestinians might want to be helping Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as they build up the institutions of an embryo state on the West Bank. And those who worry about the conditions of the Gazans might want to send convoys of aid to the many United Nations and NGO operations in the Strip that have a proven record of transparency and efficiency.

Read the full article here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2256168/

[Paphitis]

Israel and Turkey: It's Complicated
The flotilla foul-up pits former friends against each other.

By Christopher Hitchens Monday, June 7, 2010, at 11:01 AM ET


I hope that by now the state of Israel regrets its past collaboration with some of the worst elements in modern Turkey. It's not so long since American Jewish lobby groups, and reportedly even the Israeli ambassador in Washington, were successfully lobbying Congress to vote down the resolution condemning the genocide of the Armenians. (The narrow passage of the resolution this year seems to have contributed to the increasingly evident paranoia and megalomania of Turkey's thuggish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.) And, even as Turkish troops occupied one-third of Cyprus and expelled one-third of its Greek population, as well as mounted illegal incursions into Iraq in pursuit of rebel Kurds, the Israeli armed forces happily embarked on joint exercises with them. If this era of unseemly collaboration is over, then so much the better. Even so, there's something slightly hypocritical about the way in which Israeli crowds have suddenly discovered the human rights record and the regional imperial ambitions of their former ally.

Talking of hypocrisy, though, how do you like the way that the words activist and humanitarian have suddenly made their appearance in our media? Activist is employed to describe a core group of Turks and Arabs, very many of them identifiable by name as affiliates or members or emulators of the Muslim Brotherhood. (I suppose in fairness it also covers such figures as the credulous Irishman Denis Halliday, who used to campaign so loudly for the lifting of sanctions on Saddam Hussein.) And humanitarian is used to describe the materials that these worthies are seeking to donate to Hamas. But is it really humanitarian to make contributions to a ruling party that has a totalitarian and racist ideology and is in regular receipt of nonhumanitarian aid from Syria and Iran, two of the most retrograde and aggressive dictatorships in the world?

Those who care about justice and self-government for the Palestinians might want to be helping Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as they build up the institutions of an embryo state on the West Bank. And those who worry about the conditions of the Gazans might want to send convoys of aid to the many United Nations and NGO operations in the Strip that have a proven record of transparency and efficiency.

Read the full article here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2256168/

Christopher Hitchens is one my favourite writers!

The guy is just incredible, and very balanced.

A true humanitarian, who writes about Cyprus often.

This is real journalism....

[BirKibrisli]

Yeah sure....Read all about Christopher Hitchins here....Great journalist,humanitarian indeed....

O.K., deep breath. Two things must be kept in mind. Christopher Hitchens, in
Pop Culture terms or what have you, is a major voice of our time. Yes, that's
what it's come to. So the "just ignore him" tact won't really do. He is also an
idiot and liar of rare tenacity, so sorting out his subterfuge is daunting in terms
of volume rather than, as it might once have been, dismantling any clever
subtlety. That is, he long ago became a crude bullshit artist, but he keeps it
coming.

http://christopherhitchenswatch.blogspo ... sense.html

[BirKibrisli]

REad more about this "balanced" "humanitarian" "true journalist"...

Christopher's latest scummy, little racist hit piece in Slate today How me telling women what they can and cannot wear is in fact liberation for said women Is more full of holes than a Gorgonzola cheese that someone has , for some reason, punched a million more holes into.

One bit did stand out though. One reason Muslim women in France must live up to a dress code dictated by a fat middle aged white man is that their choice of clothing may be,

http://christopherhitchenswatch.blogspo ... ow-as.html

[BirKibrisli]

And if you hadn't enough already....

It is high time for Christopher Hitchens to be arrested. I've had some conversations with our lawyers in Dubai. If he dares to enter certain states, the man is through. As an advisor to the Bush administration's destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, we consider Hitchens an accomplice to war crimes.

http://christopherhitchenswatch.blogspo ... ested.html

[Paphitis]

A truly great man and brilliant journalist!