Syrian Information Minister Muhsin Bilal praised the excellent and strategic relations between Syria and Turkey, and said that the two countries were seeking to expand their strategic alliance to include Iran, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon.
Bilal also said that a people whose land has been occupied may use any means to liberate it, because resistance is a sacred right recognized by all international charters.
Iran and Syria plan to create a new world order, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday.
"Iran and Syria have a joint mission to create a new world order on the basis of justice, humanity and belief in God," Ahmadinejad told visiting Syrian Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Abrash.
Syria is Iran's main ally in the Middle East and both countries consider Israel to be their political arch-foe.
"At the current juncture, the role of Iran and Syria is historic and therefore bilateral cooperation should be increased," Mehr news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
The semi-official FARS news agency reported that Ahmadinejad said that "the resistance of nations including Iran and Syria has caused a deadlock in policies of Arrogant System in economic, political and military sections."
He also turned to presence of bulling powers' forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen and said, "The enemies' plots will harm themselves."
Iran's president added that he felt that the United States would eventually be forced by the two states to stop interference in the region and withdraw its military personnel.
Mehr quoted the Syrian speaker as saying that Iran and Syria would side by side move towards continued resistance and fight against world imperialism.
Also on Thursday, Syria's state-run news agency reported that Syria's president Bashar Assad is urging the United States to play a stronger role in Mideast peacemaking.
Assad appealed to the U.S. on Thursday during a meeting with U.S. congressman Alcee Hastings in Damascus.
President Barack Obama has stepped up diplomatic efforts to improve ties with Syria and push the country away from its alliance with Iran and its support of militants like Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas.
Damascus wants to end its international isolation and hopes the U.S. can help boost its weak economy and mediate peace talks with Israel.
Assad also lashed out at Israel saying it was not ready for peace. The last round of Syria-Israel peace talks collapsed in 2000.
Leftist Turks protest against the United States in Istanbul, Turkey, on Friday, March 5, 2010, a day after a U.S. congressional committee approved a resolution branding the World War I-era killing of Armenians a genocide. The banner says Turkey should boot the U.S. military from the Incirlik military base in southern Turkey. (AP Photo/Ibrahim Usta)
(CNSNews.com) – As the Obama administration scrambles to contain the diplomatic fallout with Turkey over the “Armenian genocide” resolution in the U.S. Congress, Turkey’s tilt towards Iran continues largely unnoticed.
Turkey’s “formerly Islamist” president, Abdullah Gul, in a weekend telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart called for a deepening of bilateral relations and voiced support for Iran in international forums. Turkey is non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, the most important international body to have Iran on its current agenda.
The encounter was virtually ignored by media outside of Turkey and Iran.
Iran’s Fars news agency said Gul told President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “that the two countries would defend each other’s positions at international forums, and emphasized the importance of tightening the relations between them and of consulting on regional and security matters.”
Ahmadinejad praised Ankara’s policies and “strong and progressive” bilateral ties. He said that “regional and global developments are changing in favor of Iran and Turkey,” Turkey’s Dunya Gazetesi newspaper reported.
President Barack Obama holds a town hall meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, on Tuesday, April 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
The phone call came three days after Gul and President Obama spoke on the phone, on the eve of a vote in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee on a resolution condemning as “genocide” the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire early last century.
The resolution passed by a single vote, Turkey withdrew its ambassador in protest, and the administration has vowed to prevent it from going to the House floor.
Obama has been at pains to strengthen ties with Turkey, a longstanding NATO ally, including it on the itinerary for his first presidential trip outside North America last April, and welcoming Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a personal friend when meeting with the Turk at the Oval Office in December.
Yet under Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) ally, Gul, Turkey’s policies regarding Iran are increasingly at odds with those of Washington. Turkish and Iranian leaders have paid reciprocal visits and Erdogan has referred to Ahmadinejad as his “friend.”
As the Obama administration works with allies to win support for a new U.N. Security Council Iran sanctions resolution, it faces resistance not just from China, but also from Turkey and several other non-permanent council members.
Last November, Turkey declined to support a resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censuring Iran for its uranium enrichment activities, choosing instead to abstain.
Gul’s conversation with Ahmadinejad came on the eve of a visit to the region by Vice President Joe Biden, with Iran high on the agenda.
While the U.S., Israel and others suspect that Iran’s nuclear program is a cover for attempts to develop an atomic weapons capability, Turkey says it supports Tehran’s position that the program is for peaceful purposes only.
Amid a growing trading relationship, the two nations have also signed agreements and protocols on energy investment, including joint exploration and production of natural gas reserves in Iran. Erdogan is pushing, against U.S. wishes, for Iran to be included in a key pipeline project that aims to bringing Caspian natural gas to Western markets via Turkey and bypassing Russia.
Iran and Turkey have long histories of animosity, underscored when the Islamic revolution of 1979 widened the gap between fundamentalist Iran and traditionally Muslim but secular Turkey.
The warming of tie over the past year or so has coincided with Ankara’s increasingly outspoken stance on the Israel-Arab conflict. Under Erdogan, Turkey has shifted from being a key mediator between Israel and its neighbors – notably Syria – to becoming one of Israel’s most ardent regional critics.
In a weekend interview with a Saudi newspaper Al Wattan, Erdogan expressed his support for the Palestinians, whether they were members of Mahmoud Abbas’ West Bank-based Fatah faction or Hamas, the Iranian-backed terrorist group ruling Gaza.
“I love my brothers in Fatah and my brothers in Hamas wherever they are,” the paper quoted the Turkish prime minister as saying, urging the rival factions to unite because division was only in the interests of their “enemies.”
Despite their AKP having Islamist roots, both Erdogan and Gul insist that it is committed to a secular state.
The government recently launched a crackdown on the fervently secular military, accusing dozens of commanders of links to an alleged coup plot.
Turkish-Syrian drill raises concerns in Israel
Joint military exercise, similar to one held a year ago, signals tightening of ties between Ankara, Damascus. Israeli state officials fear Turkey may transfer Israeli technology to Syria
Ron Ben-Yishai
A joint Turkish-Syrian drill along the border the two countries share will commence Tuesday in a similar outline to a previous exercise conducted a year ago.
The tightening of Turkish-Syrian ties raises concerns in Israel, mainly due to their political significance and the possibility that the relations will expand to full out military cooperation. Such cooperation may include the transfer of technology Turkey received from Israel into Syrian hands.
The drill illustrates the strengthening of relations between Ankara and Damascus. Some six months ago the two countries revoked their citizens' need for a visa in crossing the Turkish-Syrian border.
Currently, there are no signs of a leakage of technology, however Israeli state officials continue to worry over the prospect. Defense Minister Ehud Barak has even raised the issue during his meetings in Washington.
The joint military drill is aimed at tightening cooperation between Turkish and Syrian land forces defending the shared border. At the core of the exercise is the establishment of procedures which would enable the border protection forces to communicate and coordinate operations in case of a border breach.
No aerial forces, including the RPVs Israel recently sold Turkey, are expected to take part in the drill.
One of the reasons Turkey is interested in strengthening the collaboration with the Syrian army is due to the fact that Kurdish PKK operatives, who also operate inside Turkish territory, infiltrate the country via Syria, which contains a large concentration of Kurds.
Turkey threatened to invade Syria in 1998 if it failed to foil infiltration activities. Syria eventually allowed the Turks to apprehend Kurdish leader Ausman Ojalan, who found refuge in Syria and who is currently detained in Turkey.
The PKK continue to operate in the region, though less extensively.
By YAAKOV KATZ, AP AND JPOST.COM STAFF
06/01/2010 13:41
Navy prepares for expected arrival of 2 more activist ships.
Israel will use more aggressive force in the future to prevent ships from breaking the sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, a top Navy commander told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
"We boarded the ship and were attacked as if it was a war," the officer said. "That will mean that we will have to come prepared in the future as if it was a war."
The anonymous comment came the day after the Israeli Navy raided a flotilla of international aid ships headed to the Strip. Nine activists were killed in the raid, and dozens were injured.
The flotilla which arrived late Sunday night was comprised of six ships, and another two ships, including The Rachel Corrie, were expected to attempt to enter Israeli waters in the coming days.
Greta Berlin of the Free Gaza Movement said earlier Tuesday that a cargo boat was already on the way to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
A second boat carrying about three dozen passengers was expected to join the first, she added.
An emergency meeting is taking place at NATO headquarters at the request of Turkey following yesterday's raid by Israel on a ship carrying aid to Gaza.
The NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was deeply concerned by the deaths of at least ten pro-Palestinian activists in the attack.
The UN Security Council has condemned the killing of at least nine people by Israeli commandoes aboard the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship.
In a formal statement following more than ten hours of closed door discussions in New York, the UNSC called on Israel to conduct an impartial investigation and to release the ships and civilians being held.
Four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have called for Israel's blockade of Gaza to be lifted, but the US did not do so.
During the UN session, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Israel had committed a serious crime.
At least four Turks were among nine people killed in the Israeli raid on aid ships bound for Gaza, a Turkish diplomat said.
Israeli radio has said 480 activists captured in the raid are being detained, while 48 others would be expelled.
It claims its troops came under attack as they intercepted the vessel in international waters.
The campaigners say the soldiers opened fire without provocation.
Former president of Ireland Mary Robinson has described the Israeli embargo on Gaza, and its treatment of Palestinian citizens, as 'one of the greatest human rights violations'.
The former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said the blockade was illegal, inhumane and counter-productive.
Mrs Robinson said that if ongoing talks involving the US Middle East envoy George Mitchell do not lead to an outcome, the US should come forward with a proposal for resolving the problems in the region.
She added that the EU must show a concerted political will, and do much more in terms of resolving the conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due back in Jerusalem from Canada where he will convene his Cabinet to consider the situation.
With international criticism of his country mounting, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said he hoped common sense would prevail.
Mr Barak said he regretted the loss of life, but hoped the majority of nations would understand that Israel was in a difficult position because of the presence of the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Israel's most popular newspapers described the interception operation as a 'blunder' as the global recriminations continued.
Protests against yesterday's attack took place in many countries, including several US cities, with the biggest demonstrations in Turkey.
There were clashes this morning on the border with Gaza.
The Israeli military said militants had tried to cross the border and there was an exchange of gunfire.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday that Israel's attack on a flotilla of aid bound for Gaza threatens to ignite a war in the region.
The two sides made a joint statement after Hariri's pre-planned visit to Damascus on Monday, saying that they strongly condemn the heinous crime committed by Israel through the brutal attack on unarmed civilians on board of the Freedom Flotilla carrying relief supplies and humanitarian aid to the besieged Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The statement warned that Israeli violations of basic humanitarian norms and international laws threaten to plunge the Middle East into a war which will not only affect the region.
Talks between Assad and Hariri tackled the growing development of the bilateral relations and the high-level coordination between the two countries. Assad asserted Syria's support for Lebanon against the continuous Israeli threats.
Israel's navy on Monday morning attacked the flotilla, made up of six boats carrying some 700 pro-Palestinian activists and 10, 000 tons of humanitarian aid bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip with 19 civilians dead.
Later, Hariri had a phone conversation on Monday with the Turkish President Abdullah Gul, to whom he presented his condolences for the Turkish martyrs killed on the Freedom Flotilla.
Hariri expressed his strong condemnation of this aggression, stressing Lebanon's solidarity with Turkey over the painful event. Hariri also told Gul that Lebanon, which currently chairs the Security Council, called for an urgent meeting of the Council to discuss this aggression. For the same purpose, Hariri called Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in anticipation of the United Nations Security Council meeting expected in this regard.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Lebanese, Palestinians and followers of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah demonstrated in front the UN headquarters in Downtown Beirut and other areas around the country, carrying banner saying "This is a crime against humanity" and some other anti-Israeli slogans.
ANKARA, May, 6. (A.A). The Turkish Navy Task Force (TDGG) will begin serving in the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas as of May 10 until July 5.
In a written press release, the Turkish Navy said that the TDGG was formed to contribute to international peace and security.
The TDGG will make it possible for concerted military exercises with various countries and facilitate port visits, the Turkish Navy said.
As part of the TDGG, TCG Kemalreis, TCG Gaziantep, TCG Turgutreis, and TCG Giresun frigates will be on duty without being tied to any coastal facilities.
A ceremony will take place at the Aksaz Navy Command in Marmaris town on May 10 to officially begin TDGG's mission.
The Turkish government has said it is sending three aircraft to Israel to repatriate 20 of its citizens who were wounded when Israeli commandos stormed a ship carrying aid supplies to Gaza.
Earlier, the UN Security Council condemned the killing of at least nine people - thought to be Turkish citizens - in the attack.
In a formal statement following more than ten hours of closed door discussions in New York, the UNSC also called on Israel to conduct an impartial investigation and to release the ships and civilians being held.
Four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have called for Israel's blockade of Gaza to be lifted, but the US did not do so.
During the UN session, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Israel had committed a serious crime.
Israeli radio has said 480 activists captured in the raid are being detained, while 48 others would be expelled.
These include six Irish citizens. A seventh is leaving the country voluntarily.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin has reiterated his call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Irish citizens.
In a statement, Mr Martin said: 'I met the Israeli Ambassador last evening and made clear that the Irish Government expects the immediate and unconditional release of all the Irish citizens detained.
'The seven individuals concerned did not enter Israel illegally; rather they were essentially seized from international waters, taken into Israel and asked to sign documents confirming that they entered illegally. This is simply not acceptable.'
The group of six consists of Irish citizens Fintan Lane and Fiachra O'Luain of the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign, two naturalised Irish-Libyans, one Irish passport holder who is based in Australia and one person of Irish-Polish dual citizenship.
The Irish/Malaysian vessel, the Rachel Corrie, is making its way to Gaza with humanitarian aid. The vessel is currently north of the coast of Libya.
Denis Halliday, a former UN Assistant General Secretary who is on board the Rachel Corrie, said it was up to the US to put pressure on Israel to ensure such attacks are not repeated.
It had been reported earlier that Israel's navy is ready to stop the vessel, which is expected to reach Gazan waters tomorrow.
An officer told Israel army radio that he expected an easy takeover of the ship.
With international criticism of his country mounting, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said he hoped common sense would prevail.
Mr Barak said he regretted the loss of life, but hoped the majority of nations would understand that Israel was in a difficult position because of the presence of the militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Deputy Israeli Ambassador to Ireland Ruth Zack defended Israel's actions under international maritime law.
She also said that the Irish detainees who are contesting their deportation should leave Israel voluntarily.
The group behind the Gaza flotilla that engaged in deadly clashes with Israeli commandos today counts among its top supporters the friends and associates of President Barack Obama, namely the founders of the Weather Underground terrorist organization, William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, as well as Jodie Evans, the leader of the radical activist organization Code Pink.
Earlier today, Israeli navy commandos raided the six-ship flotilla, encountering heavy resistance and live fire from the activists. Several activists were killed and dozens of others were reportedly injured, as were several of the Israeli commandos.
The flotilla was organized by the Free Gaza Movement, a coalition of leftist human rights activists and pro-Palestinian groups engaged in attempts to break a blockade imposed by Israel on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Ayers, Dohrn and Evans' Code Pink have led several recent Free Gaza Movement initiatives, including attempted marches into the Gaza Strip. Dorhn was in the Middle East just last month on behalf of the movement.
Ayers and Dohrn were close associates for years with President Obama, while Evans was a fundraiser and financial bundler for Obama's presidential campaign.
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In January, WND reported Ayers, Dohrn and Evans were involved in provoking chaos on the streets of Egypt in an attempt to enter Gaza with the Free Gaza Movement to join in solidarity with the territory's population and leadership.
The three helped to stir riots after the Egyptian government refused to allow a large number of protesters to enter neighboring Gaza. Eventually, the protesters accepted an Egyptian offer of allowing about 100 marchers into Gaza. Once in the territory, those marchers were reportedly met on the Gaza side by Hamas' former Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
At the time of the march, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., wrote a letter in support of a "humanitarian delegation from Massachusetts" to Gaza. Members of Ayers', Dohrn and Evans' group documented on their blogs how Kerry's letter was used at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo while attempting to pressure Egypt to let their group into Gaza.
Images of the letter were also posted on the Electronic Intifada website run by Ali Abunimah, who was with Evans' group in Egypt and who, WND previously reported, spoke at pro-Palestinian events in the 1990s alongside Obama. In one such event, a 1999 fundraiser for Palestinian "refugees," Abunimah recalled introducing Obama on stage.
Kerry's office previously met with Code Pink members, WND has learned. Sarah Roche-Mahdi of Code Pink also is a member of the United for Peace and Justice Palestine Task Force, which met with Kerry's staffers.
Kerry last year became the most senior U.S. politician to visit the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, although at the time he did not meet with Hamas leaders.
Dohrn later wrote on a blog that she was briefly detained at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo following the January protests there by her group: "Bill and I went to the American Embassy at 10 a.m. and asked to see the ambassador. We were ushered into a holding pen a block away from the embassy building where we joined 35 people already there, surrounded by Egyptian soldiers," she wrote.
Deadly clashes
Israeli Naval Forces intercepted the flotilla today attempting to break the maritime closure of the Gaza Strip.
An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson told WND commandos boarded the ships after numerous warnings from Israel requesting the ships redirect toward the Israeli port of Ashdod, where they would be able to unload their aid supplies, which could then be transferred to the Gaza Strip after undergoing security inspections.
During the boarding of one of the ships, the Marmara, activists onboard attacked IDF naval personnel with live fire and light weaponry including knives and clubs, the IDF spokesperson said.
"The demonstrators had clearly prepared their weapons in advance for this specific purpose," said the spokesperson. "As a result of this life-threatening and violent activity, naval forces first employed riot dispersal means, followed by live fire.
"IDF naval personnel encountered severe violence, including use of weaponry prepared in advance in order to attack them," said the spokesperson.
The IDF released a YouTube video clearly showing activists attacking Israeli commandos, including attacks with live fire.
Close Obama associates
Evans formed Code Pink, a far-left activist organization, in 2002 to protest America's war in Iraq. The group previously met with Hamas and with leaders of the Taliban. Evans was a fundraiser and financial bundler for Obama's presidential campaign.
Abunimah traveled in some of the same political circles as Obama in the 1990s. Abunimah previously described meeting with Obama at a fundraiser at the home of Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi, reportedly a former PLO activist. Khalidi was also a close associate of Obama.
"[Obama] came with his wife. That's where I had a chance to really talk to him," Abunimah recalled. "It was an intimate setting. He convinced me he was very aware of the issues [and] critical of U.S. bias toward Israel and lack of sensitivity to Arabs. ... He was very supportive of U.S. pressure on Israel."
According to quotes obtained by Gulf News, Abunimah recalled a 2004 meeting in a Chicago neighborhood while Obama was running for his Senate seat. Abunimah quoted Obama telling him "warmly" he was sorry that "I haven't said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race."
"I'm hoping when things calm down, I can be more up front," Abunimah reportedly quoted the senator as saying.
Abunimah said Obama urged him to "keep up the good work" at the Chicago Tribune, where Abunimah contributed guest columns that were highly critical of Israel.
Ayers, meanwhile, became a name in last year's presidential campaign when it was disclosed the radical worked closely with Obama for years.
Ayers helped launch Obama's political career with a fundraiser in his home. Obama served on the board of a Chicago nonprofit alongside Ayers. The terrorist later hired Obama to serve as chairman of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a job Obama later cited as experience that helped qualify him to run for public office.
While at the CAC, Obama and Ayers both granted funds to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.
WND columnist Jack Cashill has produced a series of persuasive arguments that it was Ayers who ghostwrote Obama's award-winning autobiography, "Dreams from My Father."
Ayers and Dohrn were two of the main founders of the Weather Underground, which bombed the New York City Police headquarters in 1970, the Capitol in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. The group was responsible for some 30 bombings aimed at destroying the defense and security infrastructures of the U.S.
Characterizing the Weather Underground as "an American Red Army," Ayers summed up the organization's ideology: "Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents."
"Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon," Ayers recalled in his 2001 memoir, "Fugitive Days." "The sky was blue. The birds were singing. And the bastards were finally going to get what was coming to them."
Ayers brandished his unrepentant radicalism for years later, as evidenced by his now notorious 2001 interview with the New York Times, published one day after the 9/11 attacks, in which he stated, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough."
Ayers posed for a photograph accompanying the New York Times piece that showed him stepping on an American flag. He said of the U.S.: "What a country. It makes me want to puke."
