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ANKARA: Turkey's prolonged missile issue

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  • ANKARA: Turkey's prolonged missile issue

    Today's Zaman (Turkey)
    February 28, 2015 Saturday

    Turkey's prolonged missile issue

    GOKHAN -


    Turkey's prolonged missile issueThe prolonged issue of buying a new
    missile defense system has revealed that Turkey is lost when it comes
    to foreign policy.As many know, Turkey has declared its intention to
    buy a missile system from China, and that has upset NATO considerably.

    It is basic knowledge that NATO will not accept the integration of a
    Chinese system into its structure. For a while, Turkish officials
    argued that they have the software knowledge necessary for integrating
    the Chinese and NATO missile systems seamlessly.

    In fact, nobody believed this. A country incapable of producing any
    part of a missile system cannot possibly generate a software system
    that integrates two very complex systems.

    More recently, Turkish Defense Minister Ismet YIlmaz said, The Chinese
    system will not be integrated into the NATO system This is as strange
    as the previous claim about integration. Can one sincerely believe the
    possibility of a state's simultaneous deployment of a NATO and Chinese
    defense system? Yet, as sure can be, YIlmaz said the Chinese system
    will be integrated with Turkey's national defense system and will
    therefore be used independently of the NATO systemOne should bow to
    the genius of this solution -- Turkey has discovered the way to
    simultaneously deploy two gigantic, competing defense systems or at
    least integrate the Chinese defense system into its own! How is it
    that no other state has hit upon this brilliant strategy? Two sizable
    problems lurk.

    First, why does NATO allow Turkey, its ally, to choose Chinese
    technology in such a critical area? Second, is it technically possible
    to integrate the Chinese and the Turkish systems?Meanwhile,
    Ankara-based journalist Servet Yanatma has argued that Ankara wants to
    use the missile issue to restrain US and French declarations about the
    1915 events regarding the Armenians. That is, Ankara is not sure about
    the US position on this issue, which is to be laid out in April, so it
    is keeping the Chinese missile system on the table as a major
    bargaining chip against both the US and France.

    The fact is that both countries want to sell their missile defense
    systems to Turkey. Experts estimate that the total cost of such a
    project would be around $3.

    5 billion. While neither the US nor France is disposed to change its
    position on the Armenian issue, $3.

    5 billion might well give them pause.Ironically, the Armenian issue
    supports a lucrative lobby business between Turkey and the West.

    Every year, Turkey spends a significant amount of money attempting to
    prevent other countries from adopting an agenda as regards the
    Armenian issue that would have negative implications for Turkey.
    Moreover, several other issues as irrelevant as the missile defense
    system have somehow become linked to the Armenian issue.

    Today, Turkey's relations with the West are in crisis. President Recep
    Tayyip ErdoIan's brand of Islamism is putting Turkey on a new course.

    But is ErdoIan likely to be reconsidering Turkey's relations with
    NATO? My answer is yes. Turkey's Islamists today see NATO as a
    necessity, not as an ideological choice.

    If they can manage it, these Islamists will take to questioning
    Turkey's relations with NATO. In this vein, the missile defense system
    is also a litmus test.

    Will Turkey not refrain from putting its vital relations with NATO at
    risk?Let me clarify my opinion. Today, Turkey's continuing
    relationship with the West, and especially with NATO, is as it is
    because Ankara has failed to create an alternate route.

    Many in the West still think that Ankara will not risk its essential
    link to NATO, but that is not a sound perspective. Turkey is ruled
    today by a group of people who invest no hope in relations with the
    West.

    Therefore, Ankara's affair with China on the terrain of the defense
    missile system is a preliminary case study that displays how Turkey's
    new routes were pioneered.

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