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Some Turks see UN force in Lebanon chance to revive Ottoman glories

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  • Some Turks see UN force in Lebanon chance to revive Ottoman glories

    Some Turks see U.N. force in Lebanon as chance to revive glories of Ottoman
    rule; others see dangerous outcome

    AP Worldstream; Sep 01, 2006
    SELCAN HACAOGLU

    Some Turks _ remembering the glory of Ottoman times, when their empire
    stretched from southeastern Europe across North Africa and the Middle
    East _ may see engagement in the Lebanon peacekeeping force as a
    chance to reassert Turkish influence in the Middle East and win favor
    with the West.

    But others see a more dangerous outcome if they send troops to help
    enforce a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants: a Mideast
    quagmire that could engage Turkish troops in hostile fire with fellow
    Muslims.

    "Turkey having a military presence beyond its borders would be a
    prestigious development," Turhan Comez, a legislator from the ruling
    Justice and Development Party, acknowledged. "However, such a risk
    taken under these unstable conditions will draw Turkey into the line
    of fire, and I don't even want to think of the consequences."

    The government asked parliament later Friday to approve sending
    peacekeepers. The lawmakers are expected to vote on the resolution
    Tuesday _ the day U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is to arrive in
    Ankara. The number of troops is expected to range between 500-1,000.

    Europe, the United States and Israel are eager to see Lebanon
    peacekeepers from Turkey _ NATO's only Muslim member and one of the
    few Muslim nations with ties to Israel _ in the hope that strong
    Muslim participation could avert the impression that the
    U.N. peacekeepers are primarily a Christian, European force.

    And Ankara, nostalgic for the glory of more than 600 years of empire
    has hankered for a key role in a country it ruled for centuries _
    present-day Lebanon.

    The Ottoman Turks _ who began conquering the declining Arab empire in
    the 14th century _ added Lebanon and Syria to their domain in 1516.

    But by the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire was unable to stop Western
    interest in the oil-rich Middle East and Arab desires for
    independence. After World War I, France and Britain divided the
    Ottoman Empire into protectorates: today's Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and
    Jordan.

    Since then, however, the region has fallen into turmoil _ and the
    Islamic-rooted Turkish government believes it could play a role in
    returning stability to the region.

    "Turkey has an obligation as a regional power and the old guardian of
    the Middle East to exert its positive influence on developments,"
    editor in chief Ilnur Cevik wrote in The New Anatolian.

    Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he is responding to Lebanese
    Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's request for Muslim Turkey's help in
    monitoring the truce that ended 34 days of devastating fighting in
    southern Lebanon. He assured Turks the soldiers would only be
    protecting peace and helping with humanitarian aid, not disarming
    Hezbollah militants.

    "It would be treason to our history, our future and the high interests
    of our people to stay away," Erdogan said Thursday, playing on the
    emotional outpouring of support for the Lebanese and calling it
    Turkey's duty to protect the innocent women, children and elderly of
    Lebanon, where hundreds were killed in the fighting.

    "Let's not forget: If we shut our doors, we can't escape the flames
    that are surrounding us," Erdogan told the nation in a televised
    address Thursday. "The only way to protect our interests is to be
    part of the process nearby instead of remaining as spectators."

    "If you stay away, you become spectators to the killings of innocent
    people and to your own future," he said.

    The government also is aware that responding to the EU call for help
    could boost Ankara's efforts to join the European Union.

    European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso highlighted Turkey's
    "strategic role" in the U.N. force Wednesday, praising the
    "significant reforms" Ankara has made on democracy and the economy,
    according to Turkey's state-owned Anatolia news agency.

    But analysts question whether Turkish participation in the U.N. force
    would bring Ankara back to the days of regional rule.

    Joining the U.N. mission would have little meaning other than being "a
    triumph for Erdogan's neo-Ottomanism," said Michael Rubin of the
    American Enterprise Institute.

    "No good can come of this deployment for Turkey," Rubin said. "There
    is no real peace between Hezbollah and Israel. Does Turkey really want
    to be in the middle of it?"

    Rubin warned that any confrontation with Hezbollah could pit Ankara
    against Tehran, a key backer of Hezbollah with which it now has
    cordial relations.

    "Such an unwanted development would amount to an undeclared war
    against Iran," said Nihat Ali Ozcan, an analyst with the Economic
    Policy Research Institute in Ankara.

    And then there is the furor at home, and concerns that deployment
    would fly in the face of fierce Turkish opposition. Many Turks fear
    that their soldiers could end up facing hostile fire with fellow
    Muslims. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who serves in a figurehead role
    but has enormous influence in the country, has already spoken out
    against such a mission.

    The foreign minister, Abdullah Gul, also reassured Turks on Friday
    that Turkish soldiers would not disarm militants. "But of course, if
    the soldiers come under attack they would defend themselves," he said.

    Lebanon's Armenians, who make up about 4 percent of the country's
    population, have come out against Turkish participation _ a reminder
    that some in the region have not completely shed bitter memories of
    Ottoman rule.

    Armenians accuse the Ottoman Turks of killing 1.5 million ethnic
    Armenians in 1915 in what they call a campaign of genocide aimed at
    flushing out the Armenian population. But Turkey vehemently denies any
    systematic genocide, insists the number of dead is significantly
    inflated, and says most died from disease and hunger when they fled or
    were deported to Syria and Lebanon during World War I.

    "Of course I wouldn't want them to come to Lebanon _ not because they
    are Turks but because they have strong relations with Israel and they
    occupy a part of Cyprus," jeweler Manoog Minassian, a renowned
    crooner, said in Lebanon.
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