My earlier posts at End the Lie have been dealing with the conundrum of Turkey and her dramatic re-emergence in the guise of the former Ottoman Empire.

Integral to this enormous shift in power in the Middle East are her future relations with those important axles of the western alliance – NATO and the EU.  She belongs to the former but not the latter, as is well known.

The word “belongs” in connection with NATO is now in serious doubt. My powers of prophecy in this matter are confirmed.

Turkey has now served clear notice that her membership of NATO is entirely conditional, precisely the menu a la carte approach that I suspected lay behind all the New Ottoman strategies. This, in passing, is exactly what happened when President Charles de Gaulle of France fell out with NATO back in the 1960′s.

As for the EU, she can safely dispense with the fruitlessly-prolonged charade of pursuing full membership.

She has long enjoyed a full customs union with all the EU states, the only prize worth bothering with it.

She does not need all those strangling political entanglements. Henceforth it is the Turkish Commonwealth, A.K.A. the New Ottoman Empire, which preoccupies the strategists in Ankara.

Turkey’s slow unwinding of her links with the Zionist administration of Israel was entirely predictable in the wake of the Mavi Marmara affair last May.

Israeli Special Forces boarded a Gaza aid ship flying Turkish colors in international waters.  Eight Turkish citizens and a Turkish-American were murdered in cold blood.

Ostensibly, Israel’s refusal to apologize led to the breach with Israel.

In fact, the New Ottomans had already decided early this spring to put the American-imposed alliance with Israel back in the box.

First the soft Islamic Justice and Development (AK) Party, which has ruled Turkey for the past decade, had to secure another term in power, duly delivered at the general election in June this year.

To the fury of sulking domestic secularists, hankering for their lost spoils, the AK people won another resounding victory, thanks to the booming Turkish economy.

This economic success is reflected by the astonishing 8.6 annual growth rate, which relegates Germany’s performance by comparison practically to the Third World.

The Turkish government finally recognized that a major emerging world power required an appropriately independent foreign policy.

The Gaza convoy incident offered the perfect opportunity. Since then the pace has been fast and furious:

·        Turkey’s threat to veto an Israeli-NATO liaison office in Brussels effectively shot down maneuverings to slide the Zionist state into full NATO membership by the back door.

·        This issue runs deeper. The Brussels ploy formed part of the so-called Mediterranean Dialogue, a decoy to progressively to lure all the states of North Africa plus Iraq and Jordan into formal alliance membership. That is now in serious trouble thanks to the well-aimed Turkish torpedo.

·        The renewed alliance with Egypt, another ancient state seeking a revitalized role in the world.

·        Cancellation of the Israeli-Turkish security alliance, which ends the right of Israeli warplanes to operate in Turkish air space.

·        The calculated snub to US offers to broker a kiss-and-make-up peace conference with the Israelis

·        Turkey’s refusal to join the free-for-all bombing of Libya.

·        Turkey’s seizure of the initiative over Gaza in the lead-up to the Palestinian sovereignty vote at the UN.

·        Stiffening of the Turkish naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean. Effectively she has served notice that in future she looks to her own navy to defend her national interests and not US (NATO) warships cruising the same waters.

·        The veiled hints that should Israel persist in isolating the inhabitants of Gaza in poverty and despair, Turkey may find it necessary to act unilaterally. That can be taken to mean landing Turkish forces on the desolated strip by sea and air.

·        The long cold war over divided Cyprus has turned hot. The Turks are furious that Southern Cyprus has granted oil and gas drilling in waters that are seen to be equally the preserve of the northern, Turkish-protected statelet.  Read the rise of Turkish naval power in the Eastern Mediterranean in that context too.

·        Turkey may not be a member of the EU, but she has nonetheless deployed every diplomatic device in the book to stop the Greek Cypriots taking their alphabetic turn at the revolving presidency of the great European club.

Now let us move on to the poking of sticks in eyes department, chiefly those belonging to the United States but also including the Saudis, who are demonstrably unnerved by the resurgence of Ottoman power throughout the Middle East.

Turkey is asserting the rights of supervising suzerain over territories, including of course Israel and Saudi Arabia, which formerly lay under the sway of the Sultans of Constantinople until WWI.

The Saudis hold Mecca, the crucible of faith that binds worldwide Islam together. They possess oil, a shrinking power as the wells run dry. Militarily they have clung to the sidelines, though armed to the teeth. Politically, the Saudi royal family’s blind adherence to US imperial doctrine has gone out of fashion.

Turkey’s brash assertiveness of independence has forced a response from Riyadh, even as Turkey moves to control the succession in Syria and Iran. The Saudis have just agreed to buy 300 tanks from Germany, who are they going to fight?

A Saudi armed column put an end to the pro-democracy demonstrations that threatened the pro-Saudi royal dynasty in Bahrain.

For the second time this year, more Saudi armor poured into Yemen to aid the embattled President Ali Abdullah Saleh against “pro-democracy” demonstrators, who are unfortunate marionettes of US policy taking part in a CIA-sponsored fashion show.

The United States is propagating present disturbances in order to seize Aden, one of the most magnificent deep water ports on earth, for the future purposes of the imperial navy.

The Saudis cannot possibly allow this to happen in her very own “near abroad.”

They have been speaking of America’s “loss of credibility” in the Middle East, unheard of language from Riyadh.

Like the Ottomans, they have nailed their colors to the mast of Palestinian independence.

We are witnessing the emergence of two counterpoised power blocs – Turkey and Saudi Arabia – whose ability to make long term accommodations between themselves may be limited.

Self-imposed American impotence over the Palestinian issue must force both countries, in the end, to refute America’s right to decide what is good for the people of the Middle East on their behalf.

Who, then, shall be the great persuader among these rivals?

The Ottomans, or the Saudis who regard themselves as the true protectors of the faith and repository of Arab culture. The Turks are dismissed by those old Saudi minds as interlopers and late-comers.

The problem for the Saudis with their ancient feudal ways is the wide perception throughout Islam – and the world in general – of Turkey as a modern, advanced technocratic state that regularly holds free elections.

Moreover, you are just as likely to be run down by a woman driver on her way to work in any seething Turkish city as some crazy male taxi driver.  In old Arabia, they have not managed yet to recognize women as emancipated beings.

Mirror, mirror on the wall… this is a truly tectonic moment in the story of a violently troubled region.

As for Israel, she must re-negotiate her right to exist. This is only possible within the context of the two-state solution. Otherwise, it is time to dust off the history of the Crusader Kingdom.

UPDATE: An enormous blast – probably a car bomb – has just killed two people and caused a lot of damage in the Turkish capital Ankara.

This has all the signs of a false flag exercise designed to destabilize the Turkish state. Expect more of the same.

The explosions should be set against the long running exposure of the deep state organization Ergenekon, which is a continuation of NATO’s Gladio secret army organization that wrought havoc in Turkey for two decades in the mid-20th century.

Do not be surprised if Israel is linked to the atrocity.

Avigdor Lieberman of the loose lips, Israeli foreign minister, scarcely advanced the healing of Turkish-Israeli relations when he proposed KPP (Kurdish independence guerillas) should slam targets inside Turkey.

In the past KPP has been the cloak for many attacks originating in the deep state, long controlled by western intelligence including the CIA.

Richard Cottrell is a writer, journalist and former European MP (Conservative). His new book Gladio: NATO’s Dagger At The Heart Of Europe is coming shortly from Progressive Press.

Edited by Madison Ruppert

Top Search Terms Used to Find This Page:

• ottoman empire
• ottoman
• ottoman empire flag
• new ottoman empire
• logo fbi