Turkey: Claim Over Arab Lands
The Sharjah-based 'Al Khaleej' said that such Turkish behavior was more of a "disease" than being political and goes a long way to reflect the lack of good friendship towards the Arabs by a large category of the Turkish people.
"It also reflects the strong desire of this category to continue to spread hatred and enmity between the two neighboring Turkish and Arab peoples, who share a common religion, culture and history," the paper said.
"Despite the strong commitment by Arab countries, including those directly affected by the Turkish policies and alliances, to maintain good relations with Ankara and to boost those ties between them, successive
Turkish governments continue to take stances that adversely affect Arabs, beginning with Turkey's enhancement of its alliance with Israel, which is the number one enemy of Arabs and Muslims, to Ankara's claims of Turkish rights in Arab lands, like Kirkuk and Mosul in northern Iraq, which are impossible for Arabs to concede to the Turks," the paper said.
The paper added, "The most astonishing thing is that the same Turks, who for a very long time now, expressed, like their Arab neighbors did, the bad intentions of the West, including the United States, and the catastrophic consequences of the West's policies and practices, would suddenly turn round to bet on those Western policies and intensions."
The paper went on to say that the Turks behave as if Washington and London's plan to strike Iraq is aimed at serving its interest, forgetting the naked truth that the West, throughout history, worked and continues to work to sow division, discord and wars among Muslim nations. "Evidences on that abound for all to see, especially within the past three decades," the paper added.
The paper pointed out that perhaps Turkey might get something it craves for in northern Iraq in case the West launches a wide range of aggression on Iraq.
"But Turkey would be dreaming if it thought that the West would allow it to expand its borders beyond the current one to annex the huge oil and water resources in Kirkuk and Mosul," the paper said, adding that Ankara must realize that the West's fears over its growing strength does not differ much from their fears for the growing strength of those Turks at the doorstep of Western Europe.
The paper stressed that Turkey's claim of a historic right on those two Iraqi towns was a double-edged knife. "While the Turkish extremists lay claim for Kirkuk, Mosul and Halab, the Arabs also have evidences to prove their rights in Iskenderun and Diyarbakir and a large chunk of the current Turkey," the paper said, adding, "The same applies to the Kurds, Armenians, Greek and other peoples in eastern Mediterranean."
The paper said that it would be a dangerous game and a poisonous trap if this sort of claim and counterclaim was allowed to surface. "Only God knows where it will lead to for the Arabs, Turks and Kurds all together," the paper said, adding, " Perhaps it is the aim of Israel and the US Zionists to set up such a trap in order to engulf the whole region in total destruction, allowing only the Israelis to escape." (WAM/NM)
* The United Arab Emirates News Agency (WAM) story is wired by IPS in July 27.