ARTASHES GEGHAMYAN: THIS WORLD IS EASY TO DESTROY

IF THE THREAT OF RESURGENT NEOOTTOMANISM IS UNDERESTIMATED

 28.11-30.11.2015, Armenpress

Treacherously downed by the Turkish Air Force of the Russian bomber SU-24 in the skies over Syria showed the world what practical realization of the basic ideologeme and strategies of neo-Ottomanism is. On September 19, 2009 in Istanbul, at a meeting with mass media representatives, then Prime Minister of Turkey, Erdoğan said: “Our goal is to live with all the countries in the world and return to current Turkey the power of the Ottoman Empire. I think we can achieve this objective.” Two months later, as reported by the newspaper "Takvim", Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, speaking to members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (hereinafter JDP), acknowledged that his country was implementing the policy of neo-Ottomanism: “There is heritage left by the Ottoman Empire. We are called “neo-Ottomans”. Yes, we are “new Ottomans”. We have to deal with neighboring countries. We even go to Africa. The super states are observing this with confusion. To begin with, France is trying to understand why we are working in Africa. I have already ordered: to whatever African country Sarkozy goes, it is necessary that every time he looks up, he should see the building of the Turkish Embassy and the Turkish flag. I have instructed to rent the best areas for the embassies.” The results of the intensive activity of the newly-minted neo-Ottomans came quite early. Today, Africa has become one of the main arenas for international Islamist terrorism. Every year, hundreds of people die from terrorist attacks by such radical groups as the "Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb", which is the branch of "Al-Qaeda", and Islamist organization "Al-Shabaab" based in the north of Africa and active in Somalia, and the terrorist organization "Boko Haram", that engages in attacks in Kenya, commits bloody acts of terrorism and attacks in the north-east Nigeria.

Let alone one of the most violent terrorist groups - Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (hereinafter ISIS), which acts on the territory of Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and most of the Middle East. This extremist Sunni groups are composed of several organizations acting in South Asia, Nigeria and Libya. I dare not insist that "moderately Islamic" Turkey is supporting this international terrorist association. No, this will be a somewhat simplified approach to the deadly hazard that threatens the Islamic, Jewish and Christian civilizations. Yes, the Islamic civilization in the first place is threatened either to be completely abolished or catastrophically destroyed coupled with the ISIS. The only thing beyond doubt is that by some "chance" all actions of the Islamic state and its ilk are aimed at the destruction of the statehood of all the countries in the region, most of which were once part of the Ottoman Empire. It is the very moment to recall the expression of talented Stanislaw Jerzy Lec: “Everything is ruled by chance. I wish I could know who rules chance.”

So, from where Erdoğan-Davutoğlu tandem draw their strength, and rely on their impunity, when they give the command to shoot down a Russian plane, who and what do they count on? It is clear that the calculation of neo-Ottomans is by all means to clash Russia and its allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization with NATO. According to their plans, then neither the Europeans nor Russia will care for coordinating efforts to combat the ISIS and international terrorism as a whole. This insidious idea occurred in the minds of the Turkish rulers on April 25 of this year, when Turkish President sharply criticized participation of the leaders of the international community in commemorative events to mark centenary of the Armenian Genocide. So, on April 25 of this year in Istanbul, making a speech at the meeting with representatives of the business community, Erdoğan said: "Neither Putin nor Hollande should have gone to Armenia. First they should have thought about the black pages of their own history ... The last to talk about genocide is Russia, France and Germany. It was Germany that started two world wars, which have led to untold sufferings." Moreover, at that time Erdoğan accused the European Union in hypocrisy. Furthermore, for some "fatal" occasion on October 31^st, the Russian plane carrying out flight 9268 Sharm el-Sheikh - St. Petersburg over the Sinai Peninsula was blown up by a bomb planted in the luggage compartment, which killed 224 people. The most severe terrorist attack was committed, responsibility for which was taken by the Egyptian branch of the terrorist group ISIS. Then on November 13 of this year in Paris and its suburbs, a series of terrorist attacks were committed. The attacks killed 130 people, more than 300 were injured. The "Islamic state" assumed responsibility for what happened.  Let us recall that France has historically been linked by close ties with North African countries - primarily with Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya ... What prompted the Turkish leadership to such a dangerous, at first glance, shady undertaking, as the destruction of the Russian Su-24 bomber. Let us recall some important events of the last days of the anti-terrorist operation carried out by the Military Space Forces of Russia, after the crash of the passenger Airbus A321. Russia substantially increased the level of their participation in military operations against ISIS, while engaging in the fight against terrorism long-range aircrafts - the strategic missile carriers Tu-160 and Tu-95 MS, as well as long-range bombers Tu-22M3. The total number of missions to the targets in Syria has doubled. The economic losses from the destruction of oil convoys of ISIS have almost doubled - from 30 thousand to 50 thousand barrels per day. It is not a secret that the end-users of petroleum products are located in Turkey, this fact is beyond any doubts. Equally doubtless is the fact that the business of buying stolen by ISIS Iraqi oil from oil sites in the region of Mosul, is Erdoğan’s son Bilal, who ensures the export of oil, which is controlled by ISIS escort. Turkish politicians openly say this. The American economist, writer and political analyst, one of the most cited experts in the field of analyzing current world economic situation, in the article "Erdoğan’s dirty and dangerous games with ISIS" from September 28 of this year (see the website https://celado.ru/articles/gryaznye-i-opasnye-igry-erdogana-s-igil/) writes: “Gürsel Tekin, Vice-President of the Republican People's Party of Turkey, in a recent interview with the Turkish media, said: "President Erdoğan argues that according to international transport conventions, there are no violations of law in Bilal’s actions, and his son simply does business with registered Japanese companies. But in fact, Bilal Erdoğan got stuck in terrorist activities up to his ears, but while his father is in the office, Bilal will be protected from any prosecution.” It is noteworthy that William Engdahl concludes his article with a very instructive conclusion: "There is never a winner in a war, and Erdoğan’s war against Syrian President Assad clearly demonstrates this. Turkey and the whole world deserve the better. Famous foreign policy by Ahmet Davutoğlu "No problems with neighbors" has grown into huge problems with all its neighbors, as a result of foolish ambitions of Erdoğan and his gang." In the light of these words, the statement by the President of France Francois Hollande, made on November 24 of this year at a joint press conference with US President Barack Obama, get a whole new meaning: "We must destroy terrorist of ISIS, wherever they are. We must cut off their financing channels, find and neutralize their leaders, destroy the structure of this criminal organization ... Moreover, it is an absolute necessity to close the border between Turkey and Syria, to prevent terrorists from coming to Europe and other regions.” That is the president of France clearly indicates that the channels of funding ISIS terrorists and the terrorist threat to Western Europe in fact come from and through Turkey. In fact, the French President has confirmed that the actual financing of terrorists is largely via the proceeds from the sale by Turkey of the Iraqi oil stolen by ISIS, and it is through its territory that "Export" of oil to Europe is carried out. On the ways of implementing the policy of neo-Ottomanism, Erdoğan, besides settling the matters of prosperity of the family business, also solves the issues of his career. So, deliberately escalating the situation in the country, he created preconditions for early elections to the Turkish Grand National Assembly after his Justice and Development Party, for the first time in 13 years, lost the majority in the Grand National Assembly during the elections at the end of June 2015, and Prime Minister Davutoğlu allegedly failed to form a ruling coalition with any of the three opposition parties represented in the parliament.

We should note that in the period between the dissolution of Parliament and new elections to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, a series of terrorist attacks took place: attacks on pipelines, blown up police stations, ambushed and shot militants. And it all started after the terrorist attack in the city of Suruç, which occurred on July 20 when a suicide-bomber blew himself at a meeting of Kurdish activists. Due to the increase of terrorist attacks in Turkey, the expert community was unanimous in its opinion: the terrorist attacks being fraught with considerable image losses for the government of Erdoğan-Davutoğlu, at the tactical level can be very beneficial for the Justice and Development Party. This conclusion was confirmed. Thus, according to the results of the repeated elections, the JDP won 49.4% of the votes and 316 seats in the Parliament, which ensured majority and the opportunity to form a single-party government. It should be noted that on July 7 of this year at the successive parliamentary elections the JDP gained 40.41% of the votes, which, as noted above, did not allow forming a government alone. But as it seems, the parliamentary majority for Erdoğan is just a necessary step on the way to achieving its primary career goal, more specifically: previously President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly stated that, in case of victory of the JDP in the parliamentary elections, Turkey will move from the parliamentary form of government to the presidential. We should also note that at the parliamentary elections of November 1 of this year the Nationalist Movement Party (Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi, MHP)  got the major blow and suffered the most – an ultra-right political party, which is in fierce opposition to the ruling JDP, which gained 11.93% and has lost more than 4.3% of the votes. Meanwhile, the NMP is fiercely against the transition to a presidential form of government.

Thus, we can conclude that a targeted stir up of tension within the country and around it allowed the Erdoğan-Davutoğlu tandem to settle several problems: first, to move towards the establishment of neo-Ottoman Empire; secondly, while creating tension in relations with Russia, to divert its attention and resources from the implementation of the global geo-economic project within the BRICS; thirdly, while regulating the flow of migrants and refugees from Syria and the countries of North Africa to the countries of European Union, to shake the foundations of the European identity and to devalorize the European values on the one hand, and to set up a network of terrorist groups in the EU controlled by the Turkish special services, on the other hand; fourth, with its deeply considered actions of engaging NATO in a dangerous confrontation with Russia, to strengthen its role and importance for NATO in the region of Greater Middle East and the European Union; fifth, Turkey's actions to destabilize the situation on the borders of EU member states that largely control the flow of refugees, this way or that will urge adoption of measures by EU to ensure their safety. Naturally, in the military aspect, the security of the EU will be provided through significant increase in the presence of NATO forces in the EU (up to the deployment of nuclear weapons), and at the same time it will increase Turkey's role in NATO. The most recent confirmation of this is the statement made a few days ago by the Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski. According to Defense News, Poland intends to invalidate the NATO-Russia 1997 act, which states that NATO has no intention and the reasons to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of new members of the Alliance. We should also note that on November 4 of this year nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe, members of the NATO (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic) adopted a declaration stating that NATO "should strengthen its eastern flank, because Russia’s actions in Ukraine and in the region undermine the security architecture in Europe." As for the issues of geo-economic security, I think that increasing military threats to the EU against this background will get a new impetus and long-cherished project of a free trade between the European Union and the United States - Transatlantic trade and investment partnership (TTIP). There are other arguments in favor of the fact that only at first glance the Turkish government, obsessed with the idea of recreating the neo-Ottoman Empire, is conducting a reckless and adventurist policy. And the insufficient knowledge of the insidious essence of Ottomanism which survived the renaissance during the Young Turk revolution of 1908, when the Young Turks in power proclaimed it as the official ideology, can cast the inexperienced politicians astray. Then, speaking of equality of all peoples of the empire and the establishment of a unified Ottoman nation as a result of revolution, the Young Turk-Ottomans subjected those nations - Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians - to genocide. Here I would like to quote from the aforementioned article by William Engdahl "Erdoğan’s dirty and dangerous games with ISIS." "In October of 2014, US Vice President Joe Biden during his speech at Harvard University, stated that Erdoğan's regime supported ISIS by hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons...” ...However, since the denunciations, the extent of support to ISIS by Erdoğan have been much, much more than Joe Biden hinted"- states William Engdahl.

It is of serious concern that in the implementation of their quite dangerous plans, Turkey is not alone. In connection with the tragedy in the Syrian airspace, almost all of the leading Internet portals in Azerbaijan (haqqin.az, minval.az, Day.az, vesti.az et al.) have unanimously expressed their support to the actions of the Turkish authorities, and the responses of various politicians and public figures rather reminded of moaning and odes to protect the "brother Turks," who abused the slain body of the Russian pilot. After the first days of this media euphoria, apparently, a simple idea occurred to someone from the Azerbaijani leadership – isn’t it too early to show my anti-Russian, carefully concealed russophobic essence? And now, coming to his senses, probably under the influence of the operation "Nemesis", implemented by the Russian ASF, on November 27 of this year Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, at a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, stated: "Azerbaijan is ready to contribute to the reduction and elimination of tension in Russian-Turkish relations." Russophobic articles, anti-Russian hysteria launched in recent days in the Azerbaijani pro-government media, do not come from Aliyev, but "from evil..."

P. S. On November 24-25 of this year Belgrade hosted an international social-scientific conference titled "Yalta-Potsdam-Helsinki-Belgrade: in search of a safe world order", organized by the Center of National Glory, St. Andrew Foundation in cooperation with the Serbian NGO "Belgrade forum for the world of the equal", with the support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia. All the members of this well-organized and intellectually rich conference unanimously condemned the act of shooting down the Russian Su-24 bomber in the sky of Syria by Turkish fighter F16. Speaking at this representational forum, the chairman of the OSCE, the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, Ivica Dacic, stated: "Any complication of the situation in the world, as shown by the events of yesterday, when the Russian plane was shot by Turkey, such events as the migration crisis, further complicate the world in which we live ... This world is easy to destroy, but difficult to maintain it and keep its principles. Serbia experienced the violation of all principles of the international community." Listening to these pathetic words by Serbian Foreign Minister, I cannot help thinking about the events of last year, when on November 12, in the afternoon Azerbaijani armed forces shot down a non-combat helicopter Mi-24 of the armed forces of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was conducting a training flight, without crossing the line of demarcation between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces. The wreckage of the helicopter fell 500 meters from the front line, killing three young crew members. Perhaps, if at that time the incident had been adequately assessed at least by the countries co-chairing the OSCE Minsk Group, it would have been possible to avoid a terrorist attack on the Russian Su-24 bomber. Alas, this world is easy to destroy, if we underestimate the danger from the resurgent neo-Ottomanism with animal grin of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Artashes Geghamyan

Member of the Armenian National Assembly

from the Republican party,

Head of the permanent delegation of the RA National Assembly

in the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

Head of the Party “National Unity”