By: Mahmoud Hedayatpanah*

The Turkish army, considering itself as the only founder of the Republic of Turkey and seeing itself as the guardian of Atatürk’s legacy, has always been trying to exert undue influence over and interfere in the politics of modern Turkey in order for them to be on right track for maintaining secularism.With the AKP (Justice and Development Party) rising to power and a process having kicked off in the 1980s, however, the influence lessened over time. The army leaders in Turkey are not that much pleased with it though. The fact that the army does not really have a great deal of room for maneuver in the political affairs originates from the growing political support for the parties.

Another reason given for the army’s reduction in power is the attempt made by Turkey so as to join the EU; as one of the key criteria for gaining admission to the EU is acceding to the parameters of Western liberal democracy, one of which is keeping the army under control by civil and political institutions, that’s to say only the political institutions have the authority, a situation which Turkey has stricken out;  Chief of the General Staff of Turkey, Doğan Güreş, had also claimed in 1992 that Turkey is a military state.

Such processes and the constitution change caused a reduction in power of the military interfering in the political affairs, but its natures did not change whatever. There is evidence showing that the government had nothing to do with the recent incident or at least did not, at all, intended to act as such, but in actual fact it was an attempt by the army to discredit the ruling Justice and Development government. Firstly, Turkey is a member of NATO, so it participates in the military exercises of NATO; it is common, however, for the Russians and NATO members, to intercept planes by jet fighters especially in the Baltic Sea, a trend having been continuing ever since the Cold War. Both the Russian and NATO aircraft have repeatedly approached and even violated one another’s airspace, but they had never clashed; that’s why NATO will not support Turkey regarding this incident as a probable reaction is expected to be done against NATO in the Baltic Sea by the Russians; Barack Obama, as well, in a phone call with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested that they should think out well in order for similar incidents to be averted.

Secondly, a marked increase in trade between Turkey and Russia in 2014, which was $33 billion, was going to reach $100 billion up to 2010. So it is obvious that Russia is considered one of the most principal trading partners of Turkey, at the same time heavily dependent upon the Russian gas resources. Unprecedented, hostile act by the Turkish side may cause a breach between the two countries, and it seems very unlikely that Turkey would act with the aim of getting an important message across to Russia while Erdoğan was able to successfully tackle the economic problems and bring about a slight economic stability. That’s why he would not have intended anymore to get back to the past fragile economy.

A third point holding the attention is the Turkish statesmen backing down, such as Ahmet Davutoğlu stating that Russia is their friend and partner and they tend to keep the channels of communications open with Russia, or both Erdoğan and Davutoğlu pointing out that if they had been informed of the fact that the fighter belonged to Russian, they would not have acted as such, or the failed attempt Çavuşoğlu made in order for him to make contact with Russian Foreign Minister Segey Lavrov. If Turkey tried to get a message across to Russia, they would persist in the fact that the Russian fighter violated Turkish airspace and would be in a strong position against the Russians; but, they showed no insistence on their act in the aftermath of the incident, erroneously, for the sake of maintaining a good relationship between the two countries on Turkey’s part.

At last, it can be stated that with regards to a reduction in power of the army in having influence over internal affairs, the army tends to rely on the international scene so as to discredit the government, thereby reducing his power in Turkey and also causing the Justice and Development Party face domestic crises in order to ruin their reputation and efficiency; an opportunity of which the Turkish generals have taken definite advantage.

* Mahmoud Hedayatpanah, MA in Persian Gulf studies, is a military expert. His studies concentrate on Russian and American  military capabilities. He is fluent in English, Russian and Farsi.

The post Who in Turkery Shot the Russian Jet Down? first appeared on .

Protests in Istanbul, Turkey rage on after police reacted violently to an occupation Gezi Park, located in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, initially because of government plans to develop a shopping mall over the park.

Violent crackdown of protesters transformed the protest into massive anti-government demonstrations around the country.

After the protests became world news, Western media got it wrong by characterizing the uproar as a revolt against Islamic influence in Turkish politics or simply an environmental protest.

But to be more accurate, these protests should be seen as a chain of demands of people from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government over recent years.

More than 1,700 people have been arrested and dozens are injured or dead. The anti-government demonstrations have flared up in 67 cities as well as important cities of Izmir, Ankara, Antalya and Konya.

These demonstrations had a negative influence on turkey’s economy leading to a fall in its stock exchange market and decrease in its tourism industry.

Iran has a great influence in its neighbor, Turkey. However Sayed Abbad Araghchi the spokesperson of Iran’s Foreign Ministry strictly denies any interventions in Turkey and described it as an internal issue of the country.

“The protests in Turkey are a domestic issue and Iran will never intervene there,” said Mansour Haghighat-Poor, The deputy of National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran’s Majlis in an exclusive interview with Iran’sView.

He, however, invited the turkey to “peacefully dealing with the protesters and avoiding violence”, and emphasized “the need to respect the demands of the protesters.”

“These protests somehow roots in Turkey’s Foreign Policy. Iran had previously warned the Prime Minister Erdogan about opening borders to terrorists and helping subversion of Syrian legal government which will leads to the Turkish dissatisfaction and finally protests, besides ending in chaos in the region,” he said.

Haghighat-Poor suggested to Erdogan “try to solve the domestic issues and welfare problems” by ending “support for the Syrian armed opposition”.

“If the Turkish government doesn’t correct its mistakes and instead continues in its current policies, more opposition will emerge and Turkey will follow the pattern that Syria has,” he warned.

The post Iran MP Warns of Turkey Following Syria If It Does Not Change Path first appeared on .

Sayed Abbas Araghchi, Spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied any Iranian involvement in the Turkey unrests.

Some Turkish media quoted an unknown source that Turkish police have arrested an Iranian national named Shayan Shamloo in connection with demonstrations in the capital city of Ankara.

“We were informed about the report by media,” Araghchi said on Wednesday, “We officially asked Turkish government to explains about accuracy of this report and if his Iranian nationality is confirmed, [the government should] let Iranian consulate to access the arrested man.”

Iranian consulate in Istanbul issued a warning for Iranian tourists to avoid the areas of unrest.

Later today, Iranian state TV reported arrest of an Iranian tourist in Istanbul.

Iranian officials described the crisis in Turkey as an internal affair and asked Turkish leaders to solve the crisis through peaceful measures

The post Iran Denies Involvement In The Turkey Unrest, Asks For Access to Arrested Citizen first appeared on .

Here is a series of Photos from Istanbul which civilians posted in social media.

The post In Photos: Turkish Police Clash With Protesters in Istanbul first appeared on .

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with Lebanese Al-Manar TV that the country already received the first shipment of S-300 missiles from Russia and will receive the second shipment soon.

Al-Akhbar newspaper’s website published some important remarks of the President Assad’s recorded interview which is to broadcast from Al-Manar TV on Thursday night.

“We will participate in Geneva-II conference but we are not optimistic to its result,” Assad said. Geneva talk is due to be held possibly in June.

Assad confirmed military presence of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group in Syria and said: “Hezbollah’s forces are in border regions of Syria with Lebanon and they are fighting against Terrorist groups but we are handling the war.”

“Almost 100,000 armed terrorists entered Syria with support of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey,” he said.

Syrian President warned to “respond immediately” to any future attack by Israel.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem also said on Wednesday that Syria will immediately respond to “any possible future attacks by the Zionist regime.”

In an interview with Lebanese al-Mayadeen TV, Al-Moallem said that any response from Damascus will be given without a warning.

“Syria will not let any Israeli aggression go unanswered without retaliation. The retaliation will be the same size as the aggression, and the same type of weapons will be used,” he said.

Moallem added that Syria would take part in the upcoming talks in Geneva without any precondition, adding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would remain president until the next presidential election scheduled to be held in 2014.

“From now until the next elections, President Bashar al-Assad is the president of the Syrian Arab Republic,” he said.

The Syrian foreign minister noted that any deal reached in the Geneva talks would be put to a referendum inside Syria. “If it wins the support of the Syrian people, we will go ahead with it,” Moallem said.

The post Syria Received First Shipment of S-300 Missiles From Russia, Says Pres.Assad first appeared on .

It said that in order to do terrorist actions against Syrian Government, Azeri citizen in Zakayata region, a territory in Russia, are manipulated, armed and sent to fight in Syria through Turkey by Wahhabis.

Ince TV aired several interviews with the parents of these deceived people, and the mothers expressed their objection.

“Wahhabis sent my son to Syria,” said one of the mothers. “If my son wants to fight, should go to Karabakh to fight against Armenia rather than Syrian Muslims,” she said.

This report shows the public opinion in Azerbaijan are against the intervention of Turkey and Wahhabis in Syria and due to this oppositions, the Wahhabis and Turks use the not informant people from Azeri speaking region in Russia like Zakayata to fight in Syria.

The post How Azebaijanis Are Being Sent from Russia To Syria to Fight Assad? first appeared on .

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili advised the so-called P5+1 group (Consisting of the USA, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany) to seize the opportunity to reach an agreement on nuclear talks with Iran.

Jalili was talking to journalists after a dinner meeting with the EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton on Wednesday, he recalled the 2010 Iran–Brazil-Turkey deal to swap Iranian uranium stockpiles as an opportunity that the west failed to seize.

“Tehran’s declaration was about the supplying of Tehran’s medical reactor with 20% uranium but instead of seizing the opportunity they [the west] issued resolution 1929 [against Iran]” Jalili said.

Iran signed a joint declaration with Turkey and Brazil on May 16, 2010 to ship 1,200kg of low enriched uranium to Turkey for a later exchange of 120kg of enriched isotope for its medical nuclear reactor in Tehran.

 But within hours after the deal was announced by Brazilian and Turkish leaders the US rejected that and pushed ahead with sanctions.

 After the swap deal failed, Iran which was in need of 20% enriched uranium for its medical reactor developed its nuclear program to produce 20% uranium itself.

 “[After Tehran’s declaration failed] , Iran supplied itself with 20% enriched Uranium (According to the rights of NPT memebers) and [the P5+1] lost the opportunity opened up by the Tehran declaration. Then they [after three years] in Almaty-I asked to talk about 20% enrichment,” said Jalili in a press conference on Thursday morning.

 “The Iranian nation [never] retreats from its rights. I hope this time they study our proposals in the Almaty-II talks to avoid later regrets,” he said as a warning that Iran would go further on its nuclear program if the west continues to ignore Iran’s proposals.

EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton and Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili had a dinner meeting in Turkish city of Istanbul, on May 15. The meeting was a follow up to last round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 held in Almaty, Kazakhstan on April 5-6.

Speaking at a press conference after the Almaty talks, Jalili said that Iran provided a comprehensive operational plan to the P5+1 and it is now up to the group to decide on how to respond to the Iranian proposals.

The post Jalili to the West: Seize the Opportunity or Iran’s Nuclear Program will accelerate first appeared on .

In an interview with Iran’sView, Dr. Mahdi Motaharnia, an Iranian Middle East Analyst said: the participants of Iranians in the upcoming election will provide Iran a better position, increasing the resistance of the country against “forming coalitions of 4+1 and 4+2 of Arab countries and Israel against Syria and Hezbollah”.

Coalition of 4+1 introduced first in Israeli Yedioth Aharonot newspaper where Alex Fishman, Military analyst reported a new coalition is coded in the U.S foreign ministry reporting as 4+1, which includes Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Turkey and Palestinian National Authority plus Israel and operates against Iran.

 “It will also improve Iran status in Iran nuclear talks”, he said.

Motaharnia pointed out to different opinion about Iran intervention in Syria and said: some in Iran and Lebanon emphasize the necessity of powerful intervention of Iran and Hezbollah if any other countries decide to intervene in Syria.”

 “Other analysts believe the present events in the region lead to a chaos  to paving the way for other countries to intervene in Syria”; he said, “while the direct presence of Iran and Hezbollah might leave negative effects on public opinion, legitimizing the NATO involvement, under the leadership of the U.S.”.

He concluded that all the analysis should be evaluated precisely and the moves of the U.S in the region should be wisely considered.

A new regional coalition against Iran: 4+1

Alex Fishman reported that according to his Israeli and American sources, the purpose of forming this coalition of 4+1 is confronting with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.

“First, the U.S will not discuss the regional defense agreement like NATO”, he pointed out, “but rather, they insist on cooperation among these countries, especially on security information exchanging and bilateral visits.”

He added: the members of this informal coalition will exchange information and security warnings and will cooperation in order to defense against terrorist plots as the Islamic extremists have increased their activities in the region.

“The U.S faces challenges to make Israel and Saudi Arabia cooperate”, he reported, “but there are some agreements made behind the scene which will be revealed soon.”

“Last February, in the International meeting of Defense Ministers in Berlin, Ehud Barak and Salman bin Abdul-Aziz, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Saudi Arabia shook hands warmly”, he wrote.

He pointed out to the shift of Jordan policies toward Syria and added: the increase of challenges in Syria- Jordan- Israel borders in recent months resulted in closer cooperation between Amman and Tel-Aviv.

“Regarding Turkey and Israel, their extended economic relation, and having Iran and Syria as the common threat have led to their common point of view to regional issues”, he reported.

Fishman concludes: the U.S doesn’t consider Egypt as a perfect government and they define it as a “half-government”; they don’t expect much of Cairo and that’s why they try to make Bahrain and Qatar join this coalition; which aims at confronting Iran. The members of this coalition are also worried about the arm export of Iran to Syria.”

The post Will Iran Finally Intervene In Syria? first appeared on .

As Turkey and Syria trade blame for the twin bombings that killed 46 people in a Turkish border town, RT’s Maria Finoshina travels to the Turkey-Syria border to investigate how the former allies have become bitter enemies.

Turkey shares its longest border with its one-time ally Syria. The Turkey-Syria border is now closed, and both sides are trading blame for the bombing in Reyhanli, Turkey, on Saturday.

Turkey accused Damascus of perpetrating the attack, while the Syrian government has denied its involvement, and said the attack is being used to justify a foreign intervention.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed that those behind the attacks were from an “old Marxist terrorist organization” with ties to the Assad government. “It is time for the international community to act together against this regime,” he said in a news conference on Sunday.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi dismissed Turkey’s accusations: “No one has the right to make false accusations… Syria did not commit and would never commit such an act because our values would not allow that.”

Relations were not always so strained between the two countries, Finoshina reported from the Turkey-Syria border.

“It’s hard to imagine now but in 2009 the two countries even held joint military drills across that frontier, in what was a brief thaw in relations between the two,” Finoshina reported. Just several years ago the two nations inked a free trade agreement, visa-free movement and held several presidential visits.

Residents in the border regions of both countries grew close, with families on both sides feeling that they shared a common home. But now, with warlike rhetoric and accusations in the air, “relations between the two neighbors are strained like never before,” Finoshina said.

Watch full report from RT.

The post Turkey and Syria: From friends to foes first appeared on .

No details of the talks and its result provided so far.

Earlier, EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton called on the P5+1 group of world powers to be “determined and creative” in the upcoming talks with Iran.

At their latest round of talks which was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on February 26-27, Iran and the P5+1 agreed to hold an “expert-level” meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, on March 18.

Both sides have expressed hope and optimism about the future of the talks. On February 28, Reuters quoted an unnamed Western diplomat as said about the Almaty meeting that, “This was more constructive and more positive than previous meetings because they were really focusing on the proposal on the table.”

Iran’s delegation is led by Hamid Reza Asqari, legal advisor to the Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and a longtime member of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team.

P5+1’s team is said to be led by Stephene Clement, an aide to Ashton. 

The post Iran, P5+1 Held Technical Meeting in Istanbul first appeared on .