“I am Yahweh; that is My Name! I will not give My glory to anyone else, nor share My praise with carved idols.” (Isaiah 42: 8)
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Hussein Haridy—US diplomacy and the ‘Ottoman slap’:
We are witnessing interesting times in the Middle East. Days before US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson began his five-day tour of the Middle East, 11-16 February, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan — apparently not in a very good mood — warned the United States that it risks what he called “the might of the Ottoman slap”, whatever that stands for. Not before such a ridiculous warning had any Middle East leader, not even late Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, proffered such threats against the United States, or used such language when speaking of his country’s differences with Washington.
Not only such offensive language was used, but also military warnings were addressed to American forces stationed in the Syrian town of Manbij. The Turkish government warned that if the Syrian Democratic Forces wouldn’t withdraw from this strategic town, Turkish troops would advance to take it, regardless of the reactions of American troops.
Such language and such direct military threats reflected serious strains in American-Turkish relations as a product of Turkish entanglement in the Syrian crisis and the absence of a joint strategic vision between Washington and Ankara as to shared objectives, if any, in Syria, at present or in the future.
Secretary Tillerson visited Cairo, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, and finally Turkey, the ever-increasingly troublesome NATO and Middle East ally. Of all the five countries he visited, his visit to Ankara was the most delicate from a diplomatic point of view.
It interesting to note that a few days before Secretary Tillerson arrived in the Turkish capital, US National Security Adviser General H McMaster had gone to Turkey where he had a meeting with senior Turkish officials to discuss the overall direction of bilateral relations between the two countries, with a particular emphasis on the Turkish military operation dubbed “Olive Branch” that was launched 20 January to take Afrin from the Kurds in northwest Syria.
Once in town, the US secretary of state had a three-hour meeting with the Turkish president, 15 January, conducted in a “sincere and frank atmosphere” as the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, described it.
This meeting, as well as the talks that were held between Tillerson and his Turkish counterpart the following day, discussed the major differences that have led the two NATO allies to grow apart beginning from the second half of 2016.
The two sides did their best to paper over major disagreements. They agreed to set up joint working groups to come up with solutions by next month. They noted that these working groups would tackle almost all their disagreements, from consular issues to coordinating security and military moves within Syria.
The Turkish foreign minister said, in a joint press conference with Secretary Tillerson 16 February, that the two countries have agreed to take important steps in order to normalise their bilateral relations, adding, nonetheless, that the United States had not kept its “promises”, as he put it. He pointed out that, “There were certain promises that were made, there were certain promises that were not kept, and there were certain issues that we could not resolve.”
Among the questions that have not been resolved is how the American government will deal with the Turkish extradition request concerning Fethullah Gul, whom Ankara has accused of masterminding the failed coup of July 2016.
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SnyderTalk Comment:
Keep your eyes on Turkey. With Erdogan in charge, anything can happen.
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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)
See “His Name is Yahweh”.
