Clinton: Turkey will form new alliances

[Jigs]

Clinton: Turkey will form new alliances | TRDEFENCE


Former US President Bill Clinton said on Saturday that Turkey was the key country for the formation of new alliances in the world in the future.


“Turkey is opposing unjust treatments and it is fighting injustice. Under these circumstances, what Turkey is doing will pull us together like a magnate. You might be doing certain things your own way and you might think that you are not free but the most important role for you in the 21st century will be devising brand new alliances,” Clinton told a conference at İstanbul’s Bilgi University.

Clinton said he had always tried to defend Turkey in the country’s bid for European Union membership bid, adding that he had cited Turkey’s commitment in democracy and its role of a model country for the Middle East to show that religion and terrorism were different from each other.

Clinton said Turkey’s major achievements over the last years contributed to dialogue between religions and cultures, also helping people understand they could not consider that all Muslims were the same.

“Turkey is based on secularism while it allows for freedom for different religions. This is the only way that Islam cannot be considered as an agent of divisions. You are offering a new window for Europe into Muslim countries and into the East,” Clinton said.

Clinton said he disagreed with skeptics who argued that Turkey was moving away from the West and it was drifting to extremes.

“I do not believe that is the situation. Turkey has drawn a way of its own and it is making progress. You are trying to become a bridge and make sure that bad things do not happen. There were some skeptics in the West but they have also seen how unwise it would be to turn their backs on Turkey,” Clinton said.

“I believe that Turkey will have a major role to play in the 21st century and that you will play that role very well. You will provide an opportunity not only for people living here in Turkey but also for those on whom you will make an impact to live better lives,” Clinton said.

 

[Sinnerman108]

Good show turkey,
now only if the rest of the block can realize the same goals; it would be superb.

You think eventually the Arab Vs Turk animosity will come up ?

 

[SpArK]

Turkey is a prime example of secularism and an excellent example of a democracy without mixing religion.

 

[Aslan]

Turkey is a prime example of secularism and an excellent example of a democracy without mixing religion.

Not trying to pick a fight here but it baffles me at times that what exactly is the issue with religion specially Islam and you guys. Why drag in and highlight the secularism, in order to make a point.

 

[Jigs]

Not trying to pick a fight here but it baffles me at times that what exactly is the issue with religion specially Islam and you guys. Why drag in and highlight the secularism, in order to make a point.

Well Turkey was the first Muslim majority nation to implement real secularism and equal rights. The only other state that comes to mind is Indonesia. I don't want to compare and contrast here but the facts speak for themselves. I don't think Benny meant anything against Islam by saying that.

 

[Ahmad]

Not trying to pick a fight here but it baffles me at times that what exactly is the issue with religion specially Islam and you guys. Why drag in and highlight the secularism, in order to make a point.

and what is wrong with secularism? the model of secularism in Turkey is a million times succesful than the other muslim countries, lets follow turkey for the system of their gov. keep religion out of state affairs.

 

[forcetrip]

How one religion fought tooth and nail to get a country and us who are actually destroying our countries in the name of religion.

 

[Aslan]

and what is wrong with secularism? the model of secularism in Turkey is a million times succesful than the other muslim countries, lets follow turkey for the system of their gov. keep religion out of state affairs.

There is nothing wrong with Secularism, and nor was I trying to implement any thing like wise. The whole point of mine is/was that they way the word secularism is used with regards to Islam is that as if only secularism is the real solution. And FYI the so called Muslim countries including any one and every one, infact no one has thus far implemented the real Islamic structure of governance. So I would not use them as a comparison.

 

[muse]

Well, Clinton is clear that Turkiye needs to form "new alliances" - but whom did he have in mind as partner or partners with Turkiye? in the meantime, a shot has been fired over the bow, one that will not go unnoticed in Turkiye:


Pipeline Politics Play Out in Istanbul
Posted: 05 Oct 2010 02:56 PM PDT
The Southern Corridor, the planned natural gas link to non-Russian resources in the Caspian and Middle East, will largely determine the future energy security of the European Union. At the moment, the corridor is merely a concept. Only piecemeal infrastructure is in place on the ground in Turkey, which is the key bridge between gas suppliers and consumers.

The decision on how the corridor will develop lies with SOCAR, Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company. SOCAR controls the natural gas resources of Shah Deniz II, the first major field in the Caspian set to supply EU consumers. Russia’s Kremlin-controlled energy company Gazprom has attempted to undermine the Southern Corridor concept by offering to buy all of Azerbaijan’s gas. Almost as contentious is the struggle between the three Western-oriented energy consortia that would each like to see their pipeline as the center of the corridor’s development.

That struggle was on full display on September 30, 2010, at the Atlantic Council’s Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum in Istanbul. In a lively panel, every major player got to have a say. Rovnag Abdullayev, the President and CEO of SOCAR made it clear that his company is assessing all options, but is not yet close to a decision. Azerbaijan’s priority, he argued, is to be a stable source of supply to Europe, which can be achieved through pipelines, large or small, or even liquefied or compressed natural gas shipments across the Black Sea.

Reinhard Mitschek, the managing director of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International, touted his gargantuan 31 billion cubic meter (bcm) proposal for a line that would stretch from Turkey’s interior through Central Europe to bring Azerbaijani and potentially Iraqi or Turkmen gas to Baumgarten, Austria’s European energy hub. But small is beautiful, according to Elio Ruggeri, the CEO of IGI Poseidon. His 8 bcm project, better known as ITGI or Interconnector Turkey Greece Italy, he argues, is halfway there and the only connection to be finished is across the Adriatic.

Kjetil Tungland, the managing director of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), tried to bridge the gap. Like Ruggeri, he argued his 10 bcm pipeline is more realistically achievable because of its smaller size, but it also has the option of expanding capacity to 20 bcm. The route is also different, as TAP passes through Greece and Albania before crossing to Italy. Its flexibility and geographic dimension could make TAP both commercially and strategically competitive, but at the moment it lags behind rivals in political and diplomatic support.

Appropriately, the panel’s moderator was Ambassador Steven Mann, former coordinator for Eurasian Energy Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State. His role highlighted the key position of the United States over the years in connecting Eurasian energy producers with EU consumers across the Black Sea region. The famed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline from the Caspian to the Mediterranean set the stage for the Southern Corridor routes currently under consideration and benefited from strong U.S. support.

But, this time around, European capitals and institutions are going to have to step onto the stage. After all, it is their energy security that will benefit once the corridor is under construction. The first step in this direction might be for the European Commission to actively support all of the proposed projects, not just their current favorite, Nabucco. Commercial considerations should—and will probably in the end—determine the future of the corridor, so the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) ought not to put all their eggs in one basket in promising funding for Nabucco.

Out of the competing arguments on display at the Black Sea Energy and Economic Forum can hopefully come guidelines for building a smarter Southern Corridor that is both commercially viable and strategically significant. As SOCAR determines where to send its gas and the EU Commission determines which project to support politically, the answer may lie in a meeting of the minds between Brussels and Baku.

Alexandros Petersen is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center.

 

[Super Falcon]

Hope turky dont bee too western as it is islamic nation anyway turkey is flying high and nice too see everyone know worht fo friendship with turkey as their is saying turkey is a gate to Europe it is really true

 

[darkinsky]

Not trying to pick a fight here but it baffles me at times that what exactly is the issue with religion specially Islam and you guys. Why drag in and highlight the secularism, in order to make a point.

its a great point, they are jealous about pakistan full name!! indians need to bring pakistan into every thing

the secularism in india is like destroy a mosque and then give away 2/3s of its land to the hindus, a shining mother secular bharat.

 

[siegecrossbow]

I guess old Bill is trying to make up for his wife's incompetence by reappearing on the political scene.

 

[muse]

Jigs

Keep the focus, don't feed the crazies with the attention they want to derail the thread. For some the reality in front of their eyes, that all else can see, is something that the ideology the crazies are persuaded by, blinds them to.

 

[dabong1]

Is that not a correlation between the AKP islamic party being in power and economic growth in turkey?

 

[cabatli_53]

Before making some criticizm about Ataturk and Kemalist ideology, Try to learn something more about them instead of babbling with only poor ideological reasons unser the name of holy religious terms because M. Kemal Ataturk and his ideology is over of all politic debates and has nothing to do with religious things but It is hard to comprehend for people who believe the proceeds of an politic ideology mixed with religious, anti-secularist, Taliban style sharia supporters.

Some reference information, Kemalism has interested in politic, not religious things. Neither M. Kemal Ataturk claimed himself as an prophet, nor The followers visited his monument for worshipping. Visiting his monument is a symbol of fidelity for Turkish people. Kemalism has 6 different key point interested in politic that Every Kemalist should obey. Those 6 points are to improve the development of Turkish government to catch the modern civilzation standarts/levels in terms of democrasy, technology, human rights. Trying to catch the modern civilzation standarts has nothing to do with adopting a Western cultures. We have our own living standarts, clothes adopted with culturel riches coing from centuries. All another things some members claiming to accuse Kemalism such as Religious sensitivity, Eating, Drinking, Nationality, Race of human has nothing to do with this ideology. The people who feel themselves like Leftist, Rightist or Conservatives may be a Kemalist because It is over of all politic debates for Turkish people. This ideology has an independant historical mission for the people who want to see own country around elite's level.