Unity can prevent 2nd Sykes-Picot: Deputy PM

[Hindustani78]

29.11.2016
http://aa.com.tr/en/europe/muslim-unity-can-prevent-2nd-sykes-picot-deputy-pm/695513

We should cooperate to end sectarian policies, and our unity works to spread stability in the region, says Numan Kurtulmus

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s deputy prime minister has warned of a “second Sykes-Picot” imperialist division of the Middle East, calling on the Islamic countries to join forces to prevent this.

In an interview published Tuesday in London-based Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat, Numan Kurtulmus said, “The Islamic world should develop a clear understanding of the picture in the Middle East. A hundred years ago, the imperialist powers imposed the [1916] Sykes-Picot Agreement in the region that resulted in its division by borders, and now we are currently facing a project called the second Sykes-Picot.”

Kurtulmus urged “unity among the Islamic countries to confront their division along sectarian lines, which would tear them up.”

Pointing to Turkey’s cooperation with Saudi Arabia, he said, “We work to unite the Islamic world to prevent the division of its countries... Turkey does not want to see countries like Iraq, Syria, Libya, and others falling apart. We should cooperate to end sectarian policies, and our unity is the agenda to spread stability in the region.”

He added, “We see that Saudi Arabia is playing an effective role in this area. We now stand at a crossroads and a critical time: Either we surrender to the second Sykes-Picot or unite against sectarianism.”

The EU and Shanghai

On the future of Turkish-EU relations, Kurtulmus said, “We managed to keep firm relations with the EU since 1993, but unfortunately during that long period, sometimes Turkey faced double standards from the EU and some bias in its policies, and for example the EU offered a ‘special partnership’ to Turkey instead of offering full membership in the union.”

Kurtulmus also spoke about recent political issues between Turkey and the EU over “two concurrent processes,” namely abolishing visa requirements for Turks to enter the EU and stopping the flow of illegal migrants from Turkey to the EU.

“We consulted with political decision-makers in the EU and reached a program that includes around 73 reform steps in the Turkish legal system, and the scheduled date to abolish the visas was in June, and Turkey was keen to fulfil all the agreed requirements, including cutting the number of illegal migrants flowing from Turkey to the Greek islands to about zero [from 7,000 migrants per day in October 2015], but unfortunately the EU postponed abolishing the visas without any convincing explanation,” he said.

He continued, “The EU member states also let us down by failing to express support for democracy in Turkey after the [July 15] failed coup attempt, and the U.K. was the only member state that stood beside Turkey.”

Asked if suggestions that Turkey could join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization could cripple its EU membership talks and raise tensions, Kurtulmus said, “I don’t think so because Turkey has many advantages, geographically, culturally, and strategically.”

“We are members of NATO and are expecting EU membership besides our membership in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and others, and we belong to the Middle East and the Balkans as well,” he said.

“We have many tools that we use in our foreign relations and therefore our approach to the states of the Shanghai organization and even joining it is lessening the importance of our relations with the Western countries and our work to join the EU,” Kurtulmus said.

“Shanghai is not an alternative to the EU. It is our right to play all our cards and firm up our relations with all sides.”

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and aims for political, economic, and military cooperation.

Reporting by Muhammed Akil;Writing by Mahmoud Barakat

 

[Hindustani78]

http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/ankara-hosts-conference-on-sykes-picot-100-years-on/697344
Infamous 1916 agreement carved Near East up into British, French zones of influence
01.12.2016
Ankara’s Yildrim Bayazit University, in cooperation with the Ataturk Research Center, hosted an international conference on Thursday devoted to the infamous Sykes-Picot Agreement, which marked its centennial earlier this year.

The two-day event was widely attended by academics from Turkey and the wider Middle East region.

Prof. Mustafa Bilgin, head of the university’s International Relations and Strategic Research Center, opened the conference by noting that the region was -- 100 years after Sykes-Picot -- again passing through a "historical and sensitive" phase.

"There is a major international rivalry in the region, as there was one century ago -- a rivalry that only the region’s Muslims are suffering from," Bilgin said in exclusive statements to Anadolu Agency on the conference’s sidelines.

"What is happening in [the Syrian city of] Aleppo is a clear example of this," he added.

"The region’s economic and demographic situation has changed since a century ago, but the expansionist mentality of the superpowers has not," Bilgin asserted.

"The war on Iraq -- and the crimes committed daily in Syria -- has led to the emergence of radical groups in the region, which are being exploited by the imperial powers to achieve their new divisionist objectives," he added.

Mehmet Ali Beyhan, for his part, the head of the Ataturk Research Center, told Anadolu Agency that, "although 100 years have passed since Sykes-Picot was signed, the region’s pain and suffering continue [as a result of the agreement]".

"It is our duty to share our research with Middle Eastern academics and research centers with a view to thwarting attempts to divide the region again," he added.

Signed on May 16, 1916 by Britain and France, the Sykes-Picot Agreement laid out British and French spheres of influence in the Near East following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War.

The secret talks that led to the agreement -- held between French diplomat François Georges-Picot and British diplomat Mark Sykes -- were soon revealed by the communists after they took power in Russia in 1917.

Under the agreement’s terms, the area known as the "Fertile Crescent" was carved up between the two European powers, with Syria and Lebanon falling to France while historical Palestine (including what is now Jordan) went to Britain.

Iraq was divided between the two powers, with Baghdad and Basra going to Britain and Mosul going to France.

 

[Hindustani78]

http://aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/middle-east-cannot-afford-fresh-divisions-experts/698391

The Middle East is currently undergoing turmoil similar to what happened 100 years ago after the signing of the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, according to some Arab and Turkish political experts.

The assertion came during a series of Friday interviews by Anadolu Agency held on the sidelines of a two-day conference in Ankara devoted to the infamous century-old pact, which divided the Near East into British and French zones of influence following World War I.

"If we go back one century, we see there were major differences between the regional powers over Mosul [in northern Iraq], just like we’re seeing today," said Baghdad University Professor Mahmoud al-Qaisi.

"Meanwhile, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt have unstable relations with Turkey, just like 100 years ago," he said.

"In the Arab region, there are two things that led us to this turmoil," he argued. "The first is our leaders’ failure to build genuine modern states, while the second is a lack of awareness among the Arab public."

Al-Qaisi praised the Turkish model of a strong, modern state with deep-seated state institutions.

"Turkey is a successful, modern state, built by [Mustafa Kemal] Ataturk in 1923," he said. "Although we [Arabs] have enormous natural resources, which Turkey lacks, we continue to suffer poor living standards."

"This," he asserted, "can be attributed to rampant corruption and a penchant for dictatorship.”

Dreams of freedom dashed

Alaa al-Amiri, for his part, a history professor at Baghdad’s Al-Mustansiriya University, described Sykes-Picot as "the agreement by which the Arab dream of self-rule was dashed.”

"The situation in Syria and Iraq is even more difficult now; there is talk of a new carving-up of the region – which should deeply concern regional countries like Turkey and Iran," he told Anadolu Agency.

"Dividing up the region is a key objective for both the U.S. and Israel, which would like to see the region cut up into small, ineffective cantons unable to challenge Israel’s position as regional hegemon," he argued.

"Studying Sykes-Picot will allow us to confront plans to divide the region again and avert the disastrous outcomes that the agreement led to 100 years ago," said al-Amiri.

"We must forge our own future," he said. "We don’t have to accept what the imperialists imposed on us in the form of Sykes-Picot," he added.

"I urge all Muslim regional powers to realize that sectarian tensions will not lead to anything but more division," the professor said.

Nations to sects

Mustafa Bilgin, a professor at Turkey’s Yildrim Beyazit University (which organized this week’s conference), said Sykes-Picot had carved up the region along "nationalist" lines.

"These days, however," he continued, "the same imperialist powers want to divide it along sectarian lines.”

"Some Western countries want to create new micro-states in the region with which they can pressure certain regional powers," he said.

"But the Middle East can’t afford fresh divisions that might eventually lead to a regional war," he added.

Signed on May 16, 1916 by Britain and France, the Sykes-Picot Agreement delineated British and French spheres of influence in the Near East following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

The secret talks that led to the agreement – held between French diplomat Francois Georges-Picot and British diplomat Mark Sykes – were later exposed by the communists when they overran Russia in 1917.

Under the agreement’s terms, the area known as the Fertile Crescent was carved up between Britain and France, with historical Palestine (including what is now Jordan) falling to the former and Syria and Lebanon going to the latter.

Iraq, meanwhile, was divided between the two powers, with Baghdad and Basra going to Britain and Mosul going to France.

Reporting by Ali Abo Rezeg; Writing by Ali H. M.Abo Rezeg;