Jigs
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Sunday, February 27, 2011
ÜMİT ENGİNSOY
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Turkey's large investments in Libya and the ongoing presence of many Turks in the North African country prompted Ankara to oppose UN Security Council-backed sanctions, analysts say
Turkey’s vocal objection to sanctions on Libya fizzled as the U.N. Security Council slapped sweeping sanctions on the country Saturday in response to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s deadly crackdown on ongoing anti-government protests.
The debate over sanctions has set Turkey, which has large investments in Libya and many citizens working there, in opposition to much of the rest of the world.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged the U.N. Security Council not to impose sanctions, warning that the Libyan people, rather than Gadhafi’s government, would suffer most.
“The people are already struggling to find food, how will you feed the Libyan people?” Erdoğan asked in a televised speech in Ankara. “Sanctions, an intervention, would force the Libyan people, who are already up against hunger and violence, into a more desperate situation. We call on the international community to act with conscience, justice, laws and universal humane values – not out of oil concerns.”
Shortly later, the U.N. Security Council, voting 15-0, imposed an arms embargo and urged U.N. member countries to freeze the assets of Gadhafi, four of his sons and a daughter.
The council also backed a travel ban on the Gadhafi family and close associates, including leaders of the revolutionary committees accused of much of the violence against opponents, the Associated Press reported.
Turkey’s reasons to oppose
“Turkey has investments worth over $15 billion in Libya, and thousands of Turkish workers are still stranded in the country. That’s why Ankara was very reluctant to join this international action,” one Washington-based analyst familiar with the situation told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “The business lobby’s concerns have prevailed in determining the Turkish position. The Turkish businesses fear their lucrative contracts with the Gadhafi administration may turn into valueless pieces of paper if or when Gadhafi leaves.”
In the first several days after the wave of regional uprisings reached Libya, the United States joined Turkey in going slowly with its response. At the time, American officials were concerned about the potential of an oil crisis and were scrambling to find out who might replace Gadhafi.
“But the present hardened U.S. position suggests that the Americans are now convinced that Gadhafi is a goner anyway,” the Washington-based analyst said.
Attacks a ‘tipping point’ for sanctions
Even China, a Security Council permanent member with veto-wielding powers, voted for the sanctions resolution, although it is concerned about the global consequences of the protests in the Middle East and North Africa.
“The indiscriminate attacks by Gadhafi’s thugs and African mercenaries on the Libyan people became the tipping point for the Security Council resolution,” Bülent Aliriza, head of the Turkey Project and a Middle East expert at the Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Daily News.
Council members did not consider imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, and no U.N.-sanctioned military action was planned. NATO also has ruled out any intervention in Libya.
Before the Security Council resolution passed, Erdoğan and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed ways to respond to the Libyan crisis. “The president and the prime minister expressed their deep concern about the Libyan government’s use of violence against its people, which is completely unacceptable, and discussed appropriate and effective ways for the international community to immediately respond,” the White House said after the conversation late Friday. It made no mention of sanctions in the statement.
In addition to putting it at odds with much of the international community, Turkey’s position on Libya also is in sharp contrast with how it dealt with the earlier crisis in Egypt. Turkish leaders were in line with their U.S. counterparts in calling for the exit of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, with some analysts suggesting at the time that Mubarak’s Egypt was a rival to Turkey’s emerging leadership in the Middle East.
Turkey’s regional stances have raised eyebrows in the West before, though. Last June, as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Turkey voted against fresh sanctions on Iran over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.
ÜMİT ENGİNSOY
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
Turkey's large investments in Libya and the ongoing presence of many Turks in the North African country prompted Ankara to oppose UN Security Council-backed sanctions, analysts say
Turkey’s vocal objection to sanctions on Libya fizzled as the U.N. Security Council slapped sweeping sanctions on the country Saturday in response to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s deadly crackdown on ongoing anti-government protests.
The debate over sanctions has set Turkey, which has large investments in Libya and many citizens working there, in opposition to much of the rest of the world.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan urged the U.N. Security Council not to impose sanctions, warning that the Libyan people, rather than Gadhafi’s government, would suffer most.
“The people are already struggling to find food, how will you feed the Libyan people?” Erdoğan asked in a televised speech in Ankara. “Sanctions, an intervention, would force the Libyan people, who are already up against hunger and violence, into a more desperate situation. We call on the international community to act with conscience, justice, laws and universal humane values – not out of oil concerns.”
Shortly later, the U.N. Security Council, voting 15-0, imposed an arms embargo and urged U.N. member countries to freeze the assets of Gadhafi, four of his sons and a daughter.
The council also backed a travel ban on the Gadhafi family and close associates, including leaders of the revolutionary committees accused of much of the violence against opponents, the Associated Press reported.
Turkey’s reasons to oppose
“Turkey has investments worth over $15 billion in Libya, and thousands of Turkish workers are still stranded in the country. That’s why Ankara was very reluctant to join this international action,” one Washington-based analyst familiar with the situation told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “The business lobby’s concerns have prevailed in determining the Turkish position. The Turkish businesses fear their lucrative contracts with the Gadhafi administration may turn into valueless pieces of paper if or when Gadhafi leaves.”
In the first several days after the wave of regional uprisings reached Libya, the United States joined Turkey in going slowly with its response. At the time, American officials were concerned about the potential of an oil crisis and were scrambling to find out who might replace Gadhafi.
“But the present hardened U.S. position suggests that the Americans are now convinced that Gadhafi is a goner anyway,” the Washington-based analyst said.
Attacks a ‘tipping point’ for sanctions
Even China, a Security Council permanent member with veto-wielding powers, voted for the sanctions resolution, although it is concerned about the global consequences of the protests in the Middle East and North Africa.
“The indiscriminate attacks by Gadhafi’s thugs and African mercenaries on the Libyan people became the tipping point for the Security Council resolution,” Bülent Aliriza, head of the Turkey Project and a Middle East expert at the Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Daily News.
Council members did not consider imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, and no U.N.-sanctioned military action was planned. NATO also has ruled out any intervention in Libya.
Before the Security Council resolution passed, Erdoğan and U.S. President Barack Obama discussed ways to respond to the Libyan crisis. “The president and the prime minister expressed their deep concern about the Libyan government’s use of violence against its people, which is completely unacceptable, and discussed appropriate and effective ways for the international community to immediately respond,” the White House said after the conversation late Friday. It made no mention of sanctions in the statement.
In addition to putting it at odds with much of the international community, Turkey’s position on Libya also is in sharp contrast with how it dealt with the earlier crisis in Egypt. Turkish leaders were in line with their U.S. counterparts in calling for the exit of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, with some analysts suggesting at the time that Mubarak’s Egypt was a rival to Turkey’s emerging leadership in the Middle East.
Turkey’s regional stances have raised eyebrows in the West before, though. Last June, as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Turkey voted against fresh sanctions on Iran over Tehran’s controversial nuclear program.
