Qatar to Invest $15 Billion in Turkish Financial Markets as Ankara-US Relations Hit New Low By Abdus Sattar Ghazali Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, September 2, 2018

President Erdogan and Sheikh Tamim

 

On Wednesday (August 15) Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held talks in Ankara with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and announced a 15bn investment into the Turkish financial markets and banks.

"We stand by the brothers in Turkey that have stood with the issues of the Muslim world and with Qatar," Sheikh Tamim said in a tweet.

"As part of the important talks that I held in Ankara on Friday with His Excellency President Erdogan, we announced a $15bn deposit package and investment projects in the country, which has a strong and solid productive economy."

Turkey has said it is willing to speak with the US to resolve an ongoing dispute between the two NATO allies. Speaking to a group of foreign ambassadors in Ankara on Wednesday evening, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said:  "Despite everything, we are ready to talk about everything to solve the existing problems as equal partners," he said. "I speak openly but only on one condition - no threatening, no dictating."

Meanwhile, in a reference to the attempted takeover two years ago, Fahrettin Altun, communications director at the Turkish presidency, tweeted that Turkey was "fending off this economic coup attempt".

In a reciprocal move to American restrictions, Turkey announced the doubling of tariffs on US goods including cars, alcohol, tobacco, rice, coal and cosmetics. This following Edogan's call for Turks to boycott US electronic items.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired a new salvo in the growing war of words with the United States on Tuesday (August 14), saying Ankara will boycott all American-made electronic products.

President Erdogan said Turkey would stop procuring US-made iPhones and buy Korean Samsung or Turkish-made Vestel products instead. "If they have the iPhone, there is Samsung elsewhere. We have Vestel."

In an opinion piece published in the New York Times on August 10, President Erdogan said Turkey's partnership with US is in jeopardy, warning Ankara could start looking for new allies.  

"Unless the United States starts respecting Turkey's sovereignty and proves that it understands the dangers that our nation faces, our partnership could be in jeopardy," he wrote, adding: "Before it is too late, Washington must give up the misguided notion that our relationship can be asymmetrical and come to terms with the fact that Turkey has alternatives."

Erdogan told a rally in Bayburt on Friday, Turkey had alternatives "from Iran, to Russia, to China and some European countries".

In a tweet on Friday (August 10), President Donald Trump announced the doubling of the tariffs in new punitive actions against Turkey, saying: "Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!"

Turkish Lira

The lira has lost more than 40 percent this year. It hit a record low after Trump announced he authorized higher tariffs on imports from Turkey, imposing duties of 20 percent on aluminium and 50 percent on steel.

Erdogan says a shadowy "interest rate lobby" and Western credit ratings agencies are attempting to bring down Turkey’s economy, appealed to his countrymen's patriotism.

"If there is anyone who has dollars or gold under their pillows, they should go exchange it for liras at our banks. This is a national, domestic battle," he told a rally in Bayburt.

Erdogan said Turkey was the target of an economic war and has made repeated calls on Turks to sell their dollars and euros to shore up the national currency. He also urged manufacturers not to rush to buy dollars. He also accused the US of stabbing Turkey "in the back".

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, visiting Ankara said Tuesday (Aug 14) Moscow backs using national currencies, not the U.S. dollar, in its trade with Turkey.

Lavrov held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu days after the Turkish lira  plummeted to an all-time low versus the U.S. dollar, while the Russian rouble  lost nearly 10 percent in just several days of August.

 “The use of national currencies for mutual trade has for several years been one of the tasks that the presidents of Russia and Turkey had set,” Lavrov told a joint news conference with Cavusoglu.

“Identical processes have been happening in our relations with Iran. Not only with Turkey and Iran, we’re also arranging and already implementing payments in national currencies with the People’s Republic of China,” he said.

“I am confident that the grave abuse of the role of the U.S. dollar as a global reserve currency will result over time in the weakening and demise of its role,” Lavrov said, echoing statements made by President Vladimir Putin.

The Russia -Turkey -Iran “Triple Entente”

Michel Chossudovsky, an award-winning author and Editor of Global Research, wrote (August 10) on the Turkish-US dispute:  

“Donald Trump has just sent a dirty message to the president of Turkey. Why? What is the objective behind Trump’s statement? While Turkey is officially a member of NATO as well as a firm ally of the US, President RecepTayyip Erdoğan has been developing “friendly relations” with two of America’s staunchest enemies, namely Iran and Russia.

“US-Turkey military cooperation (including US air force bases in Turkey) dates back to the Cold War. Today Turkey is now sleeping with both Iran and Russia. 

“Trump’s response takes the form of both military threats and economic sanctions coupled with financial manipulation of foreign exchange markets directed against Turkey’s Lira. And their currency “slides rapidly downwards against our very strong dollar”, says Trump.

“Turkey has developed an alliance of convenience with Iran. And Iran in turn is now supported by a powerful China-Russia block, which includes military cooperation, strategic pipelines as well extensive trade and investment agreements. But there is more than meets the eye.”

Chossudovsky pointed out that the bilateral US-Israel and US-Turkey alliance coupled with the Israel-Turkey military and intelligence cooperation agreement as well as the Israel-NATO agreement (2003), constitute the foundations of the US-Israel-Turkey “Triple alliance” or what the Brookings Institute calls the US-Turkey- Israel Triangle.

This triangular structure of alliances is dead much to the detriment of Washington, Chossudovsky said adding: “In turn, Turkey wants to acquire Russia’s S-400 air defense system at a cost of 2 billion dollars. In practice, this would mean that Turkey would opt out of the integrated US-NATO air defense system (which also includes the participation of Israel). In practice this also means that Turkey has “unofficially” chosen NATO-Exit.”

Chossudovsky argues that what is unfolding is the building of a new Triple Entente between Turkey, Iran and Russia.  At this stage, this Triple Entente goes beyond an “alliance of convenience”. It constitutes a major restructuring of both military and economic alliances.

Shift in the Structure of Military Coalitions

On March 31, 2018, Prof Michel Chossudovsky wrote that military alliances are being redefined and Turkey is contemplating a “NATO-Exit”, the implications of which are far-reaching.

From a broader military standpoint, Turkey is actively cooperating with Russia, which has recently pledged to ensure Turkey’s security, Chossudovsky said and quoted  Turkish Air Force retired Major General Beyazit Karatas as saying that  “Moscow underscores that Turkey can calmly withdraw from NATO and after doing so Ankara will have guarantees that it will not face any threat [from US-NATO] in terms of ensuring its own security.”

In an interview with the Sputnik correspondent Suliman Mulhem, General Karatas said that the latest statements by senior Russian officials show that Ankara should not rely on NATO when it comes to maintaining its national security.

He was alluding to the statement of Alexander Sherin, first deputy head of the Russian Lower House's Defense Committee, who said that CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] countries, Syria, Iran, North Korea, China and Turkey, remain Russia's partners, and that Moscow will be ready to "stand up" for them in case of a possible nuclear attack.

Karatas, who has served as Turkish Military Attache in Washington, recalled what he had already said about the likelihood of a situation in which the US could add to Turkey becoming a nuclear target.  "By saying so, I meant that if any NATO country, mainly America, stages a nuclear attack on a third country from Turkish territory, it may turn Turkey into a nuclear target. However, Russia's recent statements, on the one hand, offered Turkey a protection system which is alternative to NATO's nuclear deterrence, and, on the other – the statements sent a certain message to NATO and the US via Turkey," he said.

95% Turks are against US & NATO

"At present, at least 95% of Turkish people are against the country's alliance with the US and NATO, although Turkish officials have stated they will continue to stay within NATO. In the period ahead we will continue to further develop and diversify our relations considering the US' policy of supporting a terrorist group which fights against the Turkish government," the retired air force officer told Sputnik, outlining the growing anti-US sentiment in Turkey due to Washington's alliance with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is considered by Ankara to be an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK.)  The PKK has fought a bloody insurgency against Turkey for over three decades, and has been designated a terrorist organization by the US, the EU, and Turkey. Concerns have been raised by Turkey over arms provided by the US to its regional Kurdish allies - namely the Peshmerga and SDF - being found in the hands of PKK terrorists. 

The retired major general also warned that the US is providing support to the Gülen Movement, which is believed to be behind the 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government.  "USA and other Western countries have a two-faced policy towards Turkey as they support forces from the PKK/SDF and the Gülen Movement/FETÖ in their struggle against Turkey."  Turkish authorities have repeatedly called for the extradition of the group's leader from the US to Turkey.  The retired major general went on to outline Ankara's improving relations with Russia and said Turkey should continue to "develop" ties with Moscow as relations with the US continue to deteriorate.  "Turkey-Russia relations can be defined as 'The Sun Rises In The East.' We must continue to develop our relations with alternatives for the national integrity of our country in all aspects, primarily political, military and economic, and to cooperate with Russia by including our neighboring countries as Iran, Syria, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Lebanon and other friendly countries," Retired Major General Beyazit Karatas told Sputnik.

Turkey’s rapprochement with Russia is strategic

According to Prof Michel Chossudovsky ,Turkey’s “Rapprochement” with Russia is strategic. While playing a key role in the Middle East, Turkey also controls naval access to the Black Sea through the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus.

In other words, Turkey’s withdrawal from NATO would have an immediate impact on NATO’s land and naval deployments in the Black Sea basin, which in turn would affect NATO military capabilities on Russia’s doorstep in Eastern Europe, The Baltic States and the Balkans.

Needless to say, the Moscow-Ankara alliance facilitates the movement of Russian and Chinese naval forces to and from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus.

Turkey’s realignment is not limited to Russia it also includes Iran as well as Pakistan, which is in the process of severing its military ties with the US, while extending its trade and investment relations with China, Chossudovsky argues.

Turkey has an alliance of convenience with Iran. And Iran in turn is now supported by a powerful China-Russia block, which includes military cooperation, strategic pipelines as well extensive trade and investment agreements.

In turn, the unity of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States is now in jeopardy, with Qatar, Oman and Kuwait building an alliance with Iran (as well as Turkey), to the detriment of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Saudi Arabia’s economic blockade directed against Qatar has created a rift in geopolitical alliances which has served to weaken the US in the Persian Gulf.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is profoundly divided, with the UAE and Bahrain siding with Saudi Arabia against Qatar. In turn Qatar has the support of Oman and Kuwait. Needless to say, the GCC which until recently was America’s staunchest Middle East ally against Iran is in total disarray.

U.S. Central Command Military Base in Qatar 

While Turkey is deploying  troops in Qatar, it has also established the Tariq bin Ziyad military base in Qatar (in cooperation with the Qatari Ministry of Defense) under an agreement signed in 2014.

The Qatar based Al Udeid US military facility is the largest in the Middle East. Under USCentCom, it hosts the command structure of all US military operations in the entire Middle East-Central Asian region.

Al Udeid –which houses some 10,000 US military personnel–, has played a strategic role in the ongoing conduct of US air operations against Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

There is however a fundamental contradiction: America’s largest military base in the Middle East which hosts USCentCom is at present located in a country which is firmly aligned with Iran (i.e. an enemy of America). Moreover,  Qatar’s main partners in the oil and gas industry including pipelines are Iran and Turkey. In turn, both Russia and China are actively involved in the Qatari oil and gas industry. 

In response to Qatar’s rapprochement with Iran, the Pentagon has already envisaged moving its Central Command headquarters at the Al Udeid Air Force base to the Prince Sultan Air Force base in central Saudi Arabia, 80 km south of Riyadh.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon is envisaging moving US Air Force facilities and personnel out of the Incirlik base in southern Turkey.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky concludes: The alliance between Washington and Ankara is in crisis. NATO is in crisis. In turn, a Turkey NATO-Exit could potentially destabilize NATO. Apart from Turkey, several EU countries including Germany, Italy, Greece (which has established defense ties with Russia) as well as Bulgaria could contemplate a NATO-Exit.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America.

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