Erdogan slams Obama for silence on Israel's Gaza flotilla raid

[King_David]

Turkish premier reiterates Ankara's intent to refer legality of Israel's blockade on Gaza to The Hague, saying the world will see 'who is standing alongside the victims'.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated on Saturday his country's intent to refer the legality of Israel's Gaza blockade to The Hague, adding a criticism of U.S. President Barack Obama's position regarding Israel's 2010 of a Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla.

Speaking a convention of businessmen in the central Turkish city of Kayseri broadcast live on Turkey's state news channel TRT Erdogan vowed to continue the legal struggle for justice for the nine people killed in the raid.

"We will carry this struggle to The Hague and Erdogan criticizes Obama," the Turkish premier said, criticizing Turkish opposition leaders for what he described as "acting as advocates for Israel."

Erdogan was also deeply critical of the United States position on the Mavi Marmara incident, pointing out that he had to point out to Obama how the attack had left nine Turks dead from wounds inflicted by 35 bullets mostly fired from close range, one of them an American passport holder.

"I asked President Obama whether the reason he showed no interest in one of his nationals being killed was because was Turkish - he didn't reply," said Erdogan.

Edogan's comments came a week Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu first indicated that Turkey was to appeal the International Court of Justice in The Hague as soon as next week in order to probe the legality of Israel's naval blockade on the Gaza Strip, saying that Turkey could not "accept the blockade on Gaza."


http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/erdogan-slams-obama-for-silence-on-israel-s-gaza-flotilla-raid-1.383618

[King_David]

1. Turkish warships to North America ? nt

[azurnoir]

3. Ridiculous assumptions or wishes perhaps? n/t

[AwareOne]

2. Israel is a rogue terrorist state

harboring an illegal nuclear arsenal.

[King_David]

4. The blue lady moves slowly in the mist ,as night falls nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. Turkey is a rogue terrorist state with a history of genocide

[teddy51]

6. Thats an interesting observation, considering that Turkey is a member nation

of NATO. I hardly think that the other NATO members would agree with you.

[oberliner]

7. I'm also pretty confident NATO members would not say that Israel is a rogue terrorist state

That was what the above poster was responding to.

[teddy51]

8. "illegal nuclear arsenal" well that part of his/her post is correct! n/t

[oberliner]

9. And the "history of genocide" part of the Turkey post is correct as well

Not sure, though, that Israel's nuclear arsenal is illegal.

Under what law would that be the case?

[teddy51]

10. They have never declared their nukes, and have never signed a non poliferation

treaty. (maybe not illegal as such) but it sure makes one wonder about how they can protest Iran for wanting nukes.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT or NNPT) is a treaty to limit the spread (proliferation) of nuclear weapons. The treaty came into force on 5 March 1970, and currently there are 189 states party to the treaty, five of which are recognized as nuclear weapon states: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and China (also the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council).

Four non-parties to the treaty are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons: India, Pakistan and North Korea have openly tested and declared that they possess nuclear weapons, while Israel has had a policy of opacity regarding its own nuclear weapons program. North Korea acceded to the treaty, violated it, and in 2003 withdrew from it.

The NPT consists of a preamble and eleven articles. Although the concept of "pillars" is not expressed anywhere in the NPT, the treaty is nevertheless sometimes interpreted as a three-pillar system, with an implicit balance among them:

non-proliferation,
disarmament, and
the right to peacefully use nuclear technology.<1>

The treaty is reviewed every five years in meetings called Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. In addition, Sessions of the Preparatory Committee for the Review Conference take place on the intermediate years. Simultaneously, many events organized by independent institutions, groups of experts, think tanks and NGOs take place worldwide in order to provide reports and recommendations that complement the Preparatory Committees.<2>

Even though the treaty was originally conceived with a limited duration of 25 years, the signing parties decided, by consensus, to extend the treaty indefinitely and without conditions during the Review Conference in New York City on May 11, 1995.

The most recent Review Conference was held in May 2010.<3>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty

[oberliner]

16. Right - so since they didn't seen the NPT then they wouldn't be illegal, right?

Maybe ill-advised but not illegal.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. No it is not correct. It is an undeclared and unsupervised arsenal

[teddy51]

14. I declared the correction in post #10. n/t

[King_David]

15. They are not illegal

And they have never been officially declared either.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. Everybody steps carefully around those ugly facts and the world moves on

Just wanted to remind the prior poster about them.

[teddy51]

13. I understand.... And I should make it perfectly clear...

that I have no problem with Israeli's, but I seriously do believe that Benjamin Netanyahu has to go.

[jimmie]

17. I quote someone else who said better than I...

"Piss off. You made your bed now lay in it"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x363067#363075


Erdogan will lose.