From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer
The whole world is trying to
find meaning in the actions of the Obama administration in the Middle
East. On the one hand, improving relations with Iran, while on the other
hand flirting with and even aggressively promoting Turkish foreign
policy.
Why is that? Why is the United States moving away from the Middle
East, literally and figuratively?
Is this region no longer of interest
to the U.S., or does the Obama administration believe that the United
States will be able to control the growing Islamic ambitions of Iran and
Turkey?
I certainly cannot answer the question of what is going on in the
heads of the people who are framing U.S. foreign policy, but the fact is
that both Iran and Turkey continue to develop their military and
economic power. In both countries, again, human rights are violated.
Dissent is a mortal sin. But this is not the main problem. While for
years Turkey and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, like Iran and
Ayatollah Khamenei, have influenced policy in the region, now the power
of both has increased exponentially.
A manifestation of this is the
"Marmaray"
railway tunnel, which joins the European and Asian parts of Turkey by
means of a tunnel under the Bosporus. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan
said that the Marmaray project will be one of the most important
projects in the region.
In addition, it was reported that the Turkish Minister of Transport,
Shipping and Communications, Binali Yildirim, said that the Marmaray
railway project will contribute not only to the development of Turkey,
but also to that of neighboring countries.
According to him, the Marmaray tunnel will be a new railway "Silk Road."
The Minister also noted that this was not the first global project that has been implemented in Turkey.
According to Yildirim, in addition to the Marmaray tunnel, one of the
global projects is a railway project, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
I have written about this project
several times at Jihad Watch.
Here it is always necessary to remember that during the time of the
Soviet Union, the southern Caucasus republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan
were connected by rail with Turkey and Iran, even though Azerbaijan
borders Iran, Georgia and Turkey. This was due to security
considerations. The Russians were worried that if there was a rail link
between them, Iran and Turkey would be bad influences on Azerbaijan and
Georgia.
With the completion of the Marmaray project, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line will be provided with access to Europe.
For the construction of the Georgian section, Azerbaijan provided a
loan in the amount of $775 million. Since the beginning of the financing
of the project and before January 1, 2013, $431.3 million was
allocated.
It should be mentioned that another rail line is also being built,
and can join the so-called Silk Road: the Azerbaijani-Iranian Astara
project that will connect Azerbaijan's city of Astara to the Iranian
cities Rasht and Qazvin.
The framework for this project provides for the construction of
segments of the railway on the territory of Iran, and the reconstruction
of the existing railway on the territory of Azerbaijan.
The project's cost is estimated at $200 million. In 2009, the
Iranians started construction of the railway between Rasht and Qazvin.
As of the summer of 2013, the construction of the railway was 90 percent
completed. Iran's Deputy Minister of Roads and Urban Development of
said that railway should begin operating before March 2014.
At the same time, the easing of economic sanctions against Iran may
give Turkey an opportunity to cooperate with Iran. The fact is that
Ankara is seeking to find a way to Tehran. This was revealed by the
scandal of
Turkish intelligence agents revealing to Iran the names of Iranians who were working for Mossad,
as well as by the visit of the leader of Hamas to Ankara. Turkey
continues to be active in the attempt to achieve reconciliation between
the Palestinian parties. In this connection, the chairman of the
Politburo of the Palestinian Islamic supremacist movement Hamas, Khaled
Meshaal, visited Ankara in October 2013.
Mashaal met with Erdogan in the official residence of the government,
at a meeting attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmet
Davutoglu, and the Head of Turkish Intelligence, Hakan Fidan. And after
that came the scandal of the revelation of the names of the Mossad
agents.
The question arises: in this situation, should the U.S. relax
sanctions on the Iranian regime? That would enable Iran to earn back in a
few months all the money it has lost due to the economic sanctions --
despite the fact that Iran has once again continued successful testing
of ballistic missiles.
In the Middle East, intentionally or not, this has created an unbearable situation for democracy and freedom.
The situation that the only democracy in the region, the State of
Israel, will face will be not only to protect itself against the growing
threat of Iranian weapons of mass destruction, but also against the
Turkish influence on Hamas, as well as against the Assad regime and
Al-Qaeda in Syria.
Maybe this situation is designed to verify the charge that Israel cannot find a common language with its "neighbors"?