In the Obama administration's thinking, Turkey would be our handmaiden--a trusted Islamist government--in our outreach to the Moslem world.
So how's that working?
The United States said on Saturday it had expressed serious concerns to Turkey over its decision to co-produce a long-range air and missile defense system with a Chinese firm under U.S. sanctions.
Turkey, a member of the NATO military alliance, announced this week that it had chosen the FD-2000 missile defense system from China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp, or CPMIEC, over rival systems from Russian, U.S. and European firms.
CPMIEC is under U.S. sanctions for violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
Huh. We send Patriot missiles to defend Turkey--a NATO ally--from Syrian threats, and Turkey decides to go with the Chinese firm.
The decision isn't just symbolic. Giving the Chinese access to Turkey's air defense network, which is part of American-led NATO, will give the Chinese insights into how Western air defenses work:
NATO sources have said Turkish collaboration with China on the system could raise questions of compatibility of weaponry and of security. For China, it would be a breakthrough in its bid to become a supplier of advanced weapons.
Bayar said Turkey was not sharing any information on NATO defence systems with China[.]
Yes, if Turkey wants their new Chinese missiles compatible with NATO weapons, they will need to be integrated. And the Chinese will need information on what our systems do and how they work to do that.
And even if Turkey doesn't share information, having Chinese technicians crawling over Turkey's air defense network will give the Chinese ample access to simply steal such information or to get information that can be deduced from simply asking questions of lots of Turkish defense officials and troops.
Sure, the Turks say that they need air defenses to cope with threats from Syria. Being a member of NATO and in tight with President Obama apparently doesn't cut it any more.
Adding insult to injury, the Turkish excuse that sanctions are merely US sanctions and not UN sanctions has to sting a bit, best buddy-wise, no?
Yet the Turks could be right, Assad has threatened NATO country Turkey and friend of President Obama despite Assad's failure to control all their territory:
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned Turkey it will "pay dearly" for supporting rebels fighting to overthrow his regime, in an interview broadcast Friday on Turkish television.
"In the near future these terrorists will have an impact on Turkey. And Turkey will pay very dearly for its contribution," Assad told the opposition station Halk TV.
Oh sure, perhaps Assad was being reflective on his experience of supporting jihadi killers in Iraq and allowing them to flow through Syria only to find his government battling jihadis today.
But I doubt it. It was a veiled threat that Turkey can expect payback for issuing threats and demands against Assad and supporting rebels in Syria. And NATO country and friend of President Obama seems to think that a new friend in China would be a good thing to have.
I guess we should remain grateful that the deep history of conflict between Russia and Turkey kept Putin from exploiting this worry.
UPDATE: Of course, the obvious solution to facing Assad's revenge is to make sure Assad doesn't survive to seek revenge:
Turkey's parliament voted Thursday to extend a mandate authorizing deployment of troops in Syria if necessary for another year.
Turkey isn't likely to invade under present circumstances, but Turkey does have the combat power to crush Assad's rebellion-rattled conventional armed forces. Logistics would be a problem since Turkey focused on defense of their own territory. But Syria's armed forces are so poorly prepared for conventional combat that I think Turkey could jury rig enough supply effort (and contractors could help) to get to Damascus. Turkey did pull off an invasion of Cyprus nearly forty years ago, after all.
And if Turkey just wants to carve a safe zone in northern Turkey, the logistics problem wouldn't be too bad. Although it risks leaving Assad alive to seek revenge if the rebels can't exploit that safe haven to win the war.
