Saturday, June 5, 2010

Gaza flotilla: Turkey's stance is a lesson to the west

Turkish efforts to change policies that turn blind eye to suffering in Gaza are characteristic of its diplomacy in last decade

Hugh Pope
(Hugh Pope is the Turkey/Cyprus project director for the International Crisis Group.)

guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 June 2010

".....Turkey's dispute with Israel is therefore not evidence of a Turkish animus against the west. Turks may have been the main organisers of the Gaza flotilla, but they were joined by activists, vessels and supplies from more than 30 countries, including several politicians from EU states. There is nothing un-European about protesting against Israel's punishment of the inhabitants of Gaza. All that is uncharacteristic of today's European states is that Turkey is actually doing something to end it."

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