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Position: Outcome was Turkey's fault
This position addresses the topic Gaza flotilla raid.
For this position
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"Since taking office in 2003, Erdogan has worked relentlessly to neuter the military, casting private conversations as coup plots and trumping up charges to arrest popular generals. Faced with an upcoming Turkish-Israeli-US naval exercise, Erdogan saw an opportunity to sever the long-standing links between his military and Israel's. The timing of that "aid" flotilla was no accident."
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"Much of what went on — the dissembling of the Palestinian propagandists, the hysteria of the U.N. and the Euro-ninnies — was just business as usual. But what was most striking was the behavior of the Turks. In the wake of the Israeli raid, Ankara promised to provide Turkish naval protection for the next “aid” convoy to Gaza. This would be, in effect, an act of war — more to the point, an act of war by a NATO member against the State of Israel."
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"The flotilla incident was a tragedy. Policymakers of all nations have a responsibility to work for solutions that minimize harm - especially to innocent people. But people died not because Israel enforced lawful security restrictions on Gaza. They died because Turkey instigated a violent confrontation."
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"I was somewhat taken aback that the prime minister could not bring himself to condemn a fictional blood libel. I should not have been. He and his party have traded on America and Israel hatred ever since. There can be little doubt the Turkish flotilla that challenged the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza was organized with his approval, if not encouragement."
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"Still, commentators like Alan Colmes opine: "To speak out against this despicable act isn't to hate Israel, but rather to love it, and peace." So why don't left-wing pundits love Turkey for a while? That nation, after all, not only instigated this event but is home to more than 25 million Kurds living in occupied territories. Kurds who deal with daily human rights abuses: torture, mass disappearances, assaults on their language and culture. No emergency sessions at the United Nations for them."
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"The Ankara government -- led by Islamists these days -- sponsored the "aid" operation in a move to position itself as the new champion of the Palestinians. And Turkish decision-makers knew Israel would have to react -- and were waiting to exploit the inevitable clash. The provocation was as cynical as it was carefully orchestrated. The lead vessel, the Mavi Marmara, just happened to have an al-Jazeera TV crew on board to film Israel's response. Ironically, the early videos would've been counterproductive, had world leaders and journalists not been programmed to blame everything on Israel."
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Against this position
No results
Mixed on this position
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"All of the violence occurred aboard the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara, and all of those who were killed were members or volunteers for the Islamic "charity" that owned the ship, the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). The relationship between Mr. Erdogan's government and the IHH ought to be one focus of any international investigation into the incident."
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