Last
Sunday a German frigate warship stopped a Turkish cargo ship in the Eastern Mediterranean
and searched the ship suspecting it was carrying weapons to Libya. That was the
excuse. What they found was the cargo ship was carrying paint and food to Libya.
The
German warship was commanded by a Greek Colonel, four American officers, one
French officer, and German personal. The Greek commander ordered the commandos
to search the ship without obeying the Maritime laws. They pushed the cargo
ship personnel, handcuffed the captain, and conducted their search. They held
the ship for sixteen hours and they did not find any weapons. Then, as if
nothing had happened, they left the ship.
This
was similar to the way U.S. commandos put hoods on Turkish Special Forces in
Suleymania, Iraq back in 2003. Turkey will answer to this injustice done to its
Turkish cargo carrying ship, but I want to talk about what the message is that they
were trying to pass on.
We
start a week ago when Secretary of State Pompeo visited seven countries
including Turkey. Pompeo first visited France and Germany, then visited
Istanbul, Turkey, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Pompeo did not bother to
contact any Turkish government officials. Instead he met with Bartelome, a
religious leader in Istanbul.
Pompeo
is the U.S. shadow leader; just as Cheney ran U.S. foreign policy under George
W. Bush. Pompeo openly said that he was uncomfortable with Turkey’s military
strength since Turkish Armed Forces successes in Libya, Suriye, Iraq and lastly
in Nagorno Karabakh, Azerbaijan.
So
what was the message Pompeo and Germany were passing out? It has to do with the
U.S. elections. Markel and many European leaders congratulated Biden in his
winning the elections. Markel is happy that Biden has been elected president of
the U.S. Many Europeans, especially Markel, were unhappy with Trump.
It
is important to mention here that when Pompeo was traveling to the Middle East,
Biden’s men were there with him. The message was that from now on Turkey has to
deal with Europe meaning Germany. This is the message.
Why?
Because Biden’s leadership is not going to follow Trump’s foreign policy. And when
it comes to the Middle East, Biden’s foreign policy will be harsher than Trump’s.
The
U.S. has serious problems with China. How Biden handles China will be different
than Trump. In order to handle China, the U.S. needs the EU and therefore gave
the problem of Turkey to Germany.
Biden
already said while campaigning that he wants to overthrow Erdogan. The way he
wants to do that is by helping the opposition party leaders in Turkey. Erdogan
is a problem to the U.S. and the EU. Biden wants to not only overthrow Erdogan,
but to change Turkey to parliamentary system which is what the opposition
leaders want in Turkey.
So
whether or not a Greek Colonel ordered the search of the Turkish cargo ship is
not important. This was out-right harassment to Turkey since the German ship
had French, American, Italian, and Greek officers onboard.
The message was clear that under Biden’s leadership the EU and the U.S. together will stop Turkish advancement in Libya and Middle East, and prevent making the Mediterranean a Turkish lake. It may also indicate a test on how Turkey is going to respond, because the German frigate and the officers knew they were violating maritime laws.