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Turkey Sets a Course Against the West
(Jerusalem Post) Jonathan Spyer - Turkey occupies a chunk of northwest Syria and its troops are currently massing on the border of Syria further east. Turkish forces are also present in northern Iraq. Turkey offers active support to the Muslim Brotherhood-associated government in Libya, supplying drones to Tripoli in violation of a UN embargo in place since 2011. Ankara also supports the Hamas regime in Gaza which maintains an active office in Istanbul. Turkey is also seeking to build influence in Jerusalem through government-linked aid agencies. Now Turkey is emerging as an aggressive and disruptive force with regard to gas development in the eastern Mediterranean, adopting its own interpretation of international law with regard to defining ownership of energy resources. Turkey claims that the waters adjacent to Cyprus constitute part of Turkey's own continental shelf, and that Ankara has the right to explore and to drill for gas there. Turkey dispatched gunboats last year to drive off an attempt by the Italian energy company ENI to commence drilling in agreement with the Cypriot government. Turkey's leaders today describe themselves frankly as enemies of Israel. They appear to have set a course toward a broader orientation of hostility to the West. The writer is director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis.