BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- At the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Economic and Commercial Cooperation Permanent Committee’s (ISEDAK) meeting in Istanbul yesterday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a brilliant speech. A more international meeting this week in Egypt on the Iraq issue was attended by Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul. Most of the participants voiced their arguments against the US, with Washington in turn absolving itself by blaming others for its own ineptitude. However, it will continue to do whatever it wants and ignore or recognize such conferences at will. Iraq is in a terrible situation now, and no conference can save a country teetering on the edge. Iraq’s integrity is Ankara’s policy. However, Washington’s lack of policy will determine the result.
The late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat wasn’t a better statesman than Saddam Hussein. They both did many things to stay in power. Of course Arafat didn’t torture his own nation, that is, the Palestinians. So he can’t really be compared with Hussein. However, several years ago he deprived his nation of the opportunity for peace offered by then US President Bill Clinton. The US has taken the place of Britain and France in the Middle East and now the entire world is arrayed against it. If it had quickly finished its work in Iraq, it wouldn’t have had so many enemies. However, it’s let things drag out. Turkey is now trying to determine its rights between conferences and realities. We suffered great losses due to both the Gulf and Iraq wars. This time our humanitarian losses in Iraq are dwarfed only by the US. On the eve the Dec. 17 European Union summit, we live in such a world.