Rep. Shelley Berkley opposes arms sale to Turkey

Rep. Shelley Berkley opposes arms sale to Turkey

By Karoun Demirjian (contact)

She’s done it before, with Saudi Arabia. This time, Rep. Shelley Berkley doesn’t want another Israel-antagonist, Turkey, to be allowed to buy U.S. military materiel.

Berkley is co-sponsoring a resolution to block the proposed sale of $111 million of U.S. attack helicopters to the NATO ally, and to require that the president consult Congress whenever the administration is planning to sell more than $50 million in military equipment to Turkey.

In the “Dear Colleague” letter she and Rep. Eliot Engel have been circulating this week, Berkley lists several objections to Turkey’s political positions, including its “belligerence against Cyprus” that is “intensifying,” being “late to distance itself from the nightmare in Syria,” “undermin[ing] international efforts to impose strong sanctions on Iran,” and continued “refus[al] to apologize for the Armenian genocide.”

But the key complaint Berkley has with Turkey is its increasingly icy relationship with Israel.

Turkey’s humanitarian support for Palestinians in Gaza had already begun to vex Israel before May 2010, when things exploded into a full-fledged diplomatic crisis over an incident on the Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, which was part of an anti-occupation movement’s “Freedom Flotilla” to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Israeli commandos boarded the approaching ships at sea, and in the skirmishes that followed on board, killed nine Turkish nationals. Israel has not apologized for the incident, claiming it was self-defense.

In the months since, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Israel, expelled the Israeli ambassador to Turkey, and refused Israel’s offer of aid after a devastating earthquake that hit Turkey’s eastern region around Lake Van.

“This is the time for the United States to be raising our very serious concerns about Turkey, rather than selling arms to them,” Berkley and Engel wrote.

(One point of dispute with Berkley’s complaints: while Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was late to support NATO action on Libya, his harsh criticism of Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown against protesters in Syria began only shortly after Hillary Clinton’s and before Barack Obama joined the fray. Turkey is now harboring most of the Syrian refugees, including military defectors who are helping coordinate the uprisings. One thing noticeably missing from Berkley’s letter: any mention of the Kurdish population of Turkey, currently being subjected to the most humanitarian injustices at the hands of the Turkish government.)

Berkley isn’t going so far, as she did with Saudi Arabia, as to claim Turkey would use these weapons against Israel — just arguing that Turkey should not be rewarded for its anti-Israel and anti-Cypriate behavior.

But if Berkley is this upset about the sale of three attack helicopters, it’s only bound to get worse: Turkey has also requested to purchase Predator and Reaper drones from the United States, and according to reports, the Pentagon isn’t opposed to the idea.

Turkey has lobbied the U.S. to become a base for a fleet of Predator drones, most of which are operated from the Creech Air Force Base in Nevada, once the United States leaves Iraq at the end of the year. Turkey wants to use the drones to fight the P.K.K., the Kurdish separatist group that is fighting for its own country on Turkish territory.

The United States and Turkey have collaborated on the P.K.K. in the past, with the United States sharing drone footage from northern Iraq, where there is a strong Kurdish population and from where, Turkey says, most of the group’s attacks are coordinated.

In the past, the U.S. has cited Turkey’s strategic military position as a reason not to antagonize the country over some of the political positions Berkley complains of in her letter, including its occupation of part of Cyprus and its disavowal of the Armenian genocide.

via Rep. Shelley Berkley opposes arms sale to Turkey – Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2011 | 1:14 p.m. – Las Vegas Sun.