teaching as taught by Prophet Muhammad to stop evil things using
whatever means at our disposal.
It is the non-Muslims advanced nations that had been doing the
stopping. First in Iraq, and then in Libya. It may be for the sake of
oil but the world is also involved. The price of oil had gone up when
Libya is in chaos, as a result of the brutal, illegal murders of
unarmed protestors. It will affect the economy of nations which are
mostly Muslim nations where the majority of their populations live
below the poverty level. Rising oil prices will make the prices of
food high as well.
The world has a lot of interest in stabilising this region, and true
stability is not achieved by using cruel dictators that violate human
rights laws. Whatever stability in nations that are controlled by
violent regimes are only on the surface. True stability can only be
achieved in a democracy where dissenting opinions are all brought up
front for all to discuss.
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Turkey says Nato move on Libya 'absurd'
By Delphine Strauss in Ankara and James Blitz in London
Published: March 1 2011 13:03 | Last updated: March 1 2011 13:52
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister, has hit out at US and
UK calls for military intervention in the Libya crisis, warning that
would be an "absurdity" for the Nato alliance to intervene in the
region.
As the stance of Turkey, a prominent western ally, was bolstered by
similar comments from non-Nato member Russia, the US and UK led calls
for tougher action to stop the violent crackdown against opposition
forces by Muammer Gaddafi, Libya's leader. Both Washington and London
are saying they are looking at the possible establishment of a no-fly
zone to prevent air attacks on towns held by rebels.
EDITOR'S CHOICE
West casts military net around Libya - Mar-01
Cameron says UK could arm Libya rebels - Feb-28
Gaddafi still has power to kill Libyan people - Feb-28
US freezes $30bn of Tripoli assets - Feb-28
Refugees confirm rebels' seizure of cities - Feb-28
Protests awaken sleepy sultanate of Oman - Feb-28
But Mr Erdogan said on Monday such plans were "unthinkable", telling a
conference in Germany: "As Turkey, we are against this – it should not
even be discussed."
Turkey has the second largest standing army in the 28-member Nato
defence alliance and has an increasingly influential voice in the
Middle East, where its growing economic weight has helped it renew old
ties with its neighbours.
Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, a permanent member of
the UN security council, also ruled out the idea of a no-fly zone on
Tuesday. But Mr Erdogan's comments suggest it could be difficult for a
western military operation to be conducted under Nato auspices. Nato
tends to take decisions on military action by consensus. If it is
unable to reach this consensus, the US and UK may be forced to mount a
no-fly zone using an informal coalition of willing states.
France also expressed doubts about about military intervention,
stressing that humanitarian aid and cutting off Col Gaddafi's income
sources should be the priorities.
Mr Erdogan, who faces the additional embarrassment of having accepted
a human rights prize from Mr Gaddafi in December, has been careful to
distance Turkey from western policies in the region. He said on Monday
any form of sanctions or intervention could endanger the lives of
Libyans and foreigners still in the country and he suggested that
western governments were motivated more by calculations over oil than
humanitarian concerns.
"The Middle East and Africa have been viewed by the west as sources of
oil and used as pawns in oil wars for decades," he said in Germany,
claiming western double standards over human rights had driven
protesters onto the streets.
Such rhetoric plays well with voters at home, where anti-American
sentiment has strengthened in recent years, and opposition to Israeli
policies in Gaza has hardened.
Turkey's resistance to financial sanctions against Libya is also
consistent with the position it took last year towards Iran, when
defied Washington to vote against UN sanctions targeting Tehran's
nuclear programme.
"Any type of sanctions or intervention that would punish the Libyan
people is unacceptable and would cause massive problems," Mr Erdogan
said at the conference."
A Turkish diplomat also compared the rejection of military
intervention to Ankara's position in 2003, when parliament voted to
refuse American troops use of Turkish territory for the invasion of
Iraq – a decision that caught the west by surprise, but bolstered
Turkey's diplomatic credibility as an independent player in the
region.
However, Mr Erdogan has faced criticism within Turkey for being slow
to speak out in support of the protests erupting across the region.
Since the explosion of protest in Egypt, he has called for governments
across the region to heed protestors' concerns, but has been slow to
comment directly on the chaos unfolding in Libya – where Turkey's
priority has been the evacuation of more than 15,000 expatriate
workers.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, leader of the opposition Republican People's Party
(CHP), on Tuesday accused Mr Erdogan of "double standards", wanting
democracy for Egypt but not for Libya.
"When we look at the Middle East, we are not among those who look at
its oil," Mr Erdogan said. "We say democracy, human rights, justice,
law… Whatever we say in Cairo, we say also in Tripoli. We do not get
involved in anyone's internal affairs."
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