US must share power in new world order, says Turkey's controversial president

[bemildred]

Source: Guardian UK

Days after Russia scored a stunning geopolitical victory in the Caucasus, President Abdullah Gül of Turkey said he saw a new multipolar world emerging from the wreckage of war.

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"I don't think you can control all the world from one centre," Gül told the Guardian. "There are big nations. There are huge populations. There is unbelievable economic development in some parts of the world. So what we have to do is, instead of unilateral actions, act all together, make common decisions and have consultations with the world. A new world order, if I can say it, should emerge."

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He rejected the idea, promoted by the United States and Israel, that the best way to deal with Iran was to isolate, sanction and punish it. "There are so many important issues, like the nuclear issue, Iraq, the Caucasus, Afghanistan," he said. "Iran is definitely having some influence of these issues, so we are talking."

Gül said Iran had a right to develop nuclear energy but not nuclear weapons. "We don't want to see weapons of mass destruction in this region," he said. "If it's in our neighbourhood, we definitely don't want to see it."


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/16/turkey.usforeignpolicy

[LSparkle]

1. Flame away but that sounds reasonable to me ...

But hasn't Gul also pushed for less strict secularism in Turkey
(signaling a possible shift toward Sharia law)?

[Orrin_73]

4. The Ottoman empire was ruled with Sharia

but it was one of the most tolerant nations in the world. Gul is no Khomeini or Saudi king, Turkish interpretation of Islam is different then Iran or Saudi.

[comradebillyboy]

2. excellent article

and Gul is right.

My very secular Turkish friends think his party wants to retreat from Atatürk's commitment to a secular and non religious state, but I think that Turkey cannot move away from secularism if it is to join the EU.

[Mojorabbit]

3. I told my sis today

that Turkey would have a price re letting us send ships to Georgia or not.
Looks like they do.

[fascisthunter]

5. Well... there ya go... pretty honest there

it's all about oil

[PM7nj]

6. I don't think that's the kind of "New World Order" PNAC had in mind.

:rofl:

[daleo]

7. It will either be a balance of power world, like the 19th century

Or a world based on multi-lateralism, like the U.N.. It looks more likely to be the former. I don't know what it would take to truly move towards the latter - maybe the shock of a limited nuclear war. The love of money and power are so entrenched.

[LiberalFighter]

8. Use to be that way until Bush took power.

[entanglement]

9. Notice how "controversial" is inserted in an item that is marked "news" - nice mix of opinion

and news there :eyes: Shame on you, Guardian.

[bemildred]

10. Yeah.

The assumption that the media has a right to speak for all of us is always there.

[harun]

11. Gül's a smart and good guy (n/t)

[Endangered Specie]

12. This coming from a government that routinely censors the truth about genocide?

credibility