Anti-Israel Swedish FM Praises Turkish Foreign Policy, Touts Early EU Entry
Swedish FM Carl Bildt (left): vehemently anti-Israel and major enabler of Islamisation in Europe
…i.e. ‘Bash Israel, cosy up to Islamist dictatorships’ – and raises the spectre that should alarm every European citizen – an early EU entry for Turkey, a country descending rapidly into radicalism. Introducing Carl Bildt, major player in the Islamisation of Europe:
Turkey’s emergence as a strong foreign policy player in its region is making some people nervous, but Sweden’s foreign minister says the country’s step forward is good for everyone and calls for more dialogue with Ankara. ‘Very little would have happened in the last 50 years without political leadership. We need to overcome the burden of the past,’ he says
Turkey’s geo-strategic location and its increasingly dynamic foreign policy are advantages for Europe and the country’s European Union aspirations, according to Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.
“For some, it has been difficult to digest Turkey’s change from a passive partner to the far more active role it is playing now,” Bildt said in an interview with the Turkish Policy Quarterly journal. “One thing is certain; we need more dialogue with Ankara on all these issues now than before.”
The Swedish official, however, said Turkey had gone too far in defending Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s stance on Darfur, as well as Iran. “Turkey and Iran are neighbors and we cannot pressure Turkey to confront its neighbor,” he said. “On the other hand, being a good neighbor does not mean that you have to overlook what is happening in a country. This balancing act is a very difficult one.”
The minister praised Turkey’s regional peace efforts, calling them “highly significant.”
“Though some complain about Turkey’s improving relations with Syria, the EU is now also seeking to normalize relations with Syria,” he said. “In the southern Caucasus, Afghanistan, Pakistan… Turkey is a major player. And in Tehran, Turkey has an amount of access that few others have.”
Calling on Turkey to do more in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bildt added: “Bosnia is falling behind. Turkey can do more than it has been doing to contribute to reconciliation in Bosnia. [Bosniak Presidency member Haris] Silajdžić is playing the Ankara card, but this is not necessarily what is going to bring a solution.” According to Bildt, Bosnian politicians are preoccupied with internal quarrels and the past and were thus left behind when Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro forged ahead with visa liberalizations.
Although visa liberalization is a very important aspect of EU policy, it is also “a difficult one to handle,” the Swedish foreign minister said, adding: “It is in the hands of interior ministries, not foreign ministers, and with regard to opening up Europe, their agenda is not necessarily the same.”
Bildt also expressed his concerns over frozen conflicts in the South Caucasus, questioning whether there was enough political will between Baku and Yerevan to ultimately seal a deal. “Those among the Armenian diaspora who think it is shameful to move ahead with reconciliation with Turkey think it is doubly so to compromise on the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, so it is not easy for the political leadership in Armenia,” he said.
Turning to domestic Turkish issues, the foreign minister praised the Turkish government’s pro-reform efforts. “We have applauded the recent democratic/Kurdish initiative,” he said, noting that although there were issues regarding how determined the government was in overcoming the opposition, its commitment to the move was unquestionable. In the end, Bildt said, a consensus was necessary for moving forward.
The Swedish minister said the recent disclosures of alleged coup plans within the Turkish military were highly disturbing, but added that the Turkish legal system was fulfilling its duty in addressing the allegations, a fact that was unimaginable even five to 10 years ago.
On the subject of EU accession, he said the Cyprus deadlock was negatively affecting the country’s chances of joining the bloc. “It is a regrettable fact that direct trade between northern Cyprus and the European Union is blocked,” he added. “A settlement on the island would sort out a number of issues in one stroke: the direct trade problem, the chapters of the acquis that are blocked and EU-NATO cooperation problems.”
‘Turkey could be EU member sooner than expected’
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said Turkey would be an EU member by 2023 – a date Bildt found “pessimistic.”
“The strategic element of Turkey’s prospective membership has become more obvious. It is true that this is an elite debate, [but] the important steps in the EU project have been elite-driven,” he said. “The EU project was not the result of a groundswell of love toward each other among different European nations. The euro was also not an initiative driven by the demand of the people.”
“In fact, very little would have happened in the last 50 years without political leadership,” he added. “Both sides need to overcome the burden of the past. And this is what the EU is all about.”
This is the man that refused to condemn stupid, racist blood libel stories in the Swedish press about Israelis harvesting the organs of ‘Palestinian’ children last year.
This is the man that is trying to persuade the EU to adopt a petition demanding the partition of Jerusalem.
This is the man that can do his maths – with something approaching half a million Muslims in Sweden and only 18,00 Jews – and an election looming this September – he needs to court the vote of the Muslims his government are largely responsible for filling up his country with.
But Europeans – were you aware that this man was also speaking in your name?
“Perhaps our daring vision for the future should be a re-creation of Constantinople, helping to merge cultures that currently seem dangerously — and all too strictly — separated from each other.” - Carl Bildt, on Islam in Europe
[Source: Hürriyet Daily News, Ankara]
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The bold text contains some factual errors and biased conclusions:
1) The website with the ‘Mohammed cartoons’ was shut down by the previous Swedish government when Carl Bildt was in opposition. It was not a website of a newspaper, but of a political organization.
2)FM Lieberman called the article a blood libel (I had never heard that word before he used it). It contains somewhat unfounded allegations against personell in the Israeli military. The article should have lead to an investigation by the Israeli military instead of the constant allegations by FM Lieberman.
3) I cannot see why the partition of Jerusalem is controversial. According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 478 Jerusalem is divided.
4) The bottom line is that Carl Bildt is balanced and supportive of both Israel and Palestine. He is one of few politicians that do not select a favorite in this conflict but work for peace. I am confident to let him speak in my name.
Thanks very much for your visit and comments, Fredrik – we appreciate all views here, not just those that agree with us.
Our slip-up with the ‘newspaper’ – a schoolboy error and we hold up our hands. It has been corrected – thanks for pointing it out. We did in fact know it was not a newspaper – but went ahead and stuffed it up anyway!
You are also correct that Bildt was in opposition, not directly in government, during the Levonline/SD-Kuriren affair. We strive at all times to be meticulous about our fact-checking, but on this occasion we were working with a large amount of translated material and, being unfamiliar with Swedish politics, slipped up – mea culpas and the article has been corrected.
As for our ‘biased conclusion’? We’re a blog. We are biased – and we will certainly not back down on what we see as Bildt’s anti-Israel stance, nor his extensive credentials as an Islamiser.
Because you have never heard of the term ‘blood libel’, does not mean it doesn’t exist. The practice of blood libel (particularly that against the Jews), is both widespread and long-standing. Wikipedia has a good primer – may I suggest that you read it?
It is controversial firstly because there is no such place as ‘Palestine’, nor has there ever been. Secondly, because the UN that made the resolution of which you speak is not the same UN that made the one which founded Israel in the first place. The modern-day UN has been hijacked by organisations such as the OIC (Organisation Of the Islamic Conference) and the Non-Aligned movement. It has become a corrupted and highly politicised weapon, used by the Third World, Islamic dictatorships and Banana Republics to bash the West and to extort money.
Developed nations frequently back down in the face of the culture of outraged entitlement that has arisen as a result.
– Barack Obama’s words, not ours.
Your opinion – but we notice that you do not cite any examples of his supposed supportiveness and balance towards Israel. You are entitled to your views and to let Bildt speak for you. Unfortunately, we, as non-Swedes in the undemocratic, unaccountable EU have to sit on our hands while he speaks for us, too.