FLASH
Shkruar nga Michael Rubin
Rama has dominated Albania for more than a decade and seems to want to remain for two more, despite the will of the Albanian people. Perhaps this is why he now repeats the strategy of the base of Turkey and Qatar.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not afraid to provoke Europe or the United States. He blackmailed NATO into getting more fighter jets and forcing Sweden to return peaceful dissidents to torture and imprisonment. He rejects the joint F-35 strike fighter jets he is contractually required to return, raising concerns he could sell them to Russia or China or use them to bolster his son-in-law's military manufacturer.
Turkish troops militarily occupy parts of Cyprus, Syria and Iraq with the ultimate goal of Anschluss and openly contest Greek and Armenian territory. Erdogan used Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to bolster Hamas. Such support for terror is the rule and not the exception.
Erdogan transferred weapons to Al Qaeda factions in Syria and 'fed' the Islamic State. Turkey transferred Syrian and Libyan mercenaries to Nagorno-Karabakh during Azerbaijan's and Turkey's campaign of ethnic cleansing against the region's indigenous Armenian Christians. Meanwhile, Turkey is among the worst violators of religious freedom.
Any single factor would destroy US relations with a normal country, but Turkey has an ace up its sleeve: Incirlik Air Base. While the base no longer serves the strategic purpose it did at the height of the Cold War, the US Air Force does not want to give up any assets. When Erdogan's behavior makes Turkey the subject of debate at the National Security Council, the Defense Secretary often plays down any actions that would upset Turkey and could affect America's ability to access the base. In fact, Incirlik has become Turkey's get out of jail card. It's a devil's bargain: Cut the US military to gain immunity from US coercion.
Turkey may have developed the strategy, but others have already caught on. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States began using Qatar's al-Udeid Air Base. For the Pentagon, it was the right gift and the right time. The spotlight on Bin Laden and Saudi Arabia's domestic extremist problem prompted the Saudi government to tell the US military the exit. Qatar rolled out the red carpet as it renovated the base to better accommodate US forces and subsidized much of the US presence.
Over the past two decades, Qatar's sponsorship of terrorist groups and Islamist movements has grown in proportion to the US presence in the small gas giant. The Emir of Qatar quickly learned that he could support and finance even the groups that killed Americans and he would suffer no consequences as long as he was the Pentagon's host. Qatar could offer any assistance in being designated a state sponsor of terror, but successive Secretaries of Defense have prioritized protecting the assets they control over a broader understanding of US national security.
Today, Albania may be the last country that has embraced the strategy. Under Prime Minister Edi Rama, Albania has moved away from democracy. Rama imprisons politicians like Fredi Beleri because he thwarts his corruption schemes and rejects US anti-corruption programs to sideline rivals like former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj. Take away Erdogan's Islamic ideology, while Rama is a political doppelganger.
Rama has dominated Albania for more than a decade and seems to want to remain for two more, despite the will of the Albanian people. Perhaps this is why he now repeats the strategy of the base of Turkey and Qatar. On March 4, 2024, Albania officially reopened Kuçova Air Base, 85 kilometers south of Tirana, to be a logistics and air operations center for NATO. After Rama officially opened the base, two American F-16s and two F-35s ceremonially flew over the base.
With Russia fighting Ukraine and threatening Moldova and Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic vying to be the second Alexander Lukashenko, it is understandable that NATO would want a base in the region. But they should consider carefully: Is the approach of the US and NATO to Kuçovo worth to seal a second Erdogan and turn a blind eye to Albania's withdrawal from democracy?/ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Ekathimerini"
*Michael Rubin is director of policy analysis at the Middle East Forum and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Lini një Përgjigje