Basic HTML Version
FREEWORLD
(Continued from page 6)
new pro-India tilt has served to fu r–
ther aggravate U.S.-Pakistani rela–
tions. Sensing which way the wind is
blowing, Pakistan has withdrawn its
ambassador to the U.S. and has sent
him to Moscow with an eye toward
securing better relations with the
Kremlin.
Pakistan's president and chief
martial law administrator , General
Mohammed Zia ui-Haq, has a lso de–
cided to pull Paki stan out of the Cen–
tral T reaty Orga ni zation (CENTO),
whose other members include Iran,
Turkey and Britain (the U.S. is an
associate member) .
In
Turkey,
serious rioting between
leftist Alawite Moslems and rightist
Sunni Moslems forced Prime Minis–
ter Bülent Ecevit to declare martial
law in 13 of the country's 67 prov–
inces last December, in what is seen
as the most difficult period in the 56-
year history of the Turkish Republic.
Ecevit has labeled the secta r ia n
clashes as a serious threat to Tur–
key's national unity. T he recent wave
of terror has been compared to the
left-right clashes throughout Turkey
that led to more than two years of
martial law in sorne provinces in
1971.
Of concern to Washington amid
Turkey's growing re ligious unrest
and social instability is evidence of a
changing attitude vis-a-vis the Uni–
ted States. Turkey maintains sorne
465,000 men under a rms-the la rg–
est NATO standing a rmy outside
that of the U.S.- and has long been
regarded as one of the all iance's most
stra tegically vital countries. But the
1975 American a rms embargo–
prompted by Turkey's invasion and
occupation of 40 percent of Cyprus–
raised serious doubts in Turkey about
how genuine Washington's friend–
ship really is.
Despite the fact that the embargo
was finally lifted last August, its ef–
fects linger. While pledging to re–
main loyal to NATO, Turkey has Jet
it be known that it can no longer rely
on a "single source" (the U.S.) for its
military suppl ies. NATO officials
a re gravely concerned. They a re
42
keenly aware that Turkey is a soft
spot in the all iance's strategic under–
belly.
Sorne analysts feel that Turkey's
historie suspicion of its Russian
neighbor rules out any serious al–
liance with the Soviets. But there are
many indications that Ankara in–
tends to at least hedge its bets by
pursuing closer ties with its northern
neighbor.
Under a trade agreement signed at
the end of last year, Ankara and the
Kremlin agreed to raise the volume
of their trade by 50 percent (to
$1.275 billion) over the next three
years. The Russians are also building
an oil refinery and a steel plant a t
Iskenderun near the Syrian border.
~~
Complete economic
collapse of the Western
world may be just over
the horizon- unless the
deteriorating events in
the are of crisis are
somehow arrested.
' '
And significantly, Soviet naval ves–
seis were permitted to anchor at Is–
tanbul last November for the first
time in 40 years.
In
lraq:
Current turmoil in neigh–
boring lran has prompted pro-Soviet
Iraqi leaders to closely monitor the
potential threat from their own vari–
ous disaffected national minorities,
especially the Kurds. The govern–
ment fears that Iran's troubles could
overflow their 700-mile common
border and incite chaos in lraq.
Amidst the r egional turmoil,
Baghdad has been careful to keep its
lines open to the Kremlin, its chief
arms supplier, as a visit to Moscow
by the Iraqi vice-president last De–
cember made clear.
In a related development, Jraq's
Baathis t government has succeeded
in patching up its long-standing feud
with archrival Syria. Th e Iraqi
army-rated as possibly the most ef–
fcctive in the Arab world-has been
placed wi th the Syrian army under a
single unified command. l n the eyes
of sorne observers, this military mus–
ele could be used to back up a power–
ful destabilizing campaign against
pro-Western Saudi Arabia and Ku–
wait.
Saudi Arabia
is in a far weaker
position than its huge oil reserves and
bulging dollars-and-gold stockpile
would indicate. Reports columnist
Joseph Kraft: "The oil giant has feet
of clay. Saudi Arabia, far from being
a global power, is a country cha rac–
terized by inner weaknesses and divi–
sions." lts military forces are small
and rife with division. The ruling
royal family is wracked with splits
over modernization versus traditional
Moslem ways of life. However, un–
like in lran, the política! rulers main–
tain good relations with the country's
religious leaders.
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia's pop–
ulation is small-officially about
eight million, but insiders believe it is
less than seven million. At Jeast half
of the workers are foreigners; Egyp–
tians and Palestinians hold most pro–
fessional and clerical jobs. Adds col–
umnist Kraft: "These conditions
make the Saudis highly vulnerable to
outside pressures.... They a re ter–
rified of radical subversion, especial–
ly of the Palest inians. Isolation pro–
vides one means of defense.... But
the major bulwark is the payoff. The
Saudis give protection money to vir–
tua ll y every group in the Ara b
world ."
The Saudis took great notice of
Mr. Carter's weak response to Brezh–
nev's hands-off-lran warning. They
are convinced, reports
Newsweek's
Senior Editor Arnaud de Borch–
grave, that "their country, like Paki–
stan, is on its own," the recent "fly–
in" of U.S. Air Force F-1 5s notwith–
standing. They are now talking to the
Russians about establishing diplo–
matic relations (up until now R iyadh
has had no ties with the Communist
world). Continues de Borchgrave:
"As lran disintegrates, the Saudis
maintain, the U. S. has begun to look
to Mexico as an alternative to Per–
sian Gulf oil. In response, they say,
Saudi Arabia is veering away from a
The PLAIN TRUTH March 1979