Barack,
"The Defender of the Faith," Obama, lovingly described Turkey's lackluster efforts against Iran as friendly. After visiting Turkey Obama has still not gotten any more effort from Turkey in the war in Afghanistan. Turkey's token 1,750 force does not see any combat action. Prime Minister Erdogan’s government last week did not support an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution censuring Iran for its uranium enrichment activities and referring the matter to the U.N. Security Council. In fact, Erdogan took issue with Obama stating: “We have specifically stated that the [Iran nuclear] question can be resolved through diplomacy and diplomacy only.”
The Nabucco project, a major new gas pipeline connecting the Caspian region, Middle East and Egypt, via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, with Austria and further on with the Central and Western European gas markets is tied to Iran. Turkey is betting that the West will cave for more petroleum and not stand on a defense against Iran.
The project opens a conduit from Iran to Europe.
