By Yunus Soner
“International relations increasingly display mafia-like methods”, says Ismail Hakkı Pekin, retired Lieutenant-General and Former Head of Military Intelligence at the General Staff of Turkish Armed Forces. That is his response to the assassination attempt on the Slovakian Prime Minister. We also asked his opinion about the appointment of a civilian as new Minister of Defense in Russia.
But our first question was of course regarding the helicopter crash in Iran. Here’s the interview with Ismail Hakkı Pekin.
How do you evaluate the helicopter crash. To start with the question in everyone’s mind: accident or sabotage? And what are your expectations regarding foreign policy and the recent rapprochement between Iran and Azerbaijan?
This is not an accident. It is the result of negligence. Actually, a number of steps of neglect. From the start to the end. If there’s neglect, one cannot speak of an accident. There is no problem with using older helicopters. We in Türkiye also use them. You just need to maintain them. Spare parts are also no problem. Even despite an embargo. Canada produces them, for instance, and permits them being smuggled out of the country. Everyone knows that.
Now, it is easy to sabotage a helicopter like that. It would suffice to ensure the helicopter at one point does not get altitude. You don’t need to fire a missile, certain technical interventions would suffice for that.
We don’t know for sure whether it was a sabotage. But if you’d ask, who could have done it, I’d respond the global capital, or the globalists.
Such an attack is too big for Israel, to begin with. They would be torn apart had they done it. The United States is in direct and indirect talks with Iran, so I see no reason for them. Besides, they are sufficiently worrying about the expansion of the war in the Middle East.
There is a huge war of corridors going on and some do not want these connections. The British, for instance a-have a huge influence on Muslims. They always place the Turks and the Iranians against each other, in a wide range of countries.
What consequences do you expect from the crash?
Firstly, Iran will turn inwards. They will now, in the midst of regional turmoil around Palestine, be occupied with their elections. There will be internal power struggles, which might erupt even into violence.
Some groups inside Iran are connected to external powers. These will set their intelligence forces in motion.
Iran will not give up on the resistance Forces. It has spent too much time, effort and finance to build them up. Iran’s regime won’t change, that’s for sure. But the country’s agenda will turn inwards.
There was a rapprochement between Iran and Azerbaijan. Do you think that might be affected?
The first response from Iran’s neighbors was very positive, humanitarian. That’s important for bilateral relations.
Now, it depends on the new presidential candidates. If the conservatives gain the upper hand, or among them, the more conservatives, then there might be new instability in the region. They might decide to pursue a more aggressive policy in the Caucasus, in Syria etc.
I would like to ask you also about the assassination attempt against the Slovakian Prime Minister. Do you think that such attempts are becoming a regular part of international politics?
Yes, I do. This has become a pattern of our times. And there might be new assassinations of unwanted people. The world is becoming a mafia stage. We observe this in domestic Turkish politics too, where Mafia groups display a role. This has become part of international politics.
My final question: Russia has appointed a civilian as Minister of Defense. What is your opinion about that?
In itself, that does not mean much. The Minister does not command military operations. He has certain duties, among these is to provide the necessary means for military operations.
Remember that, though he was wearing military uniform, the former minister was a construction engineer.
Now, the new minister is a very nationalistic man, who seems to have proven himself before. He will have to look where to invest. How to organize the economy around war efforts. He will have to manage the transmission from civilian to military economy, the necessary transfers etc.
His job is to organize and maintain a fighting military in accordance with the country’s resources. The person to lead military operations in Ukraine and elsewhere is the Chief of Staff.