We all guessed that we would face piracy in the free market

In this new period the former era of oil trusts and martial monopolies, which cling to the world like an octopus, is vanishing gradually. Particularly the people of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), as well as the Middle Eastern and Caucasian societies can stake a claim on their natural wealth and political will. In these regions, the era of false dictatorships, like that of Saddam Hussein, is being closed. However, a recent incident reminded me that it is too early to be optimistic about these issues. The KRG, which is within the borders of Iraq, has been exporting oil to Turkey for a long time. Turkey declared that it would resell this oil to the world markets. The first sale came last week and a total of one million barrels of oil set off from Turkey's Ceyhan Oil Terminal Port through a tanker called United Leadership. This oil had been sold to Italy and Germany. However, while the tanker is offshore in the middle of the Mediterranean, the aforementioned customers reversed their decision. Of course, this reversion did not come with the customers' own will in line with the principles of the free market.

The Maliki administration of Iraq came into play. When the U.S. declared that such a sale was independent from the Maliki administration was inconvenient, the tanker bypassed the European coastal lines, heading for the U.S.

This incident is not simply a conflict of sharing the energy resources between Iraq and the KRG. Firstly it indicates that the free will of the people, who strive to sell their natural resources in accordance with the rules of the free market, has been attacked. In this sense, this is an act of piracy against the free market.

The fact that this disgrace came true with the consent of the U.S. increases the political weight of the issue. With all aspects, this incidence is against Obama's new idea of foreign policy. Because the Middle East and underdeveloped countries are ruled by dictatorships with an autarkical economy, Obama has been able to adopt the perspective of open economy and democratization, in line with the U.S.'s new interests. The autarkical economy accompanied by dictatorial regimes is only in the underdeveloped countries that cannot use their natural resources freely. Taking all this into consideration, these self-enclosed dictatorial regimes should be unveiled and replaced by democratic ones rapidly, according to the U.S.'s foreign policy principles.

To this end, these countries should be enabled to use their natural resources freely in the world markets and prospering this way.

In parallel with this prosperity, the capital will be accumulated here so that the open market should be an indispensable part of economy.
This, at the same time, is the new doctrine of security for the U.S.

However the Obama administration has followed the advice of Maliki, a leader who is dominated by Russia and Iran and has the potential of being more dangerous than Hussein if he gets rich. This means that the U.S. jeopardizes itself in the medium and long term. As seen in this case, during its twoterm incumbency, the Obama government, unfortunately, acted both against its own vision and the U.S.'s long-term interests. This can be correlated to the Tea Party in the U.S. or in a broader sense, to the neo-con hegemony.

Do not think that this neo-con hegemony is made up of the Republicans alone; this also exists among the democrats, which is one of the hardest challenges for Obama. If Obama fails to fulfill the U.S.'s new interests at the end of his two-term incumbency, this hegemony will have a great role in this.

Now, I would like to return to Turkey and touch upon the KRG and matters of energy.

The president of the KRG, Masoud Barzani, has been verbalizing all along that they will make use of natural resources independently, and this is a legitimate demand. He says if this demand is not satisfied by Baghdad, they will not wait any longer. He said, "The Kurdistan society will hold a referendum to shape its own future and steer the future of Iraq-KRG relations. The constitutional and legitimate rights cannot linger; we will try to reach a consensus with Baghdad in line with the Iraqi constitution. If we cannot come to an agreement, we will go to referendum by inviting international observers."

The KRG is against Baghdad's attempts to halt the oil that it exports to the world through a pipeline over Turkey. Erbil requests that the Kurds' share of 17 percent out of Iraq's national budget should be given on time and without withholding. At this point, Turkey supports Barzani by exporting KRG's oil. This actually shows us the new border of the Middle East and the new politics of the world. Turkey will support the KRG's right of drifting away from the Iraqi central administration by a referendum.

Apart from this, Turkey will persistently maintain its energy integration with Azerbaijan.

Again Turkey will do what is necessary to offer Iranian sources and Israel's natural gas sources in the eastern Mediterranean to the world through the Southern Gas Corridor. Because Turkey believes that a new integration of peace and democracy will be established in the region through the energy and this will put an end to the self-enclosed regimes like Russia that imposes their own interests upon all of us.