In the early 19th century, the Ottoman Governor of Egypt, Kavalalı Mehmet Ali Pasha, first established waterway security and Ottoman sovereignty in the Red Sea, also known as the Sea of Alum, and then revitalized trade. However, his efforts disturbed the British, who fueled the Wahhabi rebellions because both their superiority in maritime transportation and the security of the waterway they determined could be at risk.
Despite British attempts to prevent it, Alexandria developed rapidly and became one of the most important trading ports in Africa.
In 1819, the Red Sea trade route was completely secured with the granting of the governorships of Hejaz and Abyssinia to Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mehmet Ali Pasha, whose gigantic statue was erected in Kavala by Greece, who partially resolved the Wahhabi issue.
Upon the revival of trade in the Mediterranean Sea connected to the Red Sea and the cost of maritime transportation being difficult for the British East India Company, the British, who wanted to pass the European mail and trade route through Egypt, entered Aden in 1839, and then began to look for ways to increase their dominance over Egypt and the Red Sea at the expense of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1869, the Suez Canal was opened in Egypt. Thus, ships departing from Europe and all Mediterranean countries could easily reach Asia without the need to circumnavigate the African Continent, first through the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and then through the Babu-l Mendeb Strait from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean.
In the early 20th century, the Ottoman Empire continued to maintain its dominance in the Red Sea; however, it declined as a result of World War I and especially the rebellion launched by the British-backed Sharifs (1916), and was eliminated from the Red Sea with the Armistice of Armistice of Mondros signed in 1918.
Yemen rebellions and Orientalist spies…
The British had attempted to invade Yemen before. They even captured coastal towns. In the second half of the 19th century, small principalities in South Yemen came under British control. In 1872, Britain established a colonial administration centered in Aden. Until World War I (1914-1918), Britain gradually extended the influence of this colonial administration to South and East Yemen.
The British mobilized not only their military forces but also their spies in the guise of missionaries, travelers, explorers, geographers, archaeologists, orientalists, linguists, diplomats and researchers across an imperial spectrum.
Keep a tally of the Europeans who were in the region before the rebellion and what I mean will be better understood.
In the first decade of the 20th century, in the Yemen province of the Ottoman Empire, Yemeni tribes led by Zaidi imam Yahya Khan / Mahmoud Al-Mutawakkil, a branch of the Shia, who also saw rebellion as a means of gaining booty and profit, revolted against Istanbul. In parallel, the tribes of Hejaz revolted at the instigation of the archaeologist, British Army officer and spy Thomas Edward Lawrence, nicknamed “Lawrence of Arabia” or John Hume Ross as he introduced himself to the Arabs.
This is where the Ummahist ideology of Islamic brotherhood collapsed!…
During the mobilization in the First World War, when young people from the Ottoman geography were recruited, a relative from almost every family in Anatolia went to Yemen and served on the fronts. Around 300 thousand martyrs were killed in Yemen between 1870 and 1918.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of Turkish sons lost their lives in the deserts of Arabia. The fact that the Turkish soldiers were Muslims did not save them from being shot in the back by the sharp, curved daggers of the Arabs. Just like what Sharif Hussein, the alleged “grandson of the prophet”, and the marauding Bedouins did. Read the “Risalah of Uhuvvet” all you want, it is futile…
Republican Turkey’s relations with Yemen…
Official and diplomatic sources state that Turkey supports the peace, stability and territorial integrity of Yemen, a country with deep-rooted historical and cultural ties. Accordingly, Ankara has been advocating the resolution of the ongoing crisis in Yemen through peace and dialogue on the basis of respect for legitimacy from the very beginning.
As far as I understand, Turkey is acting together with the Saudis. Turkey has been supporting the legitimate government since the Houthis seized the capital Sana’a and state institutions. This position is based on the need to find an inclusive political solution to the problem within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 (2015), the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) and the GCC initiative.
Ankara has been closely following the political process through its participation in the G-19, a consultative mechanism on the UN’s efforts, which includes representatives of 17 countries, the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council accredited to Yemen. However, this is nothing new and somewhat out of date.
Red Sea geopolitics
On October 31, 2023, the Iranian-backed Houthis began seizing commercial ships belonging to Israeli companies off the coast of Yemen and attacking some of them with drones and missiles in response to Israel’s attacks on Gaza. Following the Houthi actions, many shipping companies decided to suspend their services in the Red Sea. In other words, transportation costs were becoming prohibitively expensive when reflected in commodities.
Previously, the Houthis have targeted ships linked to countries participating in the Saudi-led coalition war in Yemen. Initial reactions from marine insurance underwriters and shipping companies suggest that the recent Houthi attacks have affected the industry’s decision-making on vessels with Israeli connections. The Houthis are using a wide range of weapons and tactics to exacerbate the deterioration in regional maritime security, imposing a selective sea blockade against Israeli ships seeking passage through the strait and threatening US warships that show up to protect them.
Operation Welfare Guardian.
On December 18, 2023, the United States announced the creation of a multinational “naval task force” called “Operation Welfare Guardian” against the Houthi forces, with the participation of a group of countries, on the grounds that the security of global maritime trade was endangered. This is undoubtedly an act of aggression by the US and the UK against a sovereign state, as the Russian diplomat Veniamin Popov put it.
Because “Americans believe, as always, that all problems should be solved only by force, and they can attack any completely independent state if they want to. This is their logic, they see themselves as the main person on the planet. But in fact this is a step towards creating a new source of tension, which will then have a negative impact on the United States.”
The increasing military presence of the US, Japan, France, Russia, the UK, Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and eventually even Turkey is the most important indicator of the geopolitical interest centered on the Red Sea, one of the world’s most important waterways.
The current military, political and economic rivalry in the Red Sea Basin, which has turned into a center of contention between states, could at any moment evolve into an armed conflict involving warships from different countries stationed in the region. Drone and missile strikes, as well as the joint air raids by London and Washington on Houthi military centers in Yemen, can be seen as a precursor to an all-out war.
Intelligence and warfare in the quantum dimension.
In the global context of deep and complex post-pandemic political and societal changes, NATO recognizes the potential implications of new quantum technologies for defense and security, identifying them as one of the key emerging disruptive technologies and aligning its forces with this new development.
Speaking of quantum, let me mention the book titled “Intelligence in the Quantum Dimension”, which was published after years of meticulous research by our dear friend and scientist Prof. Dr. Ramazan Biçer and Ms. Eda Alemdar.
This is a first in Turkey and a very innovative and courageous step in addressing the intelligence activities of the Ancient Turkish State Tradition, whether you call it news gathering or mind games, from a geo-strategic perspective within the scope of the concept of Intelligence in the Quantum Dimension.
Every institution is doomed to disappear in the darkness of history if it does not take its share from the change and evolution in the universe. This work brings clarity to the subatomic world of physical dimensional existence by including human beings in the field of quantized digital information at the speed of light. As many commentators have pointed out, what makes this book stand out is that it projects the methods of transphysical intelligence in an understandable and fluent style.
It is essential that it be taught as a textbook in intelligence schools and in the Intelligence Academy, which has just started operating within MIT after Prof. Dr. İbrahim Kalın became its president. Those who want to be aware of the intelligence method of the future should definitely read this book.
Bab el-Mandeb Strait
The disruption of transportation in the Red Sea, one of the most important geographies in the world where radical transformations are taking place due to various political, economic and geopolitical dynamics, hits Yemen first.
It also negatively affects the country’s imports, especially fuel, food and intermediate goods required for industry. In addition to these losses, people in the country, which is already under pressure due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine in Europe, are struggling with epidemics and hunger.
Wouldn’t it be better for those who give missiles and drones to the Houthis to give some humanitarian aid?
These Americans and the British are idiots too. They will fill dozens of ships with medicine, supplies, food, clothes, cell phones, televisions, refrigerators, everything the people need. Then see if the Houthis fire a single bullet, let alone a missile.
The global negative impact on international shipping as a result of the Houthis creating chaos around the Bab el-Mendeb Strait has triggered international initiatives to secure the southern entrance to the Red Sea, through which around 12 percent of global trade passes. The European Union (EU) naval mission in the Red Sea will be commanded by Italy or France.
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) continues its attacks against the Houthis in Yemen. Most recently, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin discussed with his British counterpart Grant Shapps the Houthi attacks on international maritime trade in the Red Sea and efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
The US and UK have repeatedly attacked Houthi-controlled areas in an effort to disrupt and undermine the Iranian-backed Houthis’ ability to threaten ships in the Red Sea and undermine global trade. The Houthis say they target ships owned or operated by Israeli companies, or ships carrying goods to and from Israel, in solidarity with the Gaza Strip, which has been under Israeli attack since October 7.
While the Joint Task Force focuses on combating smuggling, piracy and illegal activities in the Red Sea, Bab el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden, even after the coalition was formed, the Houthis have continued their attacks despite retaliatory US airstrikes. This sets the stage for an escalation of the conflict and, as a result, further destabilization of waterway traffic in the Red Sea, as well as the opening of other fronts across the region.
The general erosion of American deterrence in the Middle East, the US administration’s poor performance in managing conflicts in the region, and its attempts – already proven unsuccessful – to appease Iran have further empowered Iran and its regional proxy allies.
The US and UK military action against the Houthis of this nature has once again proved to have a limited impact. In any case, these two countries cannot afford to organize a ground operation.
However, other factors point to the possibility that the conflict in the Red Sea could escalate into a new protracted conflict in the Middle East. These conflicts could end negatively for the imperialist centers, which consider themselves above all principles of law, and create more sympathy for the resistance groups in the region that challenge the global hegemony.
Turkey is not taking part in a US-led multinational mission called Operation Welfare Guardian. There will now be two separate naval forces in the Red Sea, one is the US and UK navy. The other is the navy of the European Union.
Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced that a naval mission to protect commercial cargo ships in the Red Sea from missile attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen will be launched on February 19.
The EU mission, in which France, Greece and Italy are seeking a leadership role, will be limited to protecting ships and intercepting incoming missiles, in contrast to Operation Welfare Guardian, which the UK and the United States (US) are conducting in the region. Although it is specifically stated that they will coordinate with the US-led operation, they will essentially be there to balance that naval power.
The Houthis provide justification for global imperialism!…
The Houthis, who have controlled a large part of Yemen since 2014, continue to fire missiles at Israel until Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip come to an end. Who says that missiles fired in the name of Allah to avenge the oppressed people of Gaza, and actions such as the seizure of ships carrying supplies to Israel, are justifications for global imperialism to control the world?
For these Iranian-backed Houthis, you can either say that they are “carrying water for the US navy” or “buttering its bread”, but believe me, they are doing more than that.
The threat to local maritime security has been growing over the past few years, and the Hamas-Israel war has magnified it. Previously, the Houthis targeted ships linked to regional proxies participating in the Saudi-led coalition war in Yemen.
Is Turkish-Russian military cooperation possible in the Red Sea?
In the Red Sea, there is what could be called an implicit “Russian-Turkish agreement”. The existence of a Russian military base in the Red Sea region near the port of Port Sudan has been discussed in the Western media. This naval base allows Moscow to extend its dominance to the Indian Ocean.
Moreover, geostrategically, it makes Russia a very valuable and important actor in the Red Sea region. Undoubtedly, the growing tension in the Red Sea is being closely monitored in Turkey.
One of Turkey’s most important links with the Red Sea is located in Somalia, opposite Yemen. This is such a strategic location that the Gulf of Aden in the south of the Red Sea has Yemen on one side and Somalia, where Turkey has a military base, on the other.
Somali soldiers are being trained by Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) personnel at the TURKSOM Military Training Base opened in 2017, Turkey’s largest military facility abroad, which has significant political, cultural, economic and military influence in this East African country. I won’t write the rest, you can see where this is going.
For now, it is enough to know that the shadowless masters of the Ancient Turkish State, who have taken the support of the threes, sevens, forties and eres, are conducting intelligence and operations in the quantum dimension, and that they are there.
While the Russia-Ukraine War has made the Northern Corridor and the crisis in the Red Sea has made the Southern Corridor insecure, the Central Corridor, with Turkey at its center, stands out as an important alternative for world trade.
Located in the northern part of the Red Sea, the Suez Canal is an important trade route linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. In other words, the shortest sea route between Europe and Asia passes through the Red Sea.
Securing Bab el-Mandeb and its surrounding waters is key to ensuring the unimpeded passage of trade across the region, including in the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. Let’s see whose key is capable of unlocking the Yemeni Houthis’ Red Sea lock.
There is no pity for those who do not pity!… Let me write it in a way they will understand; Men Laa yerhemi’n-nâse Laa yerhemhu Allâhu”. In Turkish it means “Allah does not have mercy on those who do not have mercy on people”.
Let us not forget the sons of the motherland who were martyred in Yemen.
-Yemen Song-
There is no cloud in the air, what smoke is this
There are no dead in the neighborhood, what a cry
These Yemen hands are so tricky
Oh, it’s the grass, it’s the rose, it’s the grass
I wonder why the one who’s going doesn’t come
This is Birch, the road is uphill
I wonder what’s the matter
There is the sound of redoubt in front of the barracks
Look what he’s got in his bag.
He has a pair of shoelaces and a fez
Oh, it’s the grass, it’s the rose, it’s the grass
I wonder why the one who’s going doesn’t come
This is Birch, the road is uphill
I wonder what’s the matter
Selected Bibliography
https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kizildeniz
https://rossaprimavera.ru/article/dd1319d4
http://hrono.ru/sobyt/1900war/1904yem.php
https://www.rudaw.net/turkish/middleeast/01022024
https://ras.jes.su/vostokoriens/s086919080014448-9-1
https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/1141603
https://www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye-yemen-siyasi-iliskileri.tr.mfa
https://www.trthaber.com/haber/dunya/kizildenizdeki-kriz-turkiye-icin-ne-soyluyor-831883.html
https://www.voaturkce.com/a/kizildeniz-gorev-gucune-hangi-ulkeler-nasil-katki-sagliyor/7407785.html
https://turkish.aawsat.com/dünya/4826491-abd-savunma-bakanı-i̇ngiliz-mevkidaşı-ile-husi-saldırılarını-ele-aldı
https://sputniknews.com.tr/20240201/italyadan-kizildenizdeki-ab-deniz-misyonuna-dair-aciklama-1080251262. html
https://www.dw.com/tr/t%C3%BCrkiye-k%C4%B1z%C4%B1ldenizdeki-gerilimden-nas%C4%B1l-etkilenebilir/a-68097375
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/cairo-stuck-between-securing-red-sea-and-avoiding-perception-support-israel
https://tr.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/01/31/kizildenizdeki-yuk-gemilerini-korumaya-yonelik-ab-deniz-misyonu-19-subatta-baslayacak
https://russiancouncil.ru/analytics-and-comments/comments/amerikanskiy-udar-po-khusitam-eto-akt-agressii-protiv-suverennogo-gosudarstva/
