Al Jazeera posted a written statement Friday from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan concerning the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

"We hope The Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces will adopt a common sense approach and under this new administration organize free and fair elections," Erdogan's statement said. "It should hand over power in as short a time frame as possible. Since the beginning of the mass protests in Egypt, Turkey has supported the legitimate demands of our brother Egyptians for democracy and freedom. The country should now move peacefully towards a new order that is pluralist, representative, and upholds human rights."

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—  Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Photo: Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a military guard in the background, welcomes Crown Prince of Bahrain Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al Khalifa before their meeting in Ankara on Tuesday. Credit: Reuters

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan sided with the Egyptian protesters against their president in a televised speech on Tuesday in which he rebuked Hosni Mubarak and urged him to take a bold step before more blood is spilled.

"I am saying this clearly: You must be the first to take a step for Egypt's peace, security and stability," Erdogan said, addressing the Egyptian president during his speech before the Turkish parliament.

He spoke as hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square, demanding that Mubarak leave the government and even the country.

"In our world today, freedoms can no longer be postponed or ignored," Erdogan said. "We hope that these incidents come to an end as soon as possible, without leading to great suffering, and that the people's legitimate and sensible demands are met."

Could Rachid Ghannouchi be Tunisia's Khomeini?

The exiled sheik returned to his homeland on Sunday after the country's Western-backed secular autocrat was ousted by a nationwide popular uprising.

Over 1,000 supporters turned out at the airport in Tunis to welcome Ghannouchi, the leader of the Nahda Islamist party, which was outlawed and brutally suppressed by ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali after it came in second to the ruling party in the 1989 elections with 17% of the vote, according to the BBC.

Although Ghannouchi has been living in exile in London for over two decades, his party and supporters were able to organize an impressive turnout with crowds chanting religious hymns and Koranic verses.

Huge gas fields discovered recently under the Mediterranean seabed have raised high hopes in Israel, a small, high-consumption country seeking alternative energy resources and a greater degree of
  independence from imports.

In a different geopolitical reality, the discovery could benefit the whole region — if it was on speaking terms. Everyone wants to tap natural resources — but this one taps into standing regional squabbles.

Israel and Lebanon, for example. The deposits extend into areas controlled by Lebanon, and it has accused Israel of moving in on its natural resources. Not so, says  Israel, which maintains that the fields lie between its territory and Cyprus.  Israel's minister of national infrastructures, Uzi Landau, even said Israel would "not hesitate to use force" to protect the fields and uphold international maritime law.

Ismail is 38, but with his cropped gray hair and deep wrinkles, he looks closer to 58. He is the busboy at a patisserie in a Turkish town, but he may be the only busboy there who can quote 17th century poets. Ismail is a political refugee from Iran.

He was working on Kurban Bayram, however, the Islamic holiday celebrating Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (a holiday known in Arabic as Eid al-Adha and Persian as Eid Ghorban). In Turkey, and especially in the city of Afyon, the holiday is usually observed by families eating together and going to their grandparents' house.

So it is strange when someone is idling on the street, drinking tea alone with no family to be found.

“They're all in Tehran,” he said.

Nearly 200 mostly military personnel accused of plotting to bomb mosques and assassinate journalists as part of a plan to overthrow the government went on trial Thursday in Istanbul in a milestone case many observers have characterized as a key step in the process to demilitarize Turkish politics.

The alleged coup, dubbed the "sledgehammer" plot, was reportedly planned for 2003 but only came to light in February of this year when the Turkish newspaper Taraf obtained documents it claimed laid out a detailed plan for overthrowing the government.

According to the Taraf report, the alleged coup-plotters intended to sow unrest by blowing up two Istanbul mosques and provoking the Greek military into shooting down a Turkish fighter jet. They are also accused of planning to assassinate 19 journalists, arrest 36 others and “make use of” 137 others.

 "The relationship [between the civilian and military branches of government] is normalizing, and Turkey is in a process of transition from a tutelary democracy controlled by the military to a normal democracy," Sahin Alpay, a senior lecturer in political science at Bahcesehir University, told Babylon and Beyond. "There is public support also in the country for normal role for the military ... as a normal, professional army."

As Turkey heads toward national elections next year, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) finds itself in a strong position. A major test for the AKP and opposition parties was the referendum in September — the results constituted a significant defeat for the opposition.

[Editor's note: Analysts of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace are included among contributors to Babylon & Beyond. Carnegie is renowned for its political, economic and social analysis of the Middle East. Views represented are the author's own.]

The opposition’s decision to turn the referendum into a vote on the AKP — a major strategic error — leaves the AKP in great shape for the elections slated for next summer. And if the current projections hold, the government will be in a good position to deal with Turkey’s unresolved internal issues, including the Kurdish question, and rewrite the constitution.

The AKP enjoys several advantages as next summer’s elections approach. Turkey’s strong economic performance has improved the AKP’s popularity, as the ruling party is widely credited for its market-friendly policies. Although unemployment remains high in Turkey, the country managed the global crisis better than most and enjoys excellent prospects compared with the rest of the world.

The massive aerial offensive is over. The efforts of dozens of assorted aircraft that flew hundreds of sorties in three days were crowned by two round trips of the gigantic Evergreen supertanker that finished off the job, the peak of a splendid air show. The commander of Israel's air force thanked the many foreign teams that took part in the huge effort, and the skies over Haifa are suddenly silent. 

After days of flames that gripped the Israel's Carmel woodlands and mesmerized the nation, came the magic word everyone was waiting for. "Control has been attained," announced Fire Chief Shimon Romach Sunday evening, and police officials allowed all but one evacuated community to return to their homes.

Still, "control doesn't mean it's over," cautioned firefighter Boaz Rakia, who expects renewed outbursts of flames in numerous hot spots. Firefighters will remain widely deployed, he said.

Earlier in the morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held the weekly cabinet meeting in Tirat HaCarmel, one of the affected communities where thousands of people had been evacuated. "We must help the evacuees, rebuild their homes and rehabilitate the infrastructures and we must do so as quickly as possible," he said.

Netanyahu instructed ministers to expedite damage assessment and compensation plans and allocate an immediate $17 million. He also asked to see a plan for rehabilitation of the Carmel landscape and wildlife within 21 days.

Initial figures estimate the overall damage caused by the fire at $450 million, according to the Maariv daily, which also said that had the money been spent in the right place at the right time, these costs could have been avoided.

A majority of Muslims around the world welcome a significant role for Islam in their countries' political life, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center, but have mixed feelings toward militant religious groups such as  Hamas and Hezbollah.

According to the survey, majorities in Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan and Nigeria would favor changing the current laws to allow stoning as a punishment for adultery, hand amputation for theft and death for those who convert from Islam to another religion. About 85% of Pakistani Muslims said they would support a law segregating men and women in the workplace.

Indonesia, Egypt, Nigeria and Jordan were among the most enthusiastic, with more than three-quarters of Muslims polled in those countries reporting positive views of Islam's influence in politics: either that Islam had a large role in politics, and that was a good thing, or that it played a small role, and that was bad.

Israel is burning. Since Thursday, raging flames have ravaged the Carmel, devastating one of the country's largest and most scenic forest expanses. Blown out of control by high winds that haven't let up in days, the fire has its own dynamic. And it's a violent one. The mangled, charred remains of a bus carrying prison authority officers-in-training to help evacuate the Damoun Prison stands as a silent, gruesome witness to fire's ferocity. Caught on a road at a moment the flames took an unexpected and huge leap, the cadets didn't stand a chance.

The country is in full emergency mode. That familiar sense of urgency, the wartime adrenalin, is as heavy in the air as the smoke. What's distinctly different about this situation is a feeling of powerlessness. Not only the philosophical reminder of human tininess in the face of nature, but practically speaking. Israel wasn't prepared for anything like this, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and needs help -- now.

To his credit, he recognized this immediately. Canvassing the world for firefighting capabilities, Netanyahu hit the phone. Israel, usually at the forefront of assistance to disaster areas, is now on the receiving end of massive international help. Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Russia, France, the United States and other countries flew in firefighting planes, fire-retardant agents and other gear. Egypt is offering equipment; Jordanian and Palestinian firefighters are on the ground. 

Turkey's assertive foreign policy and increasing overtures to non-Western governments -- most notably, Iran -- have led to increasing concern in the United States and Europe. But its decisions are driven more by ambition and economic aspirations than a rejection of Western policies.

As it seeks to become a regional power and a global player, Turkey is relying largely on its geopolitical advantages, economic strength and historical and cultural links with the Muslim world. Currently the 16th-largest economy in the world, it aims to be among the top 10 economies by 2023.

Opening new markets, deepening existing ones and making the most of commercial opportunities are also driving Turkish foreign policy. Turkey's economy is export-dependent, and Turkish businesses look to the government to help them with new markets. This led to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent decision to use Turkey's support for Iran at the U.N. Security Council to improve commercial relations between the countries, calling for a tripling of mutual trade in the next five years.

Not surprisingly, policymakers in Washington are worried that Turkey will drift toward the East and work against U.S. interests. In reality, Turkey is not going anywhere.

For the second time in two months, a regional leader has addressed Israel in Lebanon.

This time, however, the words were a lot less harsh.

In a speech delivered in northern Lebanon on Wednesday, Turkish premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on the tiny country's neighbor Israel to embrace peace and stop "provocations," for its own good.

"The Israeli government has to see and understand this: if there is peace in this region, Israel wins as much as the region. If there is war and clash in this region, Israeli citizens are harmed as much as the people in the region," he was quoted as saying by Turkey's semiofficial Anatolia news agency during his official visit to Lebanon. "Thus, we, one more time, invite Israel to peace, return from its mistakes and apologize both for the interest of Israel and the people in the region."

Erdogan's remarks were far more diplomatically worded and more conciliatory than the tirade Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered in south Lebanon last month, in which he said that "the world should understand that the Zionists will go."

But despite his carefully chosen words, Erdogan was clear in his message.

He called on Israel to immediately put an end to its "provoking activities" which he said put the region and the world in danger, according to the Anatolia news agency.