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Turkey Embarks on Naval Buildup, Stoking Tensions

Dorian Jones

   ISTANBUL - Turkey is in the midst of a major naval construction
   program, seeking to restore regional maritime influence lost since the
   collapse of the Ottoman empire, and the project is already generating
   regional tensions.

   "Turkey will get back its fair share in the Mediterranean, Aegean and
   the Black Sea," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared last
   month. "If we say we will do something, we will do it, and we will pay
   the price."

   Turkey's imperial legacy looms large in the fabric of Turkish society.
   An imposing statue of the 16th century Ottoman Admiral, Hayreddin - or
   Barbarossa - dominates a square adjacent to Istanbul's Bosphorus
   waterway.

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