Turkish Press
Dec 8 2004

No appointment for Edelman
BYEGM: 12/8/2004
BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS

SABAH- There’s been a serious change in Turkish-US relations and the
atmosphere in Washington. Let’s look at what Turkey might want in
altering its 50-year ‘strategic partnership’ with the US. We can
begin our analysis with the fact that for three months now, US
Ambassador to Ankara Eric Edelman’s request for an appointment with
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone unanswered. This is
completely unprecedented. Egeman Bagis, a foreign policy advisor to
Erdogan, is in Washington, and another advisor, Cuneyt Zapsu, is also
on the way there. State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin just got back from
a Stateside visit.

Yesterday I talked to both Turkish and US officials about the
strained state of relations. One high-ranking US official began by
joking, ‘We’re happy to have united the right and left wings.’
Anti-US feeling has become a common feeling among rightists,
leftists, Islamist and nationalists. Over the weekend, some
newspapers criticized Edelman for calling Fener Greek Patriarch
Bartholomeos ‘ecumenical.’ The US official continued: ‘Turkey is
rapidly losing its friends in Washington. I don’t know whether
they’re doing this on purpose or because they can’t manage crises.’
On its road to the EU, Ankara, on the other hand, is continuing its
relations with the US as a ‘cold marriage,’ and wants Washington to
keep off this road. US Secretary of State Colin Powell will ask his
Turkish counterpart whether Ankara needs Washington’s help for next
week’s pivotal EU summit. What the Americans have in mind is the
telephone diplomacy made before the 1999 Helsinki summit. But Ankara
is leaning towards saying, ‘no, thanks.’ The same US official said
that Turkish-US relations aren’t distant from Europe, and added ‘The
government struck a balance between us and the EU, but now if it’s
looking just to please France, that’s something else. However
Turkey’s natural place in Europe is among countries resisting the
Franco-German axis. Those countries have close relations with the
Washington.’ State Minister Sahin also had important meetings in the
EU. ‘Neither we nor the US has the right to destroy such a
longstanding relationship,’ he said.

The same US official said, ‘The Turks think we don’t have domestic
political problems, but there are three communities in Washington
interested in relations with Turkey. Relations with the Jewish lobby
are not good, and the US Greek community is disappointed about the
‘ecumenical’ crisis. The last group is the Armenian lobby, which has
its own line. The current atmosphere is a real nightmare for us’.