GATES: RHETORIC HARMS TURKEY, U.S. RELATIONS
By William H. McMichael – Staff writer

AirForceTimes.com, VA
March 28 2007

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Tuesday said Turkish anger over
proposed U.S. congressional resolutions could have a negative effect
on that country’s support for the U.S. military conflicts in Iraq
and Afghanistan.

"Our two nations should oppose measures and rhetoric that needlessly
and destructively antagonize each other," Gates said in a speech
before the American-Turkish Council in Washington, D.C. "That includes
symbolic resolutions by the United States Congress, as well as the
type of anti-American and extremist rhetoric that sometimes finds a
home in Turkish political discourse."

Two recently introduced bipartisan congressional resolutions condemn
the 1915-1917 mass killings of 1.5 Armenians as "genocide" – something
long acknowledged by historians but that Turkey denies.

Gates said that, partly as a result of that tension, the war in Iraq
is "one of the most difficult matters we have had to work through
as allies."

Turkey, a NATO ally, would like to wipe out the Kurdish militant group
popularly known by its old initials – PKK, for Kurdistan Workers’
Party – that is based in northern Iraq. More than 20 years of Turkish
conflict with the separatist group has produced some 30,000 total
casualties, according to the U.S. State Department.

The U.S. wants to maintain the relative stability that much of northern
Iraq enjoys.

"We recognize that every Turkish citizen killed by the PKK is a setback
for success in Iraq, and a setback in our relationship with Turkey,"
Gates said. "As President Bush has underscored, the United States
is committed to the stability and territorial integrity of Iraq,
and opposes policies or groups that would undermine that integrity
in any way."

Gates said that the strategic relationship between the U.S. and
Turkey "has undergone some turbulence in recent years," later adding,
"All relationships need work to remains strong."

But ties remain strong, Gates said, noting that Turkey has provided
access to Iraq from its Incirlik Air Base, has commanded two security
force rotations in Afghanistan and is a partner in the Joint Strike
Fighter project. Gates also said 16 U.S. Navy ships made port calls
in Turkey last year.

Turkey, as well as other NATO members, has a vital interest in a
successful outcome in Iraq, Gates said.

"Whatever disagreements we might have over how we got to this point
in Iraq, the consequences of a failed state in Iraq, of chaos there,
will adversely affect every member of the Atlantic alliance, and none
more so than Turkey," Gates said.

Yet while Turkey will continue to play a role in that effort, the
U.S. needs other countries in the region to do their parts to help
stabilize Iraq, Gates said.

"Iraq’s neighbors will have to play a constructive role going forward,
even if they haven’t done so in the past," Gates said.

"Especially in encouraging political reconciliation and reduction of
violence within Iraq. This is certainly the case with Syria and Iran,
who have not been helpful." Gates has voiced similar thoughts since
becoming defense secretary.

Gates has previously called for greater dialogue with Iran. But in
his speech, he seemed to express some pessimism over the efforts.

"In dealing with a regime like Iran’s, one has to be realistic,"
Gates said. "The American search for elusive Iranian moderates is a
recurring and mostly fruitless theme since the revolution in 1979."

But he said the recent regional talks in Baghdad "were a good start"
and that the U.S. is open to higher-level exchanges.

"We should have no illusions about the nature of this regime," Gates
said of Iran. "Or about their designs for their nuclear program,
their intentions for Iraq, or their ambitions in the Gulf region."

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