The Moderate Voice
Oct 12 2007

Good Intentions, But Badly Directed
By Jeb Koogler

In most cases – and this one is no different – it’s better to leave
history to the historians. Via The Washington Post, it looks as
though a House panel has ignored that advice and passed a non-binding
resolution to recognize the label of `Armenian genocide.’ Turkey is
pissed, of course, and they’ve withdrawn their ambassador to
Washington.

While its goals are undoubtedly admirable ones, the panel’s decision
to choose now – of all times – to go ahead with this resolution is
absurd. With measures such as these, timing is everything and this is
definitely not the time. America does not need to threaten our
relationship with Turkey over a largely-symbolic Congressional
resolution. On the contrary, policymakers in Washington need to be
working to actively strengthen ties with Ankara.

There are obvious reasons for this: most importantly, Turkey has
shown itself to be a critical partner in encouraging a more moderate
form of Islam; and it has been a major military and strategic ally in
the Middle East for many decades. Unfortunately, mostly as a result
of disagreements over Kurdish autonomy in northern Iraq, the past few
years have put increasing strain on American relations with Turkey.
As Washington and Ankara have grown more distant, the Turkish
government has turned away from the West and opened its arms to the
Middle East. Iran and Syria have strengthened ties with Turkey, and
Ankara has made overtures to Hamas in recent months. With Turkey busy
`rediscovering the Middle East,’ the West is finding it increasingly
difficult to work with Ankara and the population is growing more
radicalized and anti-Western.

This latest resolution threatens to strain the relationship even
further. There is already some talk of the US being kicked out of the
Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey, as Prime Minister Recep Erdogan
has spoken out quite harshly against the resolution. Meanwhile,
America’s approval rating in Turkey (it was around 60% positive back
in 2000) has recently dropped to 12%. I imagine that, as of today,
12% has become an overestimate.

While I’ve long argued that the United States should be at the
forefront of promoting democracy and human rights, it must be done
strategically. This kind of meaningless Congressional resolution
isn’t likely to promote either of those ideals, but will merely harm
the important relationship that we have with Turkey. I basically
agree with Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino here:

`One of the reasons we opposed the resolution in the House yesterday
is that the president has expressed on behalf of the American people
our horror at the tragedy of 1915. But at the same time, we have
national security concerns, and many of our troops and supplies go
through Turkey. They are a very important ally in the war on terror,
and we are going to continue to try to work with them. And we hope
that the House does not put forward a full vote.’

Actually, I’d take it a step further than Perino, as the danger is
not just about American troop access or Turkish help in Iraq. More
importantly, we don’t want to strain our relationship with Turkey
because they’ve proved to be a tremendously powerful bulwark against
radical Islam. The ruling AKP party, in particular, has provided the
Islamic world with a peaceful, moderate form of Islam that, if
encouraged, can continue to be a model for the rest of the region. If
the United States jeopardizes its relationship with the AKP
government, however, we will forfeit our ability to promote this
trend.

/foreign-affairs/15562/good-intentions-but-badly-d irected/