OBAMA ELECTION SAID UNLIKELY TO AFFECT "QUALITATIVE CHANGE" IN TURKISH-US TIES

Yeni Safak website
Nov 7 2008
Istanbul

The United States is having a "black revolution" with the unsurprising
election of Barack Obama as its president. The mistaken belief
that Martin Luther King’s dream and Malcolm X’s rebellion have been
carried to the White House will soon leave its place to the bitter
reality we all know. Nonetheless, for now let us be happy and boost
our morale. For now, let us allow our hopes, no matter how miniscule,
to blossom.

It is true that a major watershed has been reached in terms of US
history. It is true that blacks and others have gained a say over
state power. It is true that at least ninety countries across the
world, ranging from Kenya to Indonesia, are overjoyed.

It is true that an orphan has become the leader of the world’s most
powerful country. This is a man who has been able to combine in
his own person poverty with a good education, the white with the
black, peace with US power, imagery with strength, and Islam with
Christianity. This is all true.

Was it possible to have any other candidate who could combine all
these attributes to lead a United States that is trying to camouflage
its political and economic decline with aggression, that is attacking
all the resources of the world to ensure its own prosperity and to
satisfy its imperial ambitions, and that is experiencing deep racist
and cultural divisions within itself?

We are not trying to belittle or to depreciate the excitement Obama
has created. However we believe that these sentiments will not be
long-lived and that we have to share this opinion.

While we are touched and dazzled that [Obama] is black and Muslim
and that he comes from an oppressed social group, we do not know
what revolution he will launch, how he will unite American society,
how he will change the aggressive foreign policy of that country,
whether he will be able to find common grounds with the rest of the
world, and whether he will be allowed to do these even if he wanted
to. What we have seen until now and what we have learned from the
past force us to be realistic.

Those who steer the economic system are the same, the business barons
are the same, the institutions that rob the world remain the same,
the Pentagon is still there, the 750-plus US military facilities around
the world remain where they are, and Washington’s security strategies
for the 21st century continue to be alarming. Can all these be changed?

Everyone realizes that changing all these would turn Obama into
another Mikhail Gorbachev and end the status of the United States as
the leader of the world. Everyone knows that this is the United States
that the world wants – a United States that is less powerful, that
has lost its status as the only superpower, that is more introverted,
and that has cut back its imperial ambitions.

What does Obama’s election do? Does sympathy [for him] erase all the
sins of the past? How quickly we forget the more than 1 million people
killed in Iraq. How quickly we forget the slaughter in Afghanistan. Was
it not the United States that built torture houses and prisoner
camps in remote parts of the world and that sent out patrol boats
[as published]? Can an election or a revolution clean the slate? Is
the shared memory of humanity so feeble?

With Obama’s election, the black revolution has spread not only to
the United States but the entire world. Now we have a "Cool America"
fad. Cool America! An unblemished new page. A brand new image. You
might think this would cover up all the wrongs, right? Indeed, this
is the United States we know. It renews itself even as it gives a
break to its image across the world.

How will Turkish-US relations proceed under Obama and Democratic
rule? Even those [in Turkey] who sided with the Republicans until
now because of the Armenian resolutions have now changed their
posture; they have become "pro-Obama. " They are also overtaken by
"Cool America."

Let me note right away that Turkish-American relations will never
be what they were in the past regardless of whether the Republicans
or the Democrats won and irrespective of whether there is an "Obama
revolution." No one should expect Turkey to return to the one-sided
dependence of the past. Those who have been watching what happened in
Turkey in the last few years should have noticed this. Today, Turkey
is a country that charts its own course, that decides its own orbit,
that is the centre of its region, and that has unprecedented influence
over global relations. This is why the nature of Turkish-American
relations has changed.

The fifth Italy-Turkey Dialogue Forum held in Rome was one example of
this qualitative change. I sensed that France wants to be a partner in
Turkey’s initiatives in its region and that, unlike the rest of the EU,
Italy wants a careful rapprochement with Turkey and a greater access
to Turkey’s power. Today, individual EU countries are doing everything
they can to advance their bilateral relations with Turkey outside the
EU’s umbrella. This is evidence of success and strength. As in the
case of Italy, Turkey is increasing its influence among EU members
through bilateral ties. It was quite pleasing to see at the forum that
partnerships are planned in many areas beyond cooperation among NGOs.

I thought about this constantly as I listened to speeches by Foreign
Minister Ali Babacan and his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini. The
Italian foreign minister said: "The EU needs Turkey more than Turkey
needs the EU." He added that Turkey’s successes in recent years are
"a strength for the EU." These two sentences clearly describe what
I mean. Turkey has become a force that is more influential than the
EU in its region and every country realizes this.

The United States also realizes this. This is why Turkish-American
relations will be different henceforth. This would happen even if
Obama was not elected.

Those who are so excited about the US elections must put aside their
prejudices and also acknowledge Turkey’s current historic march;
they must be excited about this as well. If the United States can
imagine that it can overcome its deep crises with the excitement it
is experiencing, then Turkey should be able to do the same.

For now let us wait until the "Cool America" fad dies down.