WorldNetDaily, OR
Dec 13 2008
Obama sets Middle East collision course
Position could alienate potential intermediary
Posted: December 13, 2008
12:20 am Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
Editor’s Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah’s
G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of
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The flag of Turkey
Even before he moves into the Oval Office, Barack Obama may be on a
collision course with a country that carries great weight in Middle
East negotiations, has considerable influence throughout Central Asia
and is close to Russia, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2
Bulletin.
That country is Turkey, which also has taken initiatives to mediate
indirect peace talks between Syria and Israel.
In recent weeks, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also has
offered to be a mediator between the incoming Obama administration and
Iran.
"We are the only capital that is trusted by both sides," Erdogan
said. "We are the ideal negotiator."
In addition, Turkey is in a strategic location as an energy corridor
for oil and natural gas pipelines from Azerbaijan to the West.
While Turkey appears to be a position to help with some of Obama’s
biggest upcoming foreign policy challenges, the relationship may be
off to a rocky start, because Obama has described as "genocide" the
deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians in 1915 at the hands of the
Ottoman Empire.
In a May letter to the Armenian National Committee of America,
then-Sen. Barack Obama wrote, "I share your view that the United
States must recognize the events of 1915 to 1923, carried out by the
Ottoman Empire, as genocide. ¦We must recognize this tragic reality."
Keep in touch with the most important breaking news stories about
critical developments in the Middle East with Joseph Farah’s G2
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published by the founder of WND.
The Republic of Turkey, which succeeded the Ottoman Empire, does not
accept the word "genocide" to describe events at that time.
The issue isn’t new. In October 2007, Congress prepared to take a vote
on a resolution that would have officially recognized as genocide the
1915 event.
The Bush administration, however, opposed such a vote due to the
potential of damaging relations with Turkey, a NATO ally.
The Turkish government reacted strongly against the prospect of
passage of such a resolution.
It threatened to cut off critical supplie routes through Turkey for
the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also threatened to
close the strategic U.S. air base at Incirlik.
While the resolution would not have been binding on U.S. foreign
policy, it could have damaged an already seriously strained
relationship with Turkey.
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