TURKISH EXPERT: OBAMA SHOULD SUPPORT EFFORTS OF RAPPROCHEMENT BETWEEN TURKEY AND ARMENIA

PanARMENIAN.Net
26.01.2009 19:43 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ During the Bush presidency, the relations between
Turkey and U.S. were severely damaged, a Turkish professor said.

"The Washington administration has an immense responsibility in this
case. Turkey gave full support to the U.S. combat against terror,"
the director of the Ankara-based Turkish think tank USAK Association,
Prof. Sedat Laciner said.

"In this regard, Ankara sent Turkish soldiers to Afghanistan and acted
in accordance with its Western allies in order to capture the militants
of Al-Qaeda in Turkey or anywhere. Meanwhile, Turkey undertook a
constructive role in the Middle East problems. However, when the
Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) rejected the U.S. request to
base US troops in Turkey for an assault on Iraq on March 1, 2003,
the U.S. policy toward Turkey was completely changed. As a result,
Washington started to implement a punishment strategy against Turkey."

He emphasized that many people in Turkey even stated that the
U.S. supported PKK terrorism. "During this period, Turkish public
opinion showed a strong and unprecedented reaction against the
U.S. approach to PKK terrorism and the Kurdish issue. Almost every
political group in Turkey thinks that the U.S. was not candid about
the PKK terrorism. In this context, the terrorism problem still
remains the most important issue between the two countries," he said.

This mistakes which occurred during the Bush administration would
definitely pave the way to further problems in the upcoming years,
according to prof. Laciner.

"Unfortunately, some people in Washington think that Turkish society
can forget the bad things easily. Yet, this is not a true analysis. One
of the most significant reasons for the Turkish parliament’s rejection
of the 1 March Bill was the repercussions from the two countries’
previous run-ins. The Turkish intellectuals, bureaucrats, media,
experts, and even laymen do not forget the U.S. biased behaviors
regarding the 1964 Johnson Letter, the U.S. arms embargo on Turkey
respecting Cyprus, and pro-Greek stance of the US in many occasions
and the Armenian issue," he said.

In discussing the steps the new administration should take to improve
the situation, prof. Laciner said, "First of all, the new president
must give full support to Turkey about combating terrorism via a strong
message. Although Iraq has been kept under the control of the US for
about six years, up to now, the U.S. military forces has not caught
or arrested or judged any PKK terrorist. The PKK became stronger
under the U.S. occupation rule. In the following days, if the Obama
administration could make a contribution by apprehending a famous
name from the PKK, it would positively affect the U.S. image in the
eyes of Turkish people. The U.S. should do something in the PKK issue
really important valuable to the Turkish people because the people
here see the U.S. somehow responsible for the increasing PKK terror."

"Secondly, Obama must not act in line with the desires of the
ultra-nationalist Armenian Diaspora. The U.S. should keep its
impartiality in the issue. While a historical dialogue process has
been launched between Ankara and Yerevan, any radical expressions from
Obama could damage this process. Obama should concentrate on today’s
problems rather than historical Armenian claims and support the efforts
of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. He should not be emotional
but realist. The only aim should be to establish Turkish-Armenian
friendship on mutual interests of U.S., Armenia and Turkey."

"Third, the EU membership of Turkey is of vital importance in terms
of the peace in the Middle East and the relations between the West
and the East. In conjunction with the full membership of Turkey, the
EU would have a Muslim member country for the first time. Becoming
an equal and strong member of the EU, Turkey can make significant
contributions to the stability and development of the Middle East
and greater East," he resumed, The Journal of Turkish Weekly reports.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress