OBAMA VISIT A BIG STORY, SAYS PARRIS

Hurriyet
April 13 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – When U.S. President Barack Obama invoked his country’s
treatment of Native Americans in discussing the "events of 1915"
before the Turkish Parliament, it was a first for a U.S. leader, says a
retired American diplomat. To former Ambassador to Ankara Mark Parris,
Obama’s visit to Turkey was a big story. Parris shared his thoughts
of the event in an interview with Sevim Demiray, from daily Milliyet.

According to Parris, it was Obama’s responsibility during the
visit to avoid words and deeds that could derail the sensitive
and promising negotiations underway as Turkey and Armenia seek to
normalize relationships. "The President’s point, of course, was that
ultimately nations are better off confronting the dark chapters they
all have in their pasts," Parris said. "I think he should be taken
at his word when he says he has not changed his views on the events
in Turkey’s Ottoman past that he has called ‘genocide.’"

Parris said the Obama administration takes Turkey very seriously
and that the revival of a U.S.-Turkey partnership that goes beyond
rhetoric would be an important development throughout the region
and the world. He said the main reasons for Obama’s visit could
be categorized under five main topics: Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iran,
Russia and strategic energy issues, Israeli-Arab relations and overall
U.S. relations with the Muslim world.

Negative impression Replying to a question about the comments made
by some Western observers, who have said that Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s reactions at Davos and to Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s
NATO candidacy had hurt the Turkish leader’s image, Parris said,
"I think the Davos incident made a negative impression on American
audiences… As for the Rasmussen affair, most Americans are
probably unaware that there was one. The only people inclined to draw
conclusions about the Prime Minister from that episode were those
who had done so before Rasmussen became an issue."

Parris also emphasized that although Erdogan’s performance –
as conveyed by the media – made a strong, and generally negative
impression on U.S. audiences, "predictions that Davos would destroy
Turkish-Israeli relations or undercut Turkey’s regional influence
were clearly exaggerated." "My impression is that the damage to
Turkish-Israeli relations has in fact been contained," the former
ambassador said. "Even if Israeli confidence in Turkey’s impartiality
has suffered – and it probably has – Israeli leaders value their
strategic relationship with Turkey."

Influence on Af/Pak border Turkey has been a big help, and still
could aid in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Parris said, adding that one
major reason for the visit was an awareness of Turkey’s long-standing
influence on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border (as reflected
in the trilateral meeting President Abdullah Gul convened just before
Obama arrived), the role the country has played in the International
Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, and the kind of "soft power"
Turkey could bring to this effort.

Defining these vital contributions as the Obama administration got its
Afghanistan/Pakistan, or Af/Pak, strategy underway, Parris added that
even if Turkey says no to the U.S. request to send combat troops to
Afghanistan, it would not be a threat to the potential partnership,
as other types of contributions to the effort would be welcomed.

In response to a question about Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that is
the subject of a longstanding dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan,
Parris said the U.S. would be prepared to encourage both countries
to show the necessary flexibility to reach an agreement. "That’s what
‘full support’ implies," he said.

Parris also answered a question about Obama using the term "Kurdish
minority" in a discussion with students in Istanbul, saying it was a
slip of the tongue. The former ambassador said the Kurdistan Workers’
Party, or PKK, would remain on the U.S. terrorism list and that the
U.S. would continue to cooperate with Turkey in its effort to defeat
the PKK.

Mark Parris was the American ambassador to Ankara between 1997
and 2000 and was known as the architect of a major expansion of
relations between Turkey and the United States, culminating in
President Clinton’s designation of Turkey as a "strategic partner" in
November 1999. Parris played a pivotal role in defining and advancing
U.S. objectives with respect to the Baku-Tiblisi-Ceyhan oil-export
pipeline and an associated gas pipeline.