DAVUTOGLU EXPECTS OBAMA MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS TO CHANGE ‘ATMOSPHERE’

Today’s Zaman
June 3 2009
Turkey

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu voiced expectations on Monday that
US President Barack Obama’s upcoming message to the Muslim world,
which he will deliver later this week, is likely to build on the
remarks he made to the Turkish Parliament in April.

Obama is set to deliver a speech on Thursday in Cairo as part of a
push to improve US relations with Muslims. Davutoglu, in an interview
held with Dow Jones Newswires in Washington, said he predicted Obama’s
speech will expand upon his April 6 remarks in Turkey, in which Obama
said the US "is not at war with Islam."

"You are changing the psychological atmosphere, which is a must,"
Davutoglu was quoted as saying by Dow Jones Newswires, which noted
that the interview was held between meetings with US officials.

"One small but meaningful change for Turkey: Obama has called the
US relationship with Turkey a ‘model’ partnership, moving away from
the usual description of a strategic partnership between the US and
the secular, Muslim country that straddles Asia and Europe," the Dow
Jones report highlighted.

During his two-day landmark visit to Turkey, Obama refrained
from employing the frequently used "strategic partnership" term to
define the relations between Turkey and the United States, but rather
suggested building a ‘model partnership’ between Turkey and the United
States with a unity based on ideals and values.

"Before, it was seen as a military relationship," Davutoglu was quoted
as saying, while he also said that now he hoped the relationship with
the US will be a fuller one that encompasses cultural and economic
issues, as well as military and diplomatic matters.

While in Turkey, Obama said: "I think where there’s the most promise
is in the idea that Turkey and the United States can build a model
partnership, one in which a majority Christian and a majority Muslim
nation, a Western nation and a nation that straddles two continents
can come together; we can create a modern international community that
is respectful, secure and prosperous. This is extremely important."

In a message sent to the ongoing 28th Annual Conference on US-Turkish
Relations held in the Washington area, President Abdullah Gul referred
to Obama’s visit to Turkey as "evidence of the vital partnership
between Turkey and the US."

In Washington, Davutoglu had talks with Obama administration officials
to coordinate some of the stickiest foreign policy questions in
his region.

On Monday, Davutoglu met with the Obama administration’s national
security adviser, James Jones, and the US special representative to
Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. He planned to meet Dennis
Ross, the special envoy to Iran, on Tuesday, as well as Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Davutuglu’s visit comes as Turkey takes over the United Nations
Security Council’s rotating presidency, which begins Monday. He is
scheduled to proceed to New York on Wednesday after delivering a
speech at the American-Turkish Council conference on Tuesday evening.

Davutoglu, meanwhile, downplayed potential stumbling blocks such
as prospects for the passage of a US congressional resolution to
officially recognize the killings of Anatolian-Armenians during World
War I as genocide, saying he doesn’t expect it will clear Congress.