news.am, Armenia
Dec 5 2009
Erdogan’s journey to U.S. full of unknowns
13:56 / 12/05/2009A number of issues concerning new tendencies in
Turkish foreign policy arise in the context of Turkish Premier Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to U.S., where he intends to meet Barack Obama,
Hurriyet daily reads.
The daily mentions 4 issues, one of which is Armenia-Turkey Protocols.
"The Obama administration will have significant interest in
ratification and implementation of the protocols signed between Turkey
and Armenia. The protocols were welcomed in the United Statesas they
were consistent with U.S. interests. We will bring the issue to the
Armenian agenda. We want to see what is going to happen. He will
probably say to Erdogan `Look, you did a good job with the protocols
but now you should put them into action,’ GMF’s Senior Transatlantic
Fellow Ian O. Lesser told Hurriyet, commenting on Erdogan’s agenda.
Three other issues are related to further plans in Iran, relations
with Israel and deployment of a missile defense system in Turkey. The
expert considers that `there is a potential disagreement between
Turkey and U.S. over Iran policies. In the next one or two years, the
Iranian issue will be one of the most critical tests for Turkey and
the U.S. in foreign policy to see whether they have a common ground
for understanding. If the issue is sent to the U.N. Security Council,
council member Turkey will have to make some tough choices. Then, it
will be very difficult for Turkey to be isolated in the Security
Council’s collective opinion.’
Speaking of deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations, the expert
underlined that he did not think it was of `surprise’ to U.S.
`American leadership will rather want to know how long the decline
will last. I think Mr. Obama, in order to have a better understanding
of what will happen next, is really curious about what Prime Minister
Erdogan will say on the subject,’ he added.
As to deployment of a missile defense system, Lesser concludes,
`Mainly a sea-based system in the Mediterranean is being considered.
But in the future, some elements of the system may be deployed on the
shore. This is a possibility. So, the Obama administration may be
interested in learning the Turkish opinion on the issue.’