Sunday’s Zaman, Turkey Dec 6 2009
White House rendezvous to test solidness of Turkey-US relations
Photo: Among those most pressing issues of global politics, the
apparently diverging approaches of the two allies toward Iran’s
nuclear program and Turkey’s unwillingness to change the parameters of
its mission in Afghanistan despite an official US request for the
contribution of further troops and more flexibility on the Afghanistan
mission put themselves forward as the hottest potatoes to be dealt
with.
More than two years after a key White House meeting with former US
President George W. Bush, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ?an
is now preparing to be hosted by the new resident of the White House,
US President Barack Obama, who took office in January, at a meeting
set for Monday.
As usual for any meeting between Turkish and US leaders, ErdoÄ?an and
Obama are set to discuss a packed agenda on how the two NATO allies
will cooperate on a number of hot issues. Among the most pressing
issues of global politics, the apparently diverging approaches of the
two allies toward Iran’s nuclear program and Turkey’s unwillingness to
change the parameters of its mission in Afghanistan despite an
official US request for the contribution of further troops and more
flexibility on the Afghanistan mission are likely to be the largest
topics dealt with.
These two issues will probably be a litmus test for the declared
`model partnership’ between Ankara and Washington — which some say is
a notion still at an amorphous state. During a landmark visit to
Turkey in April, Obama refrained from employing the frequently used
`strategic partnership’ term to define relations between Turkey and
the US, but rather suggested building a `model partnership’ between
Turkey and the United States with a unity based on ideals and values.
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.’
A bilateral relationship between NATO allies Turkey and the United
States is one of the relationships that is the most institutionalized,
Foreign Minister Ahmet DavutoÄ?lu said in June, calling for a focus on
the future of this relationship instead of constantly recalling their
mutual solidarity during the Korean War.
In a speech delivered in Washington, DavutoÄ?lu listed the foreign
policy issues on agenda of both Ankara and Washington at the time:
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Palestine-Israel dispute, Lebanon,
Caucasus, Armenia and Cyprus. He added: `A model partnership is not an
issue of preference, but it is a necessity. The US president wanted to
stress the uniqueness of this relationship. This is not an ordinary
relationship; it’s a prototype and a unique relationship.’
No dull moment with these `unique’ ties
ErdoÄ?an’s meeting with Obama comes days after the latter unveiled his
new strategy on Afghanistan in a long-awaited speech delivered on
Tuesday and also at a time when global alarm is growing over Turkey’s
neighbor Iran’s failure to dispel fears it harbors plans to build
nuclear weapons.
At West Point Obama announced he would deepen the US involvement in
Afghanistan, sending 30,000 more troops to fight the Taliban. He also
called for additional commitments from US allies and pledged to
strengthen ties with Pakistan, where al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters
have been based.
Hours after Obama’s speech, US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey
announced to Turkish media that Ankara and Washington have been
holding discussions over a US request for more troops for Afghanistan
from Turkey, stating that the US has asked for a `specific number’ of
troops, although he declined to name that number.
Turkish officials were quick to refuse to send combat troops to
Afghanistan but refrained from responding to the request for more
troops.
On the Iran front, just a week ago, in a major expansion of its
nuclear program and in retaliation for a recent resolution by the UN,
Tehran said on Sunday it would build 10 more uranium enrichment sites
like its Natanz International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-monitored
underground one.
The IAEA resolution, which passed on Nov. 27, censured Iran for
covertly constructing a second enrichment plant near the holy city of
Qom, demanding that construction halt. Turkey, along with Afghanistan,
Brazil, Egypt, Pakistan and South Africa, abstained.
Potential problems, one or two?
According to Ian Lesser, a senior transatlantic fellow at the German
Marshall Fund of the United States, the controversy surrounding Iran’s
nuclear program will definitely be at the top of the agenda during
Monday’s talks between ErdoÄ?an and Obama.
`It is an issue on which both Turkey and the United States share a
basic interest. Neither of the two want to see an Iran with nuclear
weapons,’ Lesser told Sunday’s Zaman in a brief telephone interview.
`There is clearly a gap in the approaches of Turkey and the Obama
administration, but there is also a very serious strategic dialogue
going on between the two parties,’ Lesser said, in apparent reference
to ErdoÄ?an’s accusations of the West treating Iran `unfairly,’ while
expressing his conviction that Iran’s motives regarding nuclear power
were `peaceful.’
`The US will look to Turkey to use its close relations with Iran to
change its stance at a time when the possibility of UN Security
Council sanctions is growing each day. The Obama administration will
probably ask ErdoÄ?an to convey their tough messages to Tehran,’ Lesser
said, underlining that not only Western countries, but also Turkey’s
eastern friends, such as the Gulf countries, are concerned over Iran’s
nuclear program.
When asked whether he expected any harmful effect on bilateral
relations in the case of an absence of a full agreement on the issue,
Lesser said, `A serious gap between Turkish and US perceptions has the
potential to cause a serious problem, but not a collapse.’
He also said he believed that questions on the souring ties between
Turkey and Israel might be posed at lower-level meetings, but not
necessarily during the White House meeting.
Lesser, who focuses on the US-Turkey-EU triangle in his studies,
meanwhile, warned that the recent course of affairs regarding the
rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia will be high on the agenda of
the meeting.
The US side will urge Turkey for further progress on normalization
efforts with Armenia, probably via the swift ratification of the two
protocols signed by the governments on restoring diplomatic ties and
reopening the common border between the two neighboring countries, he
said.
Unlike some Turkish commentators, Lesser believes that the Afghanistan
issue will not turn into a major problem in bilateral relations.
Modalities of a model partnership
Both Turkish and US officials have been trying hard to dispel
long-held clichés regarding the nature of the relationship between the
two countries, — clichés which were nourished during the Bush
administration, since the approach at the time implied `Don’t get into
a knock-down, drag-out fight, or we’ll harm you,’ or `We have made a
decision, this is the decision, come if you want to join us on this
decision.’
`If you permit me, that question is typical Cold War logic. It assumes
that there is one power, the United States, who always wants something
from us. But being an ally means sharing, being inclusive,’ DavutoÄ?lu
said in a recent interview with Newsweek when bluntly asked `what the
US wants from Turkey.’
Listing again the foreign policy issues that are on agenda of both
Ankara and Washington, he added, `We share the problems, and we are
therefore trying to solve these problems together.’
In Ankara, during the same meeting with Turkish media when he
disclosed his country’s request for Afghanistan Wednesday, US
Ambassador Jeffrey was asked about the possible US response if Turkey
doesn’t agree to send more troops to Afghanistan.
`This is a discussion among people who are in a model partnership,’
Jeffrey firstly noted in response.
`And if Turkey can’t provide more troops or more money or more
civilians, then we would say, `OK, is the reason that you don’t
believe in the mission and you think that we should do something
different, or that you don’t have the resources.’ Then, you know, we
go back and forth, and we do this with 43 countries; Turkey is no
different, and people do that with us, believe me, on a half-dozen
issues. Turkey asks us to do this, and we explain we can’t do this, we
can do only one-third of what you want, and Turkey asks us why can’t
you do two-thirds?’ he elaborated.
`And I constantly try to emphasize, all of this is normal, it’s not a
plot against Turkey, it is not a source of conflict. This is what
countries do, like individuals do. Ups and downs are like in private
relations, that’s what normal countries do, but many people read into
that some sort of either America is pressuring Turkey or Turkey is
refusing to support America or Turkey is moving away from the West.
Depending upon your political position; people will either take this
position or that position. None of this has any relation to the
reality, as I know it, in my over 25 years working with Turkey,’ he
concluded.
06 December 2009, Sunday
EMÄ°NE KART ANKARA
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
