OBAMA APPEALS FOR HELP AMID TENSIONS WITH TURKEY
By Desmond Butler

Associated Press
Dec 07, 2009 5:23 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is looking for help in
Afghanistan from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan even
as tensions simmer between the two NATO allies on Iran and the
Middle East.

A White House meeting Monday between the two leaders comes at a time
of rising Turkish influence in the Middle East and Central Europe.

Before leaving for Washington, Erdogan said Turkey has already
contributed the "necessary number" of troops in Afghanistan, and that
Turkish military and police will train their Afghan counterparts and
press ahead with health, education and infrastructure projects there.

Turkey took over the rotating command of the NATO peacekeeping
operation in Kabul last month and doubled its number of troops to
around 1,750. However, it has resisted repeated U.S. requests to send
its troops on combat operations.

Turkey’s participation in the Afghan mission carries enormous symbolic
importance because it is the only Muslim country working with U.S.

troops to beat back resurgent Taliban and deny al-Qaida a sanctuary.

More broadly, however, the United States would like Turkey to use its
sway as a regional power and Muslim majority ally to help solve some
of its trickiest foreign policy problems. But the two sides disagree
on many of the important issues.

Turkey has sought to become a mediator for the United States with Iran
and Arab countries, but it is unclear whether the Obama administration
is eager for Ankara to play that role. The two sides disagree on
sanctions against Iran and the administration is uneasy about recent
Turkish criticism of and disputes with Israel.

Greater friction is looming as the Obama administration intensifies
pressure on Iran to end its nuclear ambitions. A U.S. push for
sanctions at the U.N. Security Council, where Turkey currently sits
as a nonpermanent member, will force Ankara to choose between a NATO
ally and an important neighbor.

The two allies also will need to navigate the perennial issue of an
annual U.S. statement on the World War I-era massacre of up to 1.5.

million Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Breaking a campaign pledge,
Obama has refrained from referring to the killings as genocide,
a term widely viewed by genocide scholars as an accurate description.

The Obama administration has said it is wary that the sensitive issue
could upset talks that could lead to reconciliation and a reopening
of the border between Armenia and Turkey. It remains unclear how the
administration will handle the issue in the future, especially if
talks between Turkey and Armenia falter.

Tensions have eased over cooperation in Northern Iraq. Turkish
complaints about a lack of U.S. help in rooting out Kurdish militants
launching attacks on Turkey from Iraq loomed over Erdogan’s White
House visit with former President George W. Bush in 2007.

Since then Turkey has boosted trade in the region and improved ties
with members of the Kurdish minorities living on both sides of its
border with Iraq.