VOTE UNDERMINES OBAMA’S TURKEY STRATEGY
By Daniel Dombey in San Jose, Costa Rica and Delphine Strauss in Ankara

FT
March 5 2010 00:20

When Barack Obama, US president, took time out last year to visit
Ankara and Istanbul he hailed the US’s relationship with Turkey as a
"model partnership".

On Thursday, after Ankara recalled its ambassador to Washington
in protest at a vote by a congressional panel, Mr Obama’s bid to
strengthen that partnership faced its biggest test.

EDITOR’S CHOICE Turkey recalls ambassador over US vote – Mar-05US
turns screw on Ankara over sanctions – Feb-24US foreign policy has
not made breakthroughs – Feb-07The ties between the two countries are
at the heart of much of the Obama administration’s strategy and have
occupied much of the time of the US’s top diplomats, from Hillary
Clinton, US secretary of state, down.

The US has hailed Turkish political system as a model for much of
the Muslim world, particularly as the country’s current government
led by the AKP has Islamist roots but the country’s constitution
is secularist.

US policy acknowledges as a starting point that Ankara has growing
influence throughout the Middle East, maintains Nato’s second
biggest army, hosts important US military bases and is increasing in
self-confidence in global affairs.

The US is also urgently seeking Turkey’s support for sanctions on
Iran, which Washington would like to be adopted by the United Nations
Security Council in a show of international unity in coming weeks.

Turkey, which currently has a seat on the council, is unconvinced of
such sanctions, as are states such as China and Brazil.

On Thursday, US officials acknowledged that their agenda had become
much more of a challenge following the committee vote to label
Ottoman-era massacres of Armenians as "genocide".

Howard Berman, the committee chairman, resisted a personal entreaty
from Mrs Clinton, who said the resolution could damage reconciliation
efforts between Armenia and Turkey she brokered last year.

"This will most likely be a difficult and painful process for the
Turkish people, but at the end of the day it will strengthen Turkish
democracy and put the US-Turkey relationship on a better footing,"
Mr Berman said.

Nancy Pelosi, the powerful House Speaker, has not committed herself
to a full vote. "No decision has been made yet whether to bring the
bill to the floor," said a Democratic aide.

Unless Ms Pelosi opts to take the resolution to the full House it
could expire at the end of this year. In the past she has given
higher profile support to a genocide resolution, only to backtrack
after pressure from the White House and elsewhere.

The genocide debate also stirs nationalist sensitivities within Turkey,
as do the negotiations with Armenia. Last autumn Turkey signed joint
protocols with Armenia aiming to restore diplomatic ties and open
the border. Mr Obama called on Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s president,
this week to speed ratification.

But the agreement is close to disintegrating. Armenia is frustrated
by Turkey’s refusal to put the protocols to a vote in parliament
until there is progress in the intractable dispute between Armenia
and Azerbaijan, its ally and gas supplier, over the Armenian-occupied
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The congressional resolution urges the US president to describe the
killings as genocide in an address commemorating the events on April
24. In spite of a pre-election promise, Mr Obama avoided the word
last year and is likely to maintain that position.