WHY THEY HATE US
Patricia Weitsman
The Guardian, UK
itsman/2007/10/military_alliances_are_general.html
Oct 16 2007
The fraying strategic partnership between Turkey and the United States
goes deeper than the tiff over the Armenian genocide resolution.
Military alliances are generally celebrated for their ability to deter
an attack by adversaries and as a general safeguard against mutual
enemies. Even better, if at war, allies aid the cause and increase
the likelihood of victory.
Unfortunately for the allies of the United States, the dynamics are
working to the contrary.
Being an ally of the United States is an increasingly dangerous
proposition. Or at least so say the Turks – the ally the United States
is perhaps most in jeopardy of losing. The first harbinger of trouble
came with the vote by the Turkish parliament to reject US troop access
to Turkish bases in March 2003, at the onset of the war in Iraq,
despite the US promise of $6bn in aid and $24bn in loan guarantees.
Last month a poll released by the Pew Foundation found that of all of
the Middle Eastern countries surveyed, Turkey has by far the largest
percentage of people naming the United States as the country that
poses the greatest threat. Sixty-four percent of Turkish respondents
named the United States as the most threatening state in the system.
Only 48% of respondents in the Palestinian territories felt the
same way.
Apparently it is worse to be an ally of the United States than a
close ally of an enemy.
Also last month, a devout Muslim became president and commander in
chief of Turkey. This does not bode well for the future strategic
partnership with the west, despite the billions the United States has
plied Turkey with since the onset of the war in Iraq. Still worse,
while cooling toward the west, Turkey has begun warming toward Iran.
So what has the United States done to reinforce this strategic
partnership?
The house foreign affairs committee endorsed a resolution labeling
the Turkish killing of 1.5 million Armenians genocide. Nancy Pelosi
decided to allow the resolution to come before the House later this
year. Ninety years after the genocide, with American-Turkish relations
at a low ebb, partisan politics trumped strategic interests.
The longer American foreign policy continues along its current course
in Iraq, the longer domestic politics obscure long-term interests,
the more extensive the damage will be to one of the most important
American relationships. A quick fix will not be enough to repair
relations with Turkey post-Bush or even post-Iraq. The United States
must ensure stability in Turkey, to keep it on a course affined with
the secular west.
The balance has always been delicate with Turkey. It serves as a
strategic outpost bridging the divide between the Middle East and
Europe. Nato, which Turkey joined in 1952, for decades served to
integrate Turkey to the west and has tempered the animosity between
Greece and Turkey. Alliances during peacetime can institutionalize
and deepen cooperative relations between friends and enemies. But
once wars begin, cooperation breaks down. This is what we are seeing
with Turkey, at a critical juncture in international history.
Today, a small tiff between the US and France, or a slight rift
between the US and Germany will not take long to repair once the
Bush administration has vacated Washington. But the lasting damage
to other key allies of the United States, most notably Turkey, could
easily change the fault lines of global conflict.
While Nato has been instrumental in maintaining the peace and fostering
cordiality among the member states, its ability to continue to tether
Turkey may be limited. It is of paramount importance that the United
States confront this possibility and do all it can to regain the hearts
and minds of one its most strategic allies before it is too late.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
