Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
Oct 19 2007
Main Reasons of the Mistrust between Turkey and the US
Sedat Laciner
Friday , 19 October 2007
Since 2003 the American authorities have been unhappy due to the
`accretion’ of anti-Americanism in Turkey. It is not easy for the
Americans to fully understand the main reasons behind the recent
Turkish scepticism towards the US and the Bush Government sometimes
blamed the Turkish government for the US image in Turkey. Some
neo-cons and some of the American Jewish Institutions even blamed
current Turkish government of being hostile to the West and being
anti-Semitic. According to these criticisms, Justice and Development
Party (AK Parti) was the responsible from the accretion of the
anti-Americanism among the Turks. Since the approach grounded on the
hypothesis that Justice and Development Party was Islamist, charges
recent matters to the government. Actually, this approach is not new
and exceptional for the US policies towards the Muslim world. The US
makes out a case for the failure in Iraq that the Baghdad government
does not make legal regulations in the Iraqi parliament. Similarly
for its image in Afghanistan the US blames the Karzai government of
not being successful in explaining to its own community that how well
works US has made in Afghanistan. Pakistan is another example.
Americans accuses Pakistan Government for the recent increase in
religionist terrorism in the country. Examples can be enhanced. In
other words, Americans do not like to question their own policies and
mistakes. They choose the easy way and accuse the others for all kind
of failure in the region.
If we come back to Turkey, the Americans accuse the Erdogan
Government of `leading on hostility to West or not to be able to
prevent’ emanates from the hyperbolic governmental assumption.
Americans are biased when they look at the `East’, that these
countries can not be democratic and pluralistic. They think that the
governments in these countries have absolute power over the society.
According to them, in the countries like Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, and Egypt there is no real civil society, there is no such
a thing as public opinion. In those countries, according to the
American politicians, government (or another unit) prescribes
something and the community obeys to this. Eventhough they are
bemused about Turkey’s position, it is understood that they at the
end see Turkey in the Eastern country category. However, the truth is
very different from this Dark Age’s bias.
First of all, anti-Americanism and opposition to the American Middle
East policies is not peculiar to Turkey. In Turkey, as is the same
for the entire world, President Bush’s Middle East policies annoy the
society. Furthermore, Turkey in contrast to South Korea or Mexico or
any other countries is the only country that fully exposed to the
almost all bad effects of the US regional politics. It is neighbour
of Iraq, comparatively close to Afghanistan. Palestine is very close
to Turkey. The American policies in the Middle East destabilise the
region surrounding Turkey, and undermine Turkish national interests.
***
Significant distrust growths dramatically between Turkey and US since
2003. Sticking all the responsibility to the one group in Turkey is
not possible. Because, almost all political parties both left and
right wing are sceptical and critical about the US. Almost all
opposition parties blame the Erdogan government of being Americanist
while some of the American politicians accuse Mr. Erdogan of being
anti-American. According to the secularist-leftist RPP (Republican
People Party) and ultra-nationalist NMP (Nationalist Movement Party)
Tayyip Erdogan and his party are in America’s service. Many
opposition groups repeat that Prime Minister Erdogan helps America in
realising its plans in the Middle East, and also Erdogan does not act
as a nationalist.
It should not be forgotten that, anti-Americanism of RPP was reached
to its peak level when the Motion of March 1 2003 (1 Mart Tezkeresi)
was rejected. Thus, thanks to the RPP’s strict opposition, the US
could not use the Turkish territories in incursion of Iraq. While a
limited number of Justice and Development Party (AK Party) MPs were
against the Motion, the Republican People’s Party was against it
almost without a loss. Indeed, after the rejection of the 1 March
Motion, serious problems existed between Deniz Baykal, head of the
RPP, and the US. Besides Mr. Baykal went too far so that he accused
Americans for the cabals against him. We do not see different picture
when we look at the other powerful opposition party NMP. Devlet
Bahceli leader of the Party for instance says that the cross-border
operation against the PKK terror bases in Iraq is not enough, despite
to the American’s warnings Bahceli wants to go further in Iraq,
Bahceli also criticises the US as supporter of the terrorism against
Turkey. In addition, we should remind that these two parties are
considered as the main stream parties in Turkey.
***
It is a fact that there is a growing mistrust between Turkey and the
US. However I think the real reasons are not the US Middle east
policies or the Turkish Governments’ mismanagement of the crisis.
Turkey is a pragmatic country. For example, though Turkey is not
happy with the Israeli policies in Palestine and in Lebanon,
Turkey-Israel relations have reached its peak level during the
conservative AK Party years. The real reason behind the problems is
the American failure in keeping its promises to the Turks. The
Americans first promise for something and then they failed to keep
their words, and they disappoint the Turkish people:
Firstly, Turkey lived a big disappointment on Cyprus issue. Americans
promised on some issues during the United Nations (UN) Annan Peace
Plan negotiations. The US openly declared that if citizens of Turkish
Republic Northern Cyprus say `yes’ to the Annan Plan, the embargo
that lasts for the years was said to be taken off. However, on behalf
of say `no’, the US (and EU) was said to be punished. This was a
clear promise. Turkish side by saying `yes’ with the overwhelming
majority did voted for the consolidation of the island. However,
Greek side voted for `no’ with the overwhelming majority. Turkey and
Cypriot Turks waited from US to keep its promises. However, since
then US and EU followed delaying tactics. Greeks who said `no’ to the
Annan Plan were not punished, in contrary on one hand they have been
accepted as a full member of the EU, on the other hand their
effectiveness have not been decreased but also increased. Embargos
and isolations on Cypriot Turks continue with the harshest type. All
this process did damage the trust of Turkish community to the US and
the EU.There was already a suspicious attitude in Turkey against the
West. Some marginal groups were advocating that West tries to destroy
Turkey, whatever Turkey makes; the negative attitude of the West to
Turkey will not be changed. Moreover, those marginal groups were
right on the Cyprus issue by the public opinion.
The second important beat came in Iraq. US tried to punish Turkey for
the rejection of the Motion in March 1, 2003(tezkere). There were big
gap between the words and the actions against Turkey which was
keeping Turkey out of Iraq consciously. US acted as it has hidden
agenda in Iraq. Eventhough Turkey supported US logically, militarily
and politically, Turkish community was never sure of the US’
definitive goals. Americans while talked about the integrity of Iraq,
they always acted toward movements that will separate Iraq in three
parts, at least will create a Kurdish state in Northern Iraq. The
difference between words and practice has been noticed by the Turkish
public opinion.
Undoubtedly, the worst thing was the detain tactics of US on PKK
terror. From the beginning US declared that Iraq will not be safe
place for PKK terrorists, personally President Bush and his
government ensured Turkey for the matter. The existence of the PKK in
Iraq was said to be destroyed; at least it would not be let to
shelter. However, by the time, the existence of the PKK in Iraq
increased rather that decreased. While the number of terrorists
reached 5000 in about 3 years, number of the terror camps exceed 20.
In every occasion, the US authorities gave promises to Turkey but
never kept. While it is hard to anticipate the number of `terrorists’
US soldiers killed in Iraq that is under the US government, no single
PKK terrorist has been captured or harmed by the US troops in Iraq.
In a country where every day dies more that 100 people, even one PKK
terrorist was not hurted. Neither American nor Iraqi governments
arrested any one for being PKK terrorist though the terrorist
organisation had offices even in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities.
However, the US President, Secretary of State and Secretary of
Defence and other American high-ranked officers continued to give
promises to the Turks that they can not keep. They today still
continue to do so. While Americans continue to ensure the Turks by
gibing promises they never keep, the Turkish security forces capture
American weapons in the PKK camps. Captured PKK terrorists claim that
the arms were given to them by the Americans. It is written by the
excessively respected authors in the US and Israeli press that the
PKK was financially and technically supported by the US and Israel.
While Turkish Intelligence reports say that Americans regularly meet
with the PKK, the respected British newspaper Daily Telegraph writes
that US official authorities visit the PKK camps regularly. In brief,
if we put in this way the US obviously lies to Turkey. At least the
Turkish layman thinks so. Americans, who do not (or cannot) keep
their promises and attitude in contrary, also use the expressions
such as `we understood how importan the borders of Turkey are’ or `we
understand the sensibility of Turkey’ that make the Turks crazy. If
it is limited with the understanding that the importance of the
Turkey’s borders or the sensibility of Turkey for such a long time,
either understanding of the US is very limited or there are more
serious problems in the US side regarding the Turks. While every day
couple of Turks become an innocent victims of terrorism, the US still
continues to give promises and says that they understand the
importance of the Turkish borders.
***
Lastly, the Armenian issue makes matters more multiplex. The US again
gave promises and continues to give. However, in the atmosphere that
matters are in peak the US House Foreign Affairs Committe have
preferred to discuss almost a century ago rather than today and
alleged Turkey with the worst crime in the world. The communal
clashes and massacres of Kurds and Armenians invoiced to Turkey as
genocide. Before the voting, President Bush and his team gave many
promises by saying that the proposal will not be passed. It was even
told that President Bush personally called Mrs. Pelosi and many other
influential deputies. However, Mrs. Pelosi says `nobody called me
before the voting’. In that sense Mr. Bush continues to confuse
Turkish people.
In conclusion, image of the US that a country does not keep its
promises grow stronger in Turkish land. Americans think that their
promises will be forgotten in short time. However, in contrast to
their view the memory of Turkish community is not that much weak. It
is right that Turkey is pragmatic, however, never forgets. Turkey
always notes enemies and friendly countries somewhere. Nobody in
Turkey did forget the Letter of Johnson and the arms embargo of the
US against Turkey during the 1970s. You will see that nobody will
forget these days as well. The US endangers the relations with the
one of the most important and most loyal alliances for the short term
interests. Besides, the responsibility belongs to the Americans but
not to the Turks for the bad image of the US in Turkey.
19 October 2007
Translated by Habibe Kader and Mesut TUZCAN
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
