TURKEY AND US BEGIN TO ENJOY WARM TIES
By Lale Kemal
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Nov 2 2011
Despite the ups and downs in relations between the two NATO allies,
both Turkey and the US have always needed to cooperate on issues
related to problems occurring in Turkey’s environs in particular.
Turkey’s location next to the Middle East, the Balkans and Russia
as well as Central Asia has stood as an important factor in making
Turkish-US relations indispensable.
Having close allies in those regions has been crucial in advancing
US national interests since Washington is still the only world power
intervening in conflicts elsewhere in the world, from Afghanistan to
Turkey’s neighbor, Iraq.
But a shift in Turkish foreign policy in the past several years, from
a policy based on reacting to events whenever they take place to one
based on proactive policies concerned with taking initiatives, at
the beginning irked the US. Washington’s concern stemmed from fears
that Turkey, under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party),
having stronger Islamic traditions in this staunchly secular nation,
would look to the East and turn its back to the West.
I myself have never believed that the AK Party, which initiated major
democratic reforms and enabled the now stalled accession negotiations
in 2005 for full membership in the European Union, would move away
from the West. Turkey’s pursuit of a more independent policy in the
past decade that has sometimes contrasted with its Western allies has
stemmed mostly from an increased awareness of safeguarding Turkish
national interests in the region.
Turkey’s policy of having closer political and economic dialogue with
Iran, for example, has been based on pragmatism, rather than the fact
that both nations are majorly Muslim despite belonging to different
sects of Islam, i.e., Turkey being Sunni and Iran being Shiite.
Nevertheless, Shiite Iran’s policy of influencing Shiite-dominated
segments of the Middle East has always been perceived as a threat
for Ankara.
The US was further frustrated in June 2010 when Turkey voted against
imposing UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.
But Turkey’s recent decision to host US-backed NATO missile defense
system radar has come as a relief for the Western alliance in general
and for the US in particular. If Turkey had refused to take part in
the missile shield project, relations with the US could have reached
a sticking point. By agreeing to host the early warning radar system,
Turkey did away with concerns that it would be NATO’s weakest link.
Independent from easing the concern of its NATO allies by accepting
to host the radar on its soil, Turkey has also safeguarded its own
national interests. This is because neighboring Iran’s development of
nuclear arms is not an acceptable scenario and stands as an important
priority issue with regard to Turkey’s major national interests.
As far as I understand, in return for Turkey agreeing to host the early
warning radar, among other things, the US administration appears to
have convinced congress, which is irritated by Turkey’s strained ties
with its once close strategic partner Israel, about selling weapons
to Turkey, which it urgently needs in its fight against the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its intensified violence.
After holding Turkey’s request for the transfer of arms systems on
the table for several years, the Obama administration notified the
US Congress last week of the potential sale of three US Marine Corps
(USMC) AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters to Turkey.
Turkey has a shortage in its SuperCobra fleet, as it is believed that
it now only has six SuperCobras, following the crash of the other
four during various missions.
Turkey’s active engagement in the region has also made Ankara an
increasingly influential US ally in the Middle East. This has been
serving to safeguard US interests in this now chaotic and uncertain
region where the oppressed citizens have begun either toppling their
leaders, such as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi, who was brutally killed recently by his opponents,
or forcing them to leave office, such as Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad, who refuses to leave. Turkey has been an outspoken critic
of President Assad’s bloody crackdown on protests in neighboring Syria.
As a matter of fact, Turkey and the US have engaged in a deeper
dialogue since the outbreak of protests in parts of North Africa and
the Middle East that began in March of this year.
Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz stated that a new situation
was emerging in Turkish-US ties and described this as both countries
beginning to rediscover each other.
“From now on, both countries agreed to consult and inform each other
on every issue. In order to prevent a power vacuum from emerging
once the US withdraws from Iraq [at the end of December], the US
will consult Turkey on every step that it takes,” Yılmaz told
the media in Washington on Tuesday where he is attending the annual
American-Turkish Council (ATC) meeting, which brought together senior
Turkish and American officials.
Apparently, the US’s possible transfer of SuperCobra attack helicopters
after putting on hold Turkey’s request for several years pleased
Turkey extremely, which is understood to have prompted the Turkish
defense minister to hail relations between Washington and Ankara.
According to Yılmaz, Turkish-US relations are unique.
For Turkish-US relations to become unique, however, Ankara should
also mend its ties with its former strategic partner Israel. The
US once again emphasized this condition in a recent remark made by
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Speaking at the ATC meeting on
Monday, Clinton said Turkey must do more to cement democratic gains
and smooth prickly ties with its neighbors such as Israel, if it
is to emerge as a guarantor of Middle Eastern stability. Israel’s
killing last year of nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound activist ship
has brought ties between Turkey and Israel to a historic low.
As Clinton reminded both Turkish and American participants of the ATC
in her address, Turkey’s ability to realize its full potential depends
also on its resolve to strengthen democracy at home, where the state
of human rights and freedom of expression requires serious improvement.