TURKEY-US TIES ‘CLOSER THAN EVER’ SAYS TURKISH AMBASSADOR TAN
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) and Turkish Foreign Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu attend a news conference after their meeting in
Istanbul August 11, 2012. (photo by REUTERS/Osman Orsal)
By: Semih Idiz for Al-Monitor Turkey Pulse. posted on January 8.
The Pew Research Center indicates that Turks are still among the
world champions in anti-Americanism. Pew’s “Global Attitude Project”
for 2012 showed that 72% of Turks rated the US unfavorably, while
only 15% rated it favorably. Only Pakistan and Jordan, out of a list
of 20 countries, proved worse than Turkey in this respect.
It’s easy to conclude then that there is little hope for Turkish-US
ties to develop further, even if they have maintained their military
alliance for the sake of practical reasons. And yet the two countries
are seen to be enjoying one of the best periods ever in their bilateral
ties, according to Turkey’s ambassador to Washington, Namik Tan.
“During this last period we have come closer than ever in
Turkish-American relations. Our ties have broadened, diversified and
deepened. There is a very close personal relationship between our
leaders,” Tan said in an interview with Hurriyet earlier this week.
Adding that the re-election of President Barack Obama provided “a
second window of opportunity” for ties, Tan said, “We do not have to
rediscover each other.” He also noted that “a country that does not
maintain good ties with America will fall back in the international
arena in terms of its interests.”
This is a far cry from the days of President George W. Bush, when
Turkey angered Washington in March 2003, after its parliament failed
to endorse a bill that would have enabled US forces to invade Iraq
from Turkish territory.
Turkish public opinion in turn, went ballistic when it emerged that US
marines, with little love lost for Turkey due to the decision by its
parliament a few months earlier, arrested 11 members of the Turkish
armed forces in a raid on their headquarters in the Northern Iraqi
city of Sulaymaniyah in July 2003.
The fact that Turkish soldiers were manhandled and treated like
Iraqi insurgents, with sacks over their heads — resulting in the
whole affair being known as the “Sack Incident” in Turkey — turned
into a matter of national honor, putting a great strain on ties
with Washington.
Those arrested — and subsequently released after the outcry in
Turkey — were accused of planning to create turmoil in the region
by setting off car bombs and assassinating Kurdish officials. These
charges were strongly denied by Ankara, and the whole incident still
remains shrouded in mystery.
Given that the military alliance between the two countries goes back
half a century, ties were not severed over this incident. But the
atmosphere remained frosty, to say the least, and worsened after
Washington’s “neocons” started accusing Turkey of moving toward
radical Islam under the Justice and Development Party.
Things started improving following Barack Obama’s election in
November 2008, especially after he made one of his first overseas
visits to Turkey in April 2009, during which he was warmly greeted
by the government and the Turkish parliament, which he addressed.
In the meantime, developments in the Middle East, especially after
the outbreak of the Arab Spring, further cemented this relationship,
leading to the current state of affairs that Ambassador Tan is so
cheerful about.
Ankara is also happy today about President Obama’s choice of John
Kerry for Secretary of State and Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense.
Both are known to have a keen awareness of Turkey’s growing regional
and global importance. Hagel is especially appreciated for his highly
laudatory remarks in the past on Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder
of the Turkish Republic, whose legacy he believes should be taught
in US schools.
Ankara has also noted Hagel’s approach to the 1915 massacre of
Armenians under the Ottomans, which many in the US Congress have
tried repeatedly to have listed as “genocide,” a possibility that
risks poisoning US-Turkish ties like no other issue.
His “leave history to the historians” attitude on this matter is
in tune with the official Turkish thinking. Neither has his past
criticism of Israel gone unnoticed in Ankara, which is currently
seriously at odds with Israel over the Palestinian issue.
None of this means, however, there are no points of contention
between Ankara and Washington. Ambassador Tan is the first to admit
this, although he is quick to point out that these differences are
not substantive, but merely stem from a different prioritization of
issues important to both countries.
On Syria, for example, the sides have established close coordination
and their approaches to the crisis are almost identical. Ankara,
nevertheless, expects Washington to be more active in trying to
topple the Bashar al-Assad regime. This, however, does not mean
Turkey is looking for a US-led military intervention in Syria, as
Tan explained to Hurriyet, which makes the question of what it is
that Ankara expects even more intriguing.
Differences on Iraq, however, are more apparent. Washington worries
that Turkey’s increasingly bad relations with Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri Al Maliki, and rapidly developing economic and political ties
with the Kurdish Regional Government, taking place over Baghdad’s head,
risk dividing Iraq. Tan, however, is quick to respond to this charge.
“So what are their [the US’] companies, which number over 40, doing
there? Any company you can think of is there, but when it comes to
my companies, they should not be. This is not a convincing approach.”
According to press reports, Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu, the
undersecretary of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, is expected in
Washington soon for talks with his US counterpart, William Burns,
aimed at, among other things, ironing out differences over Iraq.
Then, there is the question of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
Turkey acknowledges it is getting assistance from the US against this
group, which both countries designate as terrorist, especially in
terms of real-time intelligence, but insists that this is not enough.
It wants more direct involvement by American forces against this group
lodged in the mountains of Northern Iraq, which Washington has been
reluctant to do.
In the meantime, US Ambassador to Ankara Francis Riccardione has
taken issue on more than one occasion with repeated claims by Turkish
officials that his country is not doing enough against PKK terrorism.
Indicating that Washington is giving far more assistance than it is
credited with, Riccardione has openly expressed annoyance over these
Turkish claims.
Finally, there is the matter of Turkish-Israeli ties, with Ankara
expressing anger over US support for Israel, especially in the May
2010 incident involving the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship that was
part of an international aid flotilla headed for besieged Gaza when
it was boarded by Israeli forces, who killed nine Turkish activists,
claiming they were armed and aggressive.
Washington has been pressuring Turkey to normalize ties with Israel,
which Ankara has refused to do until that country apologizes for the
Mavi Marmara raid, compensates the families of the deceased and lifts
the siege on Gaza, none of which has happened yet.
Developments in the Middle East, however, are ensuring that these as
well as other similar differences, including the issue of Turkey’s
trade with Iran, do not overshadow military and political ties between
Ankara and Washington, which appear set to deepen even further,
despite the rampant anti-Americanism in Turkey.
Semih Ä°diz is a contributing writer for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse. A
journalist who has been covering diplomacy and foreign-policy issues
for major Turkish newspapers for 30 years, his opinion pieces
can be followed in the English-language Hurriyet Daily News. His
articles have been published in The Financial Times, The Times,
Mediterranean Quarterly and Foreign Policy magazine, and he is a
frequent contributor to BBC World, VOA, NPR, Deutche Welle, various
Israeli media organizations and Al Jazeera.
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