There Has Been Temporary Shock In Turkish - U.S. Relations

ANKARA - Adnan Nas, the Deputy Chairman of the Turkish-American Businessmen Association (TABA) said on Friday that ''there has been a sudden shock in Turkey-U.S. relations, but we don't think that it is a deep shock.''
Assessing Turkey-U.S. relations to A.A correspondent, Nas said that ''certainly there has been a disappointment in the bilateral relations.'' Nas said that this also stemmed from the mistake of Turkey, adding that ''U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz also said positive things about Turkey in his speech which was discussed very much in Turkey. He said Turkey should help the U.S. in reconstruction of Iraq; the U.S. and Turkey should continue its cooperation against terrorism and that the U.S. would support Turkey's IMF programme and EU membership. This has been overlooked... We must re-evaluate the opportunities and not think about the past any more.''
Stressing that reconstruction of Iraq was a great opportunity for Turkey, Nas said that ''Turkey should explain clearly how it could help the U.S. in reconstruction of Iraq with its businessmen, and the experience of its firms. Turkey should offer solutions which will decrease the cost to minimum level.'' Nas said that Turkish firms could get an important share from the projects to be undertaken in Iraq.
Recalling that there were some different points of view between some countries and the United States in lifting the embargo imposed on Iraq, Nas said that Turkey, which had been complaining about imposition of embargo since 1991, now had a different attitude. Noting that it was not possible to implement contracts signed in the scope of embargo other than a 200 million U.S. dollars part that the U.N. has already approved and prepared its letter of credit, Nas said, ''Turkey should adopt a supportive attitude for trade without embargo since embargo will probably be lifted in the new period. It is not correct to leave our 10 year old thesis of 'embargo should be lifted' and deal with agreements which will not be fulfilled.''
When recalled the news stating that qualified industrial zones (QIZ), which were envisioned to be established to increase the exports to the United States, were removed from the agenda by the United States, Nas said that there was not a guaranteed situation regarding QIZ.
Recalling that the United States insisted on high technology elements instead of textile sector in QIZ, Nas said that this could be a very important opportunity for Turkey. He added that ''this scared Turkish side very much, but in fact it was a very significant issue in middle and long term and if Turkish-Israel-American triangle was formed in high technology issue, we could make great progress.''
''We should not be insistent on producing and selling our existing goods, what our fathers had produced. We have the potential in industry. These are opportunities for us. We can add significant value to GAP (Southeastern Anatolia Project) with high technology. Genetically engineered agriculture is a great opportunity for agricultural industry and GAP.''
Nas said that if Turkey took such concrete steps and became productive, relations between Turkey and the United States could rapidly develop. He added that Turkey was not a super power and it should take part in strategies which would be beneficial for itself.
Nas said that there was a sudden shock in Turkey-U.S. relations, but they do not think that it was a deep shock. He added that Turkey should examine its strategical posture and act pragmatically instead of searching the mistake in others.
(ÖS-GC-AÖ) 16.05.2003