BY CUNEYT ULSEVER
HURRIYET-BYEGM - Columnist Cuneyt Ulsever comments on Turkish-US relations in the wake of the Iraq war. A summary of his column is as follows:
Turkish-US relations, which became tense with Parliament’s rejection of the deployment of US soldiers here, are now faced with a new juncture. The US will test our desire to help the US in the Iran, Syria and Israel-Palestine triad as part of its plans to reshape the Middle East.
I don’t think that the US is planning a military attack against Iran or Syria any time soon. There’s no realistic prospect of this. The US has yet to get a handle on Iraq’s social situation. In addition, the US has to regain its image of a ‘merciful imperialist state’ in order to gain firm legal ground. Following the Iraq war, the US is being seen instead as a despotic imperialist state.
However, the US is still pushing on the following three issues:
The regimes in Iran and Syria are hostile to the US. These hostile regimes indisputably support anti-American terrorism. 2. However, if Iran’s liberal moderates are supported against the mullahs and if those who favor Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are supported against the Baathists, these regimes could be changed without need for war. 1. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be solved in order for the new US order in the Middle East to be accepted.
As part of its peace road map, the US made Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon admit that there were occupier-settlers on Palestinian land. However, the US has lost its confidence in Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Turkey knows better than anyone that Iran and Syria allow terrorism. It’s also true that Arafat is in bed with Islamic terrorist organizations. Along these lines, there is no difference between the US’ views and Turkey’s interests. However, the US must remember that our country borders both Iran and Syria and that we have important economic ties with Iran in particular.
During such a time, the new period ushered in by Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal’s visit to the US this week will be critical for Turkish-US relations.
The US is expecting full cooperation from Turkey in terms of its policies on Iran and Syria. It wants Turkey to express this clearly and explicitly. The US is expecting Turkey to support Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas and conversely to shut out Arafat.
Turkey failed the reliability test on March 1 when it rejected the troop deployments. I wonder if it will pass the make-up examination or else fail entirely.”
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION