BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on the detention of Turkish special forces by US troops in Sulaimaniyah last weekend and the incident’s impact on Turkish-US relations. A summary of his column is as follows:
The political and diplomatic fallout left by the Sulaimaniyah incident must be cleared away at once. However, this won’t be easy to do without both sides exerting sincere efforts. Blowing the issue out of proportion obviously would serve neither Washington’s interests nor our own. The US is indisputably the world’s sole superpower. The Washington administration has an ambitious agenda in Asia and a steadfast determination to see it through, and neither Turkey nor any other country is capable of holding it back. Moreover, despite certain bumps in the 50-year Turkish-US relationship, Washington is a true ally to Ankara. And of course, the worst policy for Turkey to pursue would be to challenge the superpower’s global designs. Yet this is not to say that Turkey should move in lockstep with every US demand or willfully ignore such incidents like the one in Sulaimaniyah. But wavering from its basic policy towards the US could have a tremendous impact. Looking from a wider perspective, Turkey failed to handle wisely both the first and second Iraq wars. As a result, Ankara’s hand in northern Iraq is now much weaker in the face of the US, a bitter reality which we must accept.
Powerful countries such as Germany, France, and Russia effectively resisted US pressures and challenged its superiority during the recent Iraq war. But sooner or later the European states will settle their disputes with Washington. What about Turkey? We must be careful not to be branded as a third world country and thus be excluded from global politics. It’s this we should most be concerned about.
Looking from the US perspective, achieving ‘Pax Americana’ in Asia would be quite difficult without Turkey in its corner. Now that Syria and Iran are Washington’s next two targets, it’s just a matter of time before the US puts pressure – first political and then physical – on these countries. Thus, Ankara should be careful about the US’ prospective moves towards these two countries in ‘the axis of evil.’ Rather than opposing it, siding with the US on this issue would be the wisest course for us, one which would boost Ankara’s leverage in the future of the Middle East.”
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION