Whither Turkey?

BY YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- Columnist Yilmaz Oztuna comments on Turkey’s course in both its relations with the US and its European Union membership bid. A summary of his column is as follows:
I hope that Sulaimaniyah incident is now behind us. Inevitably, we’ll have more problems with the US in Iraq and the surrounding region. Therefore, we should tread carefully. Otherwise, disagreements between Ankara and Washington will multiply. For example, clearly the US doesn’t look favorably on Iraq’s ethnic Turkmen. Due to its overly high esteem for the Kurds, the US might give them more than their due in Iraq’s future government.
If a trio of the US, the Britain and Turkey had set up camp in Iraq some time ago, the nation might have more quickly gotten a proper government. But we squandered this historic opportunity back in March. If now we find ourselves in a tight spot, we’ve no right to complain. Good relations with Washington are more important than Iraq’s problems. Any foreign policy failing to grasp this will be to our detriment.
However, our relations with the European Union supercede all other issues. On this matter hinges Turkey’s very civilization. Stubbornly resisting EU standards would cause us within a few years to degenerate into an undeveloped third world country. In so doing, we would effectively abandon Ataturk’s dream project of Turkey attaining the standards of modern civilization.