BY TUNCAY OZKAN
AKSAM- Columnist Tuncay Ozkan writes on Turkey’s foreign policy. A summary of his column is as follows:
If our government fails to develop new foreign policy perspectives, serious political problems are in the cards for us, and soon.
The first critical issue is Iraq. The international community currently sees Turkey as a country has which failed to set out its own conditions on the Iraq issue despite our Parliament’s authorization for the government to send troops to the region. The US considers our country its second trump card in its relations with Iran and Syria. Heeding the warnings of its two influential allies, Iran yesterday announced that it would voluntarily refrain from uranium enrichment, a process which can produce fuel for nuclear weapons. In other words, Tehran took an important step in its relations with Washington, in an attempt to deprive the superpower of the opportunity to move jointly with Israel against it. In truth, Iran is in a real bind, stuck between the latest developments in its neighbors such as Azerbaijan and Iraq and its own domestic dynamics, namely the ever-growing opposition movement. Under these circumstances, Tehran would like to improve its relations with Ankara. However, our government will never be allowed to move closer to its neighbor. Ankara can’t risk another rift with Washington. The Bush administration sees us as a standby subcontractor, ready to be used as a trump card whenever necessary. Washington will never allow us to take bolder or more effective steps in the region, besides the ones it’s designated.
In my opinion, Turkey won’t be supported by the US in the future, not even on the terrorist PKK issue. We’ll see this clearly in the months to come. If we fail to develop better policies, we’ll be forced to swallow every foreign policy proposal thrown our way, without even getting a chance to have our say. We’ll first suffer economically, then politically. Our relations with the EU will suffer. Both the Kurdish issue and the trans-border water disputes will cause new problems with Iraq. Turkey is fated to become a victim of international isolation.
Can we head off such negative developments? Of course. The only way to do so is to develop and pursue more consistent and determined foreign policies. Ankara must develop a new Middle East strategy. We must launch new initiatives on the Cyprus and Aegean issues. If we accept submission to and imposition under foreign countries, we’ll lose. Let’s not forsake our own ideals.