BY SEMIH IDIZ
MILLIYET- After Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit accused the US of encouraging Iraqi Kurds who support the terrorist PKK, the outbreak of tension between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the US Army over its airspace violation shows that Turkish-US relations are deteriorating. In addition, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's remarks, which one could easily interpret to mean that Turkey would fire at US planes in a second violation, sum up the current situation well. When the remarks of Buyukanit and Erdogan are put together, we could say that our alliance -
considered a vital one for 50 years - is moving to a very different place sown with seeds of discord. Former high-ranking officers have also suggested that Turkey quit NATO. This suggestion shouldn't be seen as just inane. Considering how far anti-Americanism has spread in Turkish society, many see nothing wrong with this stance.
It's also not hard to guess that similar views are shared by many Turkish officers. I've written before that military relations form the essential basis of Turkish-US ties. Clearly, this has been the case since the days of the Truman Doctrine. The TSK and the US Army have coexisted for over 50 years on the level of the defense industry, in terms of bilateral and multilateral `operational' issues. It's also no secret that many Turkish officers were trained at American military schools and have worked with the US military as part of NATO. So, obviously, weakening the military dimension of Turkish-American ties would change the usual meaning of our bilateral political relations.
Diplomats from both countries are now working hard to halt this negative course of events. This is what they are supposed to do. But we see that developments in Turkish-US relations are going beyond diplomats and have their own dynamics. The tense atmosphere over our upcoming elections and the confusion over the Iraq issue will obviously hurt bilateral relations. I think the US is responsible for the current situation. It was a huge mistake for the US to consider Turkey `a bird in hand' by relying on an alliance which has been strong for 50 years. It was a worse mistake to consider Turkey a country which can be `distracted' on such a vital issue as the terrorist PKK. But if it had instead seen Turkey realistically, it would have known that the collective will in Turkey has always been in favor of its national interests, even if there is a `strategic' relationship. The fact that Washington didn't see this it is now dragging its relations with Turkey to an uncertain and dangerous future.