YILMAZ OZTUNA
TURKIYE- The US brought together foreign ministers from more than 40 states. It wants to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and so reconcile Arabs and Jews. Annapolis is the capital of the state of Maryland and a very small city. It is famed for its Naval Academy.
President George W. Bush received Israeli President Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas separately. His predecessor Bill Clinton tried to ensure peace in the region with only two people, by reconciling the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and he was almost successful. The late Yasser Arafat had almost accepted the terms, but then he grew afraid of opposition from Hamas in Palestine, which acts in line with orders given by Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
After failing to reconcile two people, doesn't the US know the difficulty of getting an agreement among over 40 states? Of course it does. But the main concern is to get the backing of Arab countries against Iran.
Hamas, under Iranian command, condemned the Annapolis meeting, and didn't attend. Syria attended the meeting under pressure, so as not to offend Turkey, and that is important, as it's a move contrary to Iran. On the other hand, Iran didn't heed Ankara's call. As it is challenging the US, of course Tehran may not listen to Turkey.
The US, after failing to get Turkey's support for its Iran policy, is trying to close the gap. Kurds are under the US' thumb. It's trying to break off Arabs from Iran, two parties already not close to each other, and subdue Iran with the help of Britain and Israel.
In this region, it would be quite difficult to try to shift the balances despite Turkey and to eliminate especially Iran. But if a serious dispute arises between the US and Iran, Turkey won't defend Iran with weapons. It can act impartially by forsaking its authority in the newly established balances. Azerbaijan will actually stand close to the US.
In truth, although no one says so openly, the main concern of the Annapolis meeting was Iran. Tehran knows this too. On the other hand, in the best-case scenario, a provisional agreement could be reached on the Arab-Israeli issue.