BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS
SABAH- US President George W. Bush told his advisors that his recent visits to Ankara and Istanbul for last week’s NATO summit made up one of his the best foreign trips ever. Obviously Istanbul’s magnificence, a visit without hitches and the opportunity to ‘score points’ in the leadup to this fall’s US presidential elections are reasons enough for him to enjoy the visit. Within this larger picture, Turkish-US relations are rather a ‘subtitle.’ Bush’s photo with Ortakoy Mosque in the background is particularly important for the US public. For me, the content of his speeches was directed at the Muslim world. However, there were also balanced messages taking into consideration important Turkish domestic dynamics as well. Meanwhile, friendly warnings from President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the PKK terrorist organization were expected by the US, which actually wanted to hear them. Everybody from Washington I spoke to in recent weeks found Turkey’s argument about the PKK presence in Iraq fair and resented the Pentagon’s foot-dragging.
One high-ranking White House official said at a briefing, ‘The meetings in Ankara showed that Turkey’s interests are in sync with our own.’ This is true for now. Bush not only listened to Erdogan tell him about the issue of the territorial integrity of Kirkuk and Iraq, but also supported Ankara’s stance on this issue. Bush and his staff oppose the establishment of an independent Kurdish state and say that Iraq’s natural resources, including the oil in Kirkuk, should belong to the entire Iraqi nation. However, are these sufficient guarantees for Ankara? Washington doesn’t have control over Iraq and Turkey’s problems in Iraq concern Baghdad and northern Iraq. In addition, Bush diplomatically reminded Erdogan and Sezer of the fact that Turkish-Israeli relations are very important for Washington. Then US officials who discussed the issue with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul implied the following: ‘You can criticize Israel’s policies. Both Europe and we do this sometimes as well. However, you should maintain a certain manner and be constructive.’ This is an appropriate warning for a country whose influence in the US is based on the Jewish lobby.