BY BERIL DEDEOGLU
STAR- Certain foreign visits are very high-profile, like President Abdullah Gul's visit to Armenia or his French counterpart Nicholas Sarkozy's visit to Moscow, while others keep to the sidelines or shadows. US Vice President Dick Cheney's recent trip to nearby countries fits in the latter category. Cheney visited Azerbaijan not even a month after the South Ossetia conflict, even as Russia hasn't implemented the cease-fire. Considering Cheney's itinerary, which continued with Georgia and Ukraine, it's clear that these visits were designed to disturb Russia. The US sent its vice president to places Russia considers vital in order to show that the US also sees them as vital. The US thus showed the entire world who it considers allies.
Actually, nobody knows if the Azeris and Ukrainians really welcomed the visits, because being a close US ally in the Caucasus or Ukraine - that is, near Russia - carries a price. Russia can punish governments seeking a strategic relationship with the US, as it did to Georgia. Countries that the US shows a close interest in are likely to become Russian targets. Cheney's visits might actually endanger the soft Westernization policies of Azerbaijan and Ukraine, which stem mostly from their desire to get closer to the European Union.
Even in explaining the reason for his visits, Cheney showed the nature of his expectations by stressing energy issues, and he more or less said that the US will do whatever is needed to keep Russia from being an energy monopoly. As his last stop Cheney met with Italian Prime Minister Silvia Berlusconi, as the issue of energy dependence on Russia worries the EU. Meanwhile, I guess by coincidence US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also visited Libya in a bid to normalize relations. Even if Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi signaled that he didn't trust the US, there was an impression that energy issues might encourage the two countries to get closer. So two top US officials pursued energy issues to Turkey's north and south, and thus showed the EU what Washington is pursuing in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. Meanwhile, Cheney stressed the importance of Turkey, located between these two regions and their energy routes, in terms of energy transportation lines, its strategic importance, and the usefulness of its possible EU membership.
But Cheney talking about Turkey's importance might not be such good news. Actually everybody is saying that Turkey is important. In addition, when our conservative government thinks about it, there are many reasons to doubt that Turkish-US ties will develop in line with Turkey's interests. So the US is expected to toe Turkey's line on the Montreux Treaty, the future of northern Iraq, NATO enlargement, and how duties are divided in international peacekeeping forces. As part of this, Turkey might have to take measures to head off pressure in such areas as Cyprus, the so-called Armenian genocide issue, and the Kurdish issue as soon as possible, at least before Cheney comes here."