BY ASLI AYDINTASBAS
SABAH- There’s been a serious change in Turkish-US relations and the atmosphere in Washington. Let’s look at what Turkey might want in altering its 50-year ‘strategic partnership’ with the US. We can begin our analysis with the fact that for three months now, US Ambassador to Ankara Eric Edelman’s request for an appointment with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has gone unanswered. This is completely unprecedented. Egeman Bagis, a foreign policy advisor to Erdogan, is in Washington, and another advisor, Cuneyt Zapsu, is also on the way there. State Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin just got back from a Stateside visit.
Yesterday I talked to both Turkish and US officials about the strained state of relations. One high-ranking US official began by joking, ‘We’re happy to have united the right and left wings.’ Anti-US feeling has become a common feeling among rightists, leftists, Islamist and nationalists. Over the weekend, some newspapers criticized Edelman for calling Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos ‘ecumenical.’ The US official continued: ‘Turkey is rapidly losing its friends in Washington. I don’t know whether they’re doing this on purpose or because they can’t manage crises.’ On its road to the EU, Ankara, on the other hand, is continuing its relations with the US as a ‘cold marriage,’ and wants Washington to keep off this road. US Secretary of State Colin Powell will ask his Turkish counterpart whether Ankara needs Washington’s help for next week’s pivotal EU summit. What the Americans have in mind is the telephone diplomacy made before the 1999 Helsinki summit. But Ankara is leaning towards saying, ‘no, thanks.’ The same US official said that Turkish-US relations aren’t distant from Europe, and added ‘The government struck a balance between us and the EU, but now if it’s looking just to please France, that’s something else. However Turkey’s natural place in Europe is among countries resisting the Franco-German axis. Those countries have close relations with the Washington.’ State Minister Sahin also had important meetings in the EU. ‘Neither we nor the US has the right to destroy such a longstanding relationship,’ he said.
The same US official said, ‘The Turks think we don’t have domestic political problems, but there are three communities in Washington interested in relations with Turkey. Relations with the Jewish lobby are not good, and the US Greek community is disappointed about the ‘ecumenical’ crisis. The last group is the Armenian lobby, which has its own line. The current atmosphere is a real nightmare for us’.