BY FERAI TINC
HURRIYET- Analyses of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to the US earlier this month continue to come in. Ian Lesser has been an influential figure in US foreign policy since the 1990s. He focuses on the Middle East, Turkey and international security at the German Marshall Fund. In an article about Erdogan's visit, Lesser makes interesting conjectures about the future of Turkish-US relations. 'Both sides are likely to have come away convinced that some potentially difficult issues have been managed,' he wrote. 'Yet, the visit did little to bridge substantial differences in perception and approach on key issues, above all, Iran, the Palestinian issue, and the complex of disputes in the Caucasus.'
'Model partnership' is a concept developed to replace the US' post-9/11 'model country' idea under its Greater Middle East Initiative. The idea that Turkey is a model for Muslim countries led to much debate and was rejected by many. In contrast, the model partnership concept has won widespread approval, as Erdogan showed by his references to it in Washington. On the concept, Lesser wrote, 'Presumably, it is meant to suggest that the range and character of cooperation, rather than the nature of the Turkish system itself, is the real measure of why Turkey matters.' He added, 'It might also suggest a more flexible standard of cooperation than the harder-edged notion of "strategic" partnership.' The model partnership will be determined by Turkey's cooperation with Washington on regional issues. It will also be tested when Turkey faces certain hurdles next year, including new sanctions on Iran, the Palestinian issue, and relations with Armenia.
Lesser warned that the last issue might cause friction between Washington and Ankara. He wrote, 'The (Obama) administration pressed Turkey to complete the process of normalization envisioned in recent Turkish-Armenian accords. But the ratification of these accords by the Turkish Parliament is hardly assured, and Ankara is inclined to link their implementation to movement on the long-running Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. Washington, strongly convinced of the wider regional value of an open border between Turkey and Armenia, prefers to decouple these issues. Failure to implement the accords could easily spell new friction in Turkish-American relations, and the Erdogan visit appears to have produced no new commitments on this score.' So Washington places more importance on the Armenian initiative than the government's democratic initiative. Turkey is going through a difficult time, both inside and out. Actually, these two have never been separate. I'm not saying this because I'm pessimistic, but in order to wake up the Alices who bury their heads in the Wonderland that they create in their minds.