Turkish - US relations

BY M. ALI KISLALI
RADIKAL- As you know, in March 2003 our Parliament rejected a motion for the deployment of US soldiers in Turkey for the imminent invasion of Iraq. At that time, certain colleagues of mine thought that Turkish-US relations had collapsed, with the US losing its respect for us. They thought the US would establish bases in Iraq and wouldn’t need us anymore. Then the US deputy defense secretary criticized Turkey, and the General Staff was blamed. Turkey was asked to apologize. At that time, Washington thought Ankara should come to its senses and heed its warnings. Then US forces in Iraq detained eleven Turkish soldiers in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq and put sacks on their heads. Since then, the Turkish public has been a strong enmity against the US. Reevaluating the situation, Washington thought that this atmosphere should be ended because Turkey still looms large in US plans.
I’ve been following Turkish-US relations since the 1950s, and nobody can claim that I’m an enemy of Washington. Certain journalists and politicians almost apologized during the US campaign to woo Turkey. They reminded us that the US delivered PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to Turkey and argued that the US could accept Turkey as a strategic partner again. They also mentioned how the US secretary of state’s recent visit relieved us concerning the Iraq issue. Former US Ambassador to Turkey Marc Grossman once said, ‘Relations with Turkey are too mature for certain disagreements to linger. There might be differences of approach between friends, but the important thing is to remember that we’re still friends.’ A colleague of mine who reports from Washington said Turkey’s mistakes in the past could be forgotten and that the old atmosphere of a ‘reliable friend’ could be regained. Can the US missteps on Turkey be rectified only through the efforts of recent weeks? It seems this won’t be easy. As certain journalists can’t consider the issue from a broad perspective, there are two obstacles, even if they try to spread a positive atmosphere. One of them is the existence of such institutions as the Foreign Ministry and the General Staff, which can evaluate past incidents with records on hand. The other is the discomfort of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) conservative grassroots over US policy in Iraq. Turkish officials believe that the Turkish-US relations cover a wide area embracing mutual interests. At this point, it seems harder to solve the problems in our relationship. The urgent problems of both Turkey and the US are clear. Mustn’t we strive to balance our relations, instead of acting carelessly just because the US helped us? If we could negotiate with the US over the last half-century, we should be able to do this too.