STAR- Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli writes on United States Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfotitz's recent visit to Turkey. A summary of her column is as follows:
'We have arrived in Turkey in the midst of an extremely unstable period.' This remark belongs to United States Deputy Defense Minister Paul Wolfowitz, who recently paid an official visit to Turkey. This was Wolfowitz's only public acknowledgement of an atmosphere of uncertainty recently dominating Turkey's political arena in the wake of resignations and defections from Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit's Democratic Left Party (DSP). Despite Wolfowitz's evident lack of interest in domestic politics, Turkish politicians conveyed many messages to him concerning the recent developments, and one of the most significant messages came from Prime Minister Ecevit himself. The premier told Wolfowitz of possible adverse consequences of a US intervention against Saddam Hussein on the Turkish economy and domestic political scene. Although Ecevit did not expand on these remarks, political circles close to him spelled out for Wolfowitz what this meant in detail: 'Conservative circles in Turkey would oppose such an operation which is not supported by the Arab countries. If public opposition is aroused against the US operation, this would automatically boost the electoral base of radical Islamist groups.' As a matter of fact, Wolfowitz took pains to stress at Ankara's Esenboga Airport just before he departed that Turkey was a model country for Islamic nations worldwide. This remark was evaluated by Turkey's political circles as Wolfowitz wanting to show that he received Ecevit's message loud and clear. During his visit, Wolfowitz praised Ecevit's performance as a prime minister, in an apparent attempt to quash speculation that the US supported the new formation being put together by former Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and former Deputy Prime Minister Husamettin Ozkan. 'We are very happy to see that the prime minister and his government are still in charge during a period of political instability and uncertainty,' said Wolfowitz. 'We appreciated the prime minister allotting so much time for us in the midst of such a period. I'm very impressed by his views, which he put forward very clearly.' These remarks signaled that the US is continuing to support the ailing prime minister, who is currently engaged in a life-and-death struggle in the political arena. I wonder what the members of the new formation think about this?
SOURCE: OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF PRESS AND INFORMATION