Erdogan and Obama (Official White House Photo)
President Obama met Monday with visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, the two discussed Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The meeting concluded with the formation of the Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation, a new cabinet-level U.S.-Turkish partnership aimed at expanding bilateral trade and investment flows between the countries.
In addition to the Obama-Erdogan meeting, Turkey’s relations with Israel, European Union accession talks and constitutional court hearing on shutting down the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party have also been making news. Below are some articles analyzing the recent developments in and around Turkey.
For more on the U.S.-Turkey relationship see our September interview with Congressman Robert Wexler and July interview with Ambassador Marc Grossman.
Turkey’s Transformers
by Henri Barkey, visiting scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Morton Abramowitz, senior fellow, Century Foundation, and former U.S. ambassador to Turkey (Foreign Affairs)
Turkey has never before had a foreign minister with the drive, vigor, and vision of Ahmet Davutoglu. … He has set forth an ambitious policy advocating “zero problems with neighbors.” … The aim is to turn Turkey from a “central,” or regional, power into a global one in the new international order. Implicitly, this is also a project to demonstrate to the world that a Muslim country can be a constructive democratic member of the international community. More explicit is Turkey’s ambition to better deal with the Muslim nations of the Middle East and beyond, whether friends or foes of the West.
Turkey has become a far more complex country than it once was. Washington should not assume it knows it. The endless rhetoric about the “strategic” closeness between Turkey and the United States cannot substitute for concrete policy. …
The West should not act as if Turkey is moving in the right direction in all respects, but it can help keep Turkey on track to becoming a tolerant liberal democracy. Turkey’s leaders, for their part, must not think that they can expand the country’s influence without first having a firm footing in the West. Without a successful reform effort, Turkey will continue to be just an aspirant to grandeur. Access the full article>>
Turkey and the West: Testy Erdogan
by The Economist
Mr. Erdogan’s enemies claim that AK’s moves to trim the army’s powers are not to do with its European Union aspirations but with a desire to cement religious rule. The Ergenekon case against alleged coup-plotters was, they argue, cooked up as part of this plan. … Mr. Erdogan undoubtedly has autocratic instincts. He has taken journalists and even cartoonists to court. His embrace of Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir, charged with war crimes against his own people, was a disgrace. And he favors a somewhat greater role for Islam in public life. But he seems committed to Turkey’s EU accession process, even to pursuing liberalizing reforms in Turkey if its EU hopes are dashed. He wants to resolve Turkey’s problems with its Kurds. And he is pursuing reconciliation with Armenia. These are hardly signs of a shift from the West.
And what of his opponents? Deniz Baykal, the leader of the Republican People’s Party, spends most of his time attacking laws that could help Turkey’s bid for EU membership. Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the main nationalist party, said that “swine flu doesn’t exist,” though it has killed almost 200 Turks. As for the army, incriminating documents that were seized during an investigation show that a group was indeed hoping to topple Mr. Erdogan by, among other things, assassinating Christians and placing the blame on AK. Access the full article>>
Mixed Messages From Jerusalem
by Herb Keinon (The Jerusalem Post)
Within the span of 18 hours on Sunday and Monday, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu gave diametrically different answers to the question of whether Israel preferred French or Turkish mediation.
Ayalon met Sunday with a delegation of leading journalists and academics brought over by the American Jewish Committee, and said … “relations between the two nations were back on track and as good as ever despite the recent harsh rhetoric.” … Ayalon called on the Syrians to meet Israel face to face and without third party mediation. … “However, if in the future we make progress with the Syrians and we will seek assistance from a third party, Turkey will be the first nation we will turn to,” he said. So there it is, Israel prefers Turkey …or not.
Netanyahu … met the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday and made clear that he preferred the French connection. … “I spoke to Sarkozy, who told me that Turkey’s position was a withdrawal to the 1967 lines,” Netanyahu said. “Sarkozy also spoke about the Turkish mediation,” which the Syrians were suggesting. “I replied that we are interested in direct negotiations, and that if we were already discussing a mediator, I would prefer them [the French].” Access the full article>>
Turkish Forces Foil Hezbollah Attack on Israeli Target
by Avi Issacharoff (Haaretz)
Turkish forces have prevented a Hezbollah attack on an undisclosed Israeli target in the country, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon said. Ayalon thanked Turkey earlier this week for the successful operation and for its cooperation in meeting with Turkish journalists.
According to defense sources, the attack was meant to avenge the killing of senior Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyeh—who died in a car bombing in Damascus in February 2008. The organization sees Israel as responsible for the assassination. Access the full article>>
