Turkey, US relations hit new rough spot
posted March 21, 2005, updated 12:00 p.m.
Turkey, US relations hit new rough spot
Series of recent events put two allies on the defensive.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
In just a little over a weekend, the relations between the US and one of its major allies in the Middle East region have gone from bad to worse.
On Friday, the Turkish government said it supported the plans of the Turkish president to visit Syria in early April, despite the US warning that he should not go. On Saturday, the US ambassador to Turkey resigned, following a tumultuous two-year appointment. And on Sunday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that by "blocking" US efforts to get into Iraq from the north two years ago, Turkey had allowed the insurgency there to "flourish."
The Turkish Daily News reported Friday that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan backed President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's decision to visit Syria in a few weeks. Mr. Sezer's visit comes after last year's visit to Ankara by Syrian President Bashir Assad. "The president has made the right decision," Mr. Erdogan told reporters.
Earlier in the week, US Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman called on Turkey to "join an international coalition concerning Syria." But Mr. Edelman's comments were not well-received in the Turkish press, which opined that he was trying to force Sezer not to go, and "meddling in Turkish domestic politics." One columnist accused him of acting "more like a colonial governor than an ambassador." A well-known Turkish newspaper reportedly collected several thousand signatures calling for Edelman to be expelled from the country.
The US State Department in Washington later said that the visit was "a decision between the Turks and the Syrians" but hoped that Turkey would ask Syria to remove its troops from Lebanon.
Then later on Friday, the Arab Times of Kuwait reported that Edelman handed in his resignation. The State Department said that Edelman "is leaving Turkey on positive, friendly, cooperative terms." The same spokesman, reported the Associated Press, "declined to comment on Turkish reports that the ambassador would take a position in the Pentagon."
During a trip to the country earlier this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly instructed Edelman to do more to calm anti-Americanism in the Turkish media.
Many Turks are deeply suspicious over US intentions in northern Iraq, where Kurds control an autonomous area. Turkey fears that Iraqi Kurds could push for independence, which could inspire Kurds in Turkey. Kurdish rebels have been battling the Turkish army since 1984, a fight that has left some 37,000 dead.
A US official who talked to the Turkish newspaper Zaman accused the Turkish media of "distorting Edelmen's remarks regarding the Syrian issue and created a superficial debate over it."
Then on Sunday, The New York Times reports, Mr. Rumsfeld, in two separate interviews with US broadcast media, said it was Turkey's fault that the Iraq insurgency had lasted as long as it had.
"Given the level of the insurgency today, two years later, clearly, if we had been able to get the Fourth Infantry Division in from the north through Turkey, more of the Iraqi Saddam Hussein Baathist regime would have been captured or killed," he said on Fox News Sunday.
As the invasion neared, the heavily armored units of the division and its support elements were in ships off Turkey, ready to create a battlefield vise to squeeze adversaries with the larger Army and Marine Corps force entering Iraq from Kuwait to the south. Had that happened, "the insurgency today would be less," Mr. Rumsfeld added.
When asked if perhaps he should have sent more troops into Iraq in the beginning in order to better secure and protect the country after the invasion, Rumsfeld said more US troops would have created an image of "occupation" rather than "liberation."
Earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported that the US may withdraw its offer of a $1 billion loan to Ankara because "Turkey doesn't need the money." The loan was offered "as compensation for the damage its economy suffered from the war in neighboring Iraq."
Turkey told the US it won't require the financial support after agreeing in principle on a new $10 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the Treasury said in an e-mailed statement today. The US House Appropriations Committee is discussing alternative ways to spend the money, the Ankara-based Treasury said.
In a survey of 1,200 Turks done in February by the International Strategic Research Organization’s, less than 1 percent said they supported US President George Bush's "global policies," while 91 percent said they disapproved. Former US President Bill Clinton, however, did better than his successor with those surveyed - 41 percent said they approved of his global polices when he was in office. Meanwhile, 74 percent of those surveyed said they see the US as an ally, and only 4 percent said they "hate Americans."
The Anadolu News Agency reports that Justice and Development Party (AKP) Istanbul Deputy Egemen Bagis says that the anti-US feelings in Turkey stem from the "US's attitude regarding the terrorist organization Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)." Mr. Bagis said that the government in Turkey is "uncomfortable with the freedom of movement of PKK members in Northern Iraq. Of course, we are also not pleased with the demographic waves in Kerkuk (Kirkuk)."
The KurdistanObserver.com alleged in a report last week that Turkey sent more than 1,500 commandos and undercover operatives in February into northern Iraq to destablize the region and to "protect Kirkuk from falling under the direct rule of Kurds and naturalize Kurdish modernism in case of an abrupt partition."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0321/dailyUpdate.html
Turkey, US relations hit new rough spot
Series of recent events put two allies on the defensive.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
In just a little over a weekend, the relations between the US and one of its major allies in the Middle East region have gone from bad to worse.
On Friday, the Turkish government said it supported the plans of the Turkish president to visit Syria in early April, despite the US warning that he should not go. On Saturday, the US ambassador to Turkey resigned, following a tumultuous two-year appointment. And on Sunday, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that by "blocking" US efforts to get into Iraq from the north two years ago, Turkey had allowed the insurgency there to "flourish."
The Turkish Daily News reported Friday that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan backed President Ahmet Necdet Sezer's decision to visit Syria in a few weeks. Mr. Sezer's visit comes after last year's visit to Ankara by Syrian President Bashir Assad. "The president has made the right decision," Mr. Erdogan told reporters.
Earlier in the week, US Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman called on Turkey to "join an international coalition concerning Syria." But Mr. Edelman's comments were not well-received in the Turkish press, which opined that he was trying to force Sezer not to go, and "meddling in Turkish domestic politics." One columnist accused him of acting "more like a colonial governor than an ambassador." A well-known Turkish newspaper reportedly collected several thousand signatures calling for Edelman to be expelled from the country.
The US State Department in Washington later said that the visit was "a decision between the Turks and the Syrians" but hoped that Turkey would ask Syria to remove its troops from Lebanon.
Then later on Friday, the Arab Times of Kuwait reported that Edelman handed in his resignation. The State Department said that Edelman "is leaving Turkey on positive, friendly, cooperative terms." The same spokesman, reported the Associated Press, "declined to comment on Turkish reports that the ambassador would take a position in the Pentagon."
During a trip to the country earlier this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reportedly instructed Edelman to do more to calm anti-Americanism in the Turkish media.
Many Turks are deeply suspicious over US intentions in northern Iraq, where Kurds control an autonomous area. Turkey fears that Iraqi Kurds could push for independence, which could inspire Kurds in Turkey. Kurdish rebels have been battling the Turkish army since 1984, a fight that has left some 37,000 dead.
A US official who talked to the Turkish newspaper Zaman accused the Turkish media of "distorting Edelmen's remarks regarding the Syrian issue and created a superficial debate over it."
Then on Sunday, The New York Times reports, Mr. Rumsfeld, in two separate interviews with US broadcast media, said it was Turkey's fault that the Iraq insurgency had lasted as long as it had.
"Given the level of the insurgency today, two years later, clearly, if we had been able to get the Fourth Infantry Division in from the north through Turkey, more of the Iraqi Saddam Hussein Baathist regime would have been captured or killed," he said on Fox News Sunday.
As the invasion neared, the heavily armored units of the division and its support elements were in ships off Turkey, ready to create a battlefield vise to squeeze adversaries with the larger Army and Marine Corps force entering Iraq from Kuwait to the south. Had that happened, "the insurgency today would be less," Mr. Rumsfeld added.
When asked if perhaps he should have sent more troops into Iraq in the beginning in order to better secure and protect the country after the invasion, Rumsfeld said more US troops would have created an image of "occupation" rather than "liberation."
Earlier this month, Bloomberg News reported that the US may withdraw its offer of a $1 billion loan to Ankara because "Turkey doesn't need the money." The loan was offered "as compensation for the damage its economy suffered from the war in neighboring Iraq."
Turkey told the US it won't require the financial support after agreeing in principle on a new $10 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, the Treasury said in an e-mailed statement today. The US House Appropriations Committee is discussing alternative ways to spend the money, the Ankara-based Treasury said.
In a survey of 1,200 Turks done in February by the International Strategic Research Organization’s, less than 1 percent said they supported US President George Bush's "global policies," while 91 percent said they disapproved. Former US President Bill Clinton, however, did better than his successor with those surveyed - 41 percent said they approved of his global polices when he was in office. Meanwhile, 74 percent of those surveyed said they see the US as an ally, and only 4 percent said they "hate Americans."
The Anadolu News Agency reports that Justice and Development Party (AKP) Istanbul Deputy Egemen Bagis says that the anti-US feelings in Turkey stem from the "US's attitude regarding the terrorist organization Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK)." Mr. Bagis said that the government in Turkey is "uncomfortable with the freedom of movement of PKK members in Northern Iraq. Of course, we are also not pleased with the demographic waves in Kerkuk (Kirkuk)."
The KurdistanObserver.com alleged in a report last week that Turkey sent more than 1,500 commandos and undercover operatives in February into northern Iraq to destablize the region and to "protect Kirkuk from falling under the direct rule of Kurds and naturalize Kurdish modernism in case of an abrupt partition."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0321/dailyUpdate.html
posted by JimG at 11:48 AM
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