Welcome Obama

It doesn’t take much to see that Turkey is in the priorities list of the new US administration, if the president is making his first overseas visit to Turkey, of all the other countries. There is no doubt about that.

The Obama administration doesn’t want to lose Turkey. It is trying to extend and improve their relationship. They are doing this for several reasons, none of which are secrets. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine, which are very close to Turkey, are in the ‘problematic region’ for the U.S. Russia is also close to this region. Energy transportation channels from the Caspian Sea all the way to the West are, again, in this region. Afghanistan is also in this region. And Turkey is in the heart of this important region.

Turkey is a Muslim country, and despite a number of shortcomings, it is secular and has democracy. It has a strong army. It is part of Europe. It is an ally of the U.S. and a member of NATO. It is also in the process of becoming a member of the European Union.

It appears that the U.S. is well aware that it will need Turkey to help in this ‘problematic region’. Therefore, the Obama administration has prioritized improving the relationship with Turkey. Most likely, generals like Richard Holbrooke, who have been emphasizing Turkey’s importance to the U.S. since the Clinton administration, have played a role in this prioritization.

A question comes to mind: wasn’t Turkey important for the U.S. during the Bush administration? Of course it was, but their arrogance, extreme moves and kidnapping Turkish soldiers in Middle East ‘by mistake’ had a very bad impact on the Turkish-American relationship. Most importantly, Bush administration and Turkey had different plans in mind for the Middle East. Bush was planning to invade Iran after Iraq and wasn’t comfortable with the dialogues between Turkey, Iran, Syrian and Hamas. But things have changed. Obama is planning to leave Iraq alone and seems to be more sensitive to Turkey’s concerns about PKK and issues in North Iraq. Obama is helping Iran, which means he will possibly be in good relationships with Syria and Hamas too.

During the Bush administration, cold winds were blowing between the U.S. and Russia. The fact that Turkey was improving its relationship with Russia was frowned upon in Washington. Obama is now not only working on improving the relationship with Russia, but also trying to change the arrogant attitude the Bush administration had towards Europe.

The need for global action to overcome the global financial crisis is accepted both in Washington and at the G20 gathering. In other words, Obama administration is getting ready to follow a completely different path than that of the Bush administration. The change in Washington is in favor of Turkey. Bringing peace in Middle East is not contradicting Turkey’s foreign politics.

To cut a long story short, if all goes well, Obama’s visit to Ankara will open a new chapter for Turkish-American relationship. It is also worthwhile to say that if the visit goes well, it will help Prime Minister Erdogan to strengthen the stability of his administration. However, in order to accomplish this, Erdogan needs to reinitiate the reformist efforst on the way to EU and as New York Times pointed out in yesterday’s issue, he should give up the bossy attitude he displayed in the case of the Dogan Media Group.