As the U.S. Cleanses Its Gallstones

Will anything be different now that WikiLeaks has revealed secret documents containing American diplomats’ views on, among everything else, the Turkish government during their service in Turkey? How will these leaks affect cooperation or disagreements between the two countries? I am sure everybody concerned about these matters needs some answers to similar questions right now. Let’s do some brainstorming, then.

Let me say, first of all, that the claims by the conspiracy-minded that the United States or Israel are behind these leaks are simply laughable. I have witnessed how the whole American diplomatic community has been bewildered and embarrassed by the leaks, as if they were stripped naked in front of a crowd of people. I would recommend the conspiracy-minded have a look at Abdulhamit Bilici’s brilliant column that appeared two days ago in Zaman. Do you think that those diplomats, who had communicated their ideas without any censure in line with the instructions they had received, can assume any official duties on any matter related to Turkey again? Would they not be ashamed to look their official counterparts and the public in the face? The U.S. is suffering from losing a group of Turkish diplomats, which it had invested so much on. This is a loss for Turkey too, by the way, because these diplomats will be replaced by less experienced ones. But I also tend to think that there might be a silver lining in this cloud; WikiLeaks also helped get rid of some prejudiced and impotent diplomats.

WikiLeaks’ revelations have also demonstrated that diplomats are, like everyone else, humans making mistakes. Like everybody else, they have unique information-processing styles, peculiar abilities to comprehend, and idiosyncratic ways of expressing themselves. They sometimes get heavily influenced by the events and people surrounding them and reflect their personal, national, ideological, religious and occupational forethoughts onto their analyses. At other times they confuse news with analysis. They feel the need to bring into line their views with whoever the ambassador is because the ambassador diplomatically ranks above them.

In this vein, WikiLeaks also proved how important the ambassador choice is. It would have been meaningless to expect more objective analyses from former American ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman and his staff, who obviously cold-shouldered the AKP for ideological reasons. But we have seen through the cables more analytical, and qualified comments during Ross Wilson and James Jeffrey’s terms as ambassadors in Turkey.

As revealed through the cables, prevailing suspicion against the Turkish government, the opposition party and overall Turkish political and societal culture, to the point of even disrespect at times, will certainly affect Turkish-American relations in the foreseeable future. They could exacerbate the already negative American image in Turkey. To save the day, U.S. officials have argued that those ideas were diplomats’ personal views and don’t necessarily reflect the official views. And Ankara pretended that they did not reflect what Washington actually thought, but Ankara noted down what has been said about them in those secret cables. This is why Davutoglu’s counterparts seemed apologetic and embarrassed during the formers’ recent visit. I actually would not be surprised if President Obama called Prime Minister Erdogan and apologized to him for what has happened.

The truth of the matter is, to us as close observers of the atmosphere in Washington for some time now, the ideas as expressed in the memos and secret communications did not come as a surprise. If we leave aside how right or wrong these thoughts are, we have heard or felt similar ideas in Washington as well. We have often written here that American diplomats would rather spend time with “White Turks,” and they have been exposed too much to the latter’s influence, which is a problem that Washington needs to address.

Because high ranking officials have been treating them nicely and not directing them much criticism face to face, the AKP government has not realized the extent to which Americans are disturbed by recent trends in Turkish foreign policy and partially by recent developments in Turkish politics. The AKP have thought that the problem remained contained in the lower ranks and particularly resulted from only certain isolated persons. Yet, they have missed that those persons have also been appointed by someone else, they were speaking on behalf of their bosses and they had only to act as the “bad cop.” It would, hence, be a grave underestimation of the ideas communicated in the cables, should the Turkish government tend to think that those views were only subjective ideas by a group of isolated diplomats. The views in Washington are not very much different either.

Turkey is not the only responsible party if the United States is somewhat disturbed over the last few months, though. As far as especially the Middle East is concerned, no doubt that American policies created more problems than they have solved. Turkey does not want to become part of the U.S.’ misguided Middle Eastern policies as if it is in Turkey’s “national interests.” Turkey is, therefore, trying to warn the U.S. while seeing the ability and power in itself to say “no” to the U.S. On the other hand, Turkey cannot further its national interests in its vicinity and the world by confronting the U.S. and its principal ally, Israel. It is exactly this point where Turkey needs to make some adjustments in its foreign policy. I think the Turkish government grasps the need for this better these days. Renormalizing relations with Israel and uplifting relations with the U.S. is now important for the Turkish government.

I hope both Ankara and Washington will glean important lessons from the WikiLeaks earthquake. These two countries need to learn how to better listen to each other, establish an official prejudice-free relationship, and increase the productivity of their dialogue. Things have still not settled since the end of the Cold War; the U.S. still suffers as it cleanses its gallstones, whereas Turkey has been searching for the right place for itself in the world. Mutual patience and understanding are in dire need these days.