Why Did Obama Call Turkey?

The Middle East is in turmoil.

And while the region is transformed, Israel-Turkish relations are also no longer the same. And because of its relations with Iran, the West’s eyes are on Turkey.

Also, U.S. public opinion has taken notice of the latest detainments of journalists in the Ergenekon case.

It’s in this climate that I find myself in Washington with Egemen Bagis, the lead E.U. negotiator for Turkey and the minister of state. In official foreign affairs documents we write Washington as “Vasington.” Here the nights are cold, the mornings are calm and the afternoons are hot. Evenings are redolent of springtime. This mercurial weather reminds me of the U.S.-Turkey relationship.

I ask Bagis to comment on U.S.-Turkish relations during his short visit. Bagis responds that “we are doing well. We aren’t in the pocket of the U.S. anymore — now we interact as two sovereign nations. Sometimes we agree, sometimes we don’t. After all, Turkey is a stable country with lots of regional influence. For this reason, President Obama has called the prime minister five or six times since the crisis broke out in the Middle East. They didn’t call anyone else; they called Turkey. This means they see how strong we are; they see our influence and they respect it.”

I then ask Bagis, who knows the U.S. well, whether he thinks the U.S. view of the AK Party has changed since 2002. He recalls that, “at first there was some suspicion. The U.S. seemed to wonder ‘who are these guys? And what are they going to do to Turkey?’ But over the past nine years, Turkey has become a very modern country. It has developed a lot and made some real progress in chronic domestic issues. And we did this despite threats of a coup d’etat from the reactionary segments in Turkey. I think the U.S. can see this. But we still need to explain ourselves better.”

So Bagis is setting out to articulate the “New Turkey” to the United States. But at the same time he is going to have to answer for the detainment of journalists in Turkey. I’ll be watching with great interest …