Turkey, US fine tune ties

After two years of problematic relations, Ankara and Washington have agreed to leave contentious issues behind and proceed with a common strategic vision. They will respect their "strategic partnership" and "nurture democracy in the backyard" to fight international terrorism and establish "sustainable stability."

The American-Turkish Council (ATC) annual conference in Washington was rather different this year as it provided an opportunity for top civilian and military leaders from Turkey and the United States to fine-tune relations. There was some tension in ties because a March 1, 2003, parliamentary veto did not allow the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to deliver on a pledge to let the United States open a second front through Turkey in the Iraq War.

The ATC gathering, organized jointly with the Turkish-U.S. Business Council (TUSBC), became a platform for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's number two military man Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug and other top officials to engage in some sort of public diplomacy. They soon found out the United States was more than ready to overcome the two-year chill -- if not a crisis of confidence -- in ties.

"We are friends, we must speak frankly" was a popular sentence Turks and Americans used during the conference. All problem areas, complaints and suspicions were raised and discussed.Open exchanges between Gen. Ilker Basbug and Gen. Peter Pace, current vice chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff but soon to become chairman, not only helped the two sides understand each other better but also created a suitable atmosphere of trust for future cooperation.

The framework of the new strategic vision, as described by Erdogan after his meeting in the Oval Office with President George W. Bush, is to jointly contribute to the spreading and consolidation of "freedom, democracy, rule of law, fight against terrorism, security and human rights" in a wide geography stretching from the Urals to North Africa, the so-called broader Middle East and North Africa project area.

The two countries will now "fill in" the instructions they receive from their political leadership and chart the action plans to be followed in the tough task of nurturing democracy in what is Turkey's backyard but has also become America's backyard since the Iraq War.

The first strong American message regarding this change for the better came during the ATC speech of Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who clearly told Turks that Ankara should "look beyond accession to the European Union and adopt a more global perspective.”

“Now, the European Union is clearly important to Turkey's future, but so are the countries of the broader Middle East,” said Zoellick, adding it is particularly important economically for Turkey “to recognize that it will be operating in a global environment.”

“So, at least my suggestion is that as Turkey moves forward, obviously it wants to have good relations with Europe and the United States, but it needs to have a 360-degree perspective.”

He cited the recently completed Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline as an example of the kind of role Turkey might play, adding that it “could be a major service provider in the region.”

Zoellick listed three sets of shared interests on which Turkey and the United States could cooperate: democratization in the broader Middle East, reconstruction in Iraq, and developments in the “broader Eurasian region.”

“So my hope is that as Turkey looks to its own future, the connections that it has with Europe, which are very important, need to be complemented by a global perspective. That's where the partnership with the United States becomes particularly valuable.” He continued by noting that the United States is “still a unique country in terms of its global reach … and the insights and relationships one builds, I hope, can be relevant to our partners as well.”Naturally, there was no word from Zoellick regarding Turkey's demand for U.S. action on the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) presence in northern Iraq, although other American officials explained in private that the real concern of Washington is, "Don't pull us into the PKK fight."

Countering those worries, Gen. Basbug told the Americans that although Turkey very much wanted the PKK to be totally eradicated, there were several combative and non-combative measures the United States could help with:

- Preventing political and ideological support to the PKK- Arresting its leaders and members- Prevention of recruiting by the gang- Eliminating their shelters- Elimination of command/control and communication structures.After a week of discussions between Abdullah Gul and Condoleezza Rice, and between Bush and Erdogan, the two nations now understand each other better on the PKK issue.

Basbug also made clear that Turkey shared identical positions with the United States regarding Iran and Syria, but underlined that diplomacy ought to be preferred to other means.''Iran has a theocratic regime. Of course, each country is free to choose its own regime. Besides the United States and other countries, Turkey has also been monitoring the nuclear activities of Iran. Turkey's Middle East policy envisages a region without nuclear weapons. We believe that the problem should be resolved peacefully. Turkey supports the initiatives of Britain, Germany and France to this end. Iran, with its nuclear ambitions, constitutes an important threat,'' Basbug said.

''Democratization in the Caucasus depends on Turkish-United States cooperation,'' he stressed, recalling the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project was developed with the support of the United States. Gen. Basbug said the pipeline would create great political and economic opportunities.

Cyprus, on the other hand, was an area where Bush and Erdogan had a much better understanding. Bush not only offered continued American support in Cyprus peace efforts, but instructed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to explore ways of launching direct flights between the United States and northern Cyprus -- a move that will ease the Greek Cypriot imposed economic and political isolation on the north.