Erdogan has to answer question on Armenian-Turkish Protocols' ratification in Washington

PanARMENIAN.Net - In anticipation of the Turkish Prime Minister's visit to Washington, the Turkish Hurriyet Daily News newspaper published an article, which lists the questions Recep Tayyip Erdogan  must answer at the meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama.



The first question "What will you do about Iran?" concerns the Turkish-Iranian relations.

"Even Turkish-American dialog on Iran gave quite positive results. There is no policy issue between Turkey and the United States. But will this last long? Could this be changed? We'll wait and see … The situation in Iran changes quickly … The United Nations Security Council may seek resolutions to apply sanctions on Iran. And on the subject, there is a potential disagreement between Turkey and the United States over Iran policies. In the next one or two years, the Iranian issue will be one of the most critical tests for Turkey and the United States in foreign policy to see whether they have a common ground for understanding," the article writes.



The second question relates to protocols signed with Armenia on normalization of Armenia-Turkey relation. "The Obama administration will have significant interest in ratification and implementation of the protocols signed between Turkey and Armenia. The protocols were welcomed in the United States as they were consistent with U.S. interests. We will bring the issue (ratification of the protocols) to the Armenian agenda. We want to see what is going to happen. He will probably say to Erdoğan "Look, you did a good job with the protocols but now you should put them into action," HDN writes.



The third question is likely to relate the relations of Turkey with Israel. The author of the article writes: "My personal opinion is that deterioration in Turkish-Israeli relations was the product of predictable bigger impulses ... Change in Turkish public opinion, change in strategic relations with Syria, all these … Conditions are not the same as in the 1990s. So, I don't think that the change in Turkey's relations with Israel was a big surprise for the United States. American leadership will rather want to know how long the decline will last. I think Mr. Obama, in order to have a better understanding of what will happen next, is really curious about what Prime Minister Erdoğan will say on the subject."



HDN suggests that Erdogan must also answer the fourth question about a deployment of a missile defense system on the territory of Turkey.



"After the idea of deploying the system in the Czech Republic and Poland, a new round of discussions about missile defense system agreements may take place. Mainly a sea-based system in the Mediterranean is being considered. But in the future, some elements of the system may be deployed on the shore. This is a possibility. So, the Obama administration may be interested in learning the Turkish opinion on the issue. On the other side of the Atlantic, many questions are being asked about "new tendencies" in Turkish foreign politics. Next Monday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will visit Washington. It is not difficult to see that he would be directly asked these questions; even one-on-one talks would be shaped around these "unknowns," concluded Turkish Hurriyet Daily News newspaper.