Turkish expert: Obama should support efforts of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia

PanARMENIAN.Net - During the Bush presidency, the relations between Turkey and U.S. were severely damaged, a Turkish professor said.



"The Washington administration has an immense responsibility in this case. Turkey gave full support to the U.S. combat against terror," the director of the Ankara-based Turkish think tank USAK Association, Prof. Sedat Laciner said.



"In this regard, Ankara sent Turkish soldiers to Afghanistan and acted in accordance with its Western allies in order to capture the militants of Al-Qaeda in Turkey or anywhere. Meanwhile, Turkey undertook a constructive role in the Middle East problems. However, when the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) rejected the U.S. request to base US troops in Turkey for an assault on Iraq on March 1, 2003, the U.S. policy toward Turkey was completely changed. As a result, Washington started to implement a punishment strategy against Turkey."



He emphasized that many people in Turkey even stated that the U.S. supported PKK terrorism. "During this period, Turkish public opinion showed a strong and unprecedented reaction against the U.S. approach to PKK terrorism and the Kurdish issue. Almost every political group in Turkey thinks that the U.S. was not candid about the PKK terrorism. In this context, the terrorism problem still remains the most important issue between the two countries," he said.



This mistakes which occurred during the Bush administration would definitely pave the way to further problems in the upcoming years, according to prof. Laciner.



"Unfortunately, some people in Washington think that Turkish society can forget the bad things easily. Yet, this is not a true analysis. One of the most significant reasons for the Turkish parliament's rejection of the 1 March Bill was the repercussions from the two countries' previous run-ins. The Turkish intellectuals, bureaucrats, media, experts, and even laymen do not forget the U.S. biased behaviors regarding the 1964 Johnson Letter, the U.S. arms embargo on Turkey respecting Cyprus, and pro-Greek stance of the US in many occasions and the Armenian issue," he said.



In discussing the steps the new administration should take to improve the situation, prof. Laciner said, "First of all, the new president must give full support to Turkey about combating terrorism via a strong message. Although Iraq has been kept under the control of the US for about six years, up to now, the U.S. military forces has not caught or arrested or judged any PKK terrorist. The PKK became stronger under the U.S. occupation rule. In the following days, if the Obama administration could make a contribution by apprehending a famous name from the PKK, it would positively affect the U.S. image in the eyes of Turkish people. The U.S. should do something in the PKK issue really important valuable to the Turkish people because the people here see the U.S. somehow responsible for the increasing PKK terror."



"Secondly, Obama must not act in line with the desires of the ultra-nationalist Armenian Diaspora. The U.S. should keep its impartiality in the issue. While a historical dialogue process has been launched between Ankara and Yerevan, any radical expressions from Obama could damage this process. Obama should concentrate on today's problems rather than historical Armenian claims and support the efforts of rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia. He should not be emotional but realist. The only aim should be to establish Turkish-Armenian friendship on mutual interests of U.S., Armenia and Turkey."



"Third, the EU membership of Turkey is of vital importance in terms of the peace in the Middle East and the relations between the West and the East. In conjunction with the full membership of Turkey, the EU would have a Muslim member country for the first time. Becoming an equal and strong member of the EU, Turkey can make significant contributions to the stability and development of the Middle East and greater East," he resumed, The Journal of Turkish Weekly reports.