The spin doctors immediately rallied round, explaining that the president was not intending to take up spears in a new holy war of Christendom against Islam but was using the word metaphorically to refer to a "broad cause" and one that was going to take some time. To its credit, the Bush administration was always aware of the dangers of giving its reaction to the World Trade Center attacks a racial or ethnic dimension. On the other hand, it showed poor dexterity in avoiding those dangers. If Osama bin Laden's strategy had been to provoke the United States into reckless acts, undermining its own rhetoric on human rights and fueling the indignation of the Islam-professing world, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.A Turkish proverb describes a delegation of wise men scratching their heads over how to retrieve a stone an idiot has thrown into a well. Has Barack Obama's visit to Turkey and his speech before the Turkish Parliament brought this accidental crusade to an end? He certainly thought he had to make the effort. The climax of his address was the declaration that "the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam," and he did succeed in prompting the po-faced deputies in the audience into applause. A crusade against Islam would be a war on himself, he suggested, and he won another round of approval when he announced that "many other Americans have Muslims in their family or have lived in a Muslim-majority country -- I know, because I am one of them."
The obvious point is that when the president of the United States addresses a high-powered audience, he is speaking to his own domestic audience and also to the world. It was no coincidence that he came all the way to Turkey to make his very public identification with Islam, he said at the very onset of his remarks. Was he intending to deliver a symbolic message by speaking in a Muslim-majority country that was wedded to the Western alliance, he asked. Of course, was his reply. And while Turkey might seem the obvious place to launch a drive for reconciliation, there are obvious risks involved. Turks felt deeply patronized by the previous American administration's attempt to brand them as user-friendly Muslims and to depict the Turkish government as an acceptable brand of moderate Islam. Mr. Obama skipped through this particular minefield with considerable aplomb. Turkey's value-added in the alliance, the foundation of its increasing soft power, was as a secular democratic republic and one capable of resolving problems present and problems rooted in the past.
Did the Obama charm work? It certainly worked on my local grocer -- a man who not only sells the morning papers but reviews their contents for me as well. I think I detected a bit of mist in his eye as he proudly displayed the headlines of Obama's speech, and this approval will almost certainly be echoed in the public opinion polls. I suspect his rating in Turkey will begin to match that back in America, which is hovering at around 65 percent. But of course, even the best intentions will take time to implement, and skepticism will not evaporate overnight.
Some time ago, I speculated that Turkey might have trouble adapting to a "nice guy" US president, having grown comfortable with one they held in great contempt. "Change" is not something Ankara believes in so much as something which challenges a comfortable status quo. By coming to Turkey so early in his presidency, Mr. Obama has executed a piece of flattery politicians will find awkward to rebuff. Forgive me the rare gloat that I predicted in my previous column that Mr. Obama would move on from İstanbul to a surprise visit to Iraq. If his reason for coming to Turkey was to declare the crusade was over, the next stop was to reassure the Iraqis that he would be taking the knights back home.
