Although Turkey and the US are deemed to be strategic allies, their relations have gone through several crises over the past several years, starting with Turkey’s rejection of a motion in March 2003 that would have allowed the deployment of US troops in Turkey during the Iraq war and deteriorated when dozens of US soldiers raided an office in an Iraqi city used by the Turkish Special Forces and took 11 Turkish soldiers into custody over allegations that they were planning to assassinate the governor of Kirkuk. The soldiers were led out of their headquarters at gunpoint with hoods over their heads, which dramatically increased anti-American sentiment in Turkey. In addition, allegations that the US was supplying the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) with weapons in northern Iraq certainly added more salt to the wound of the already crumbling relations with the US, changing course only when Washington provided Turkey with actionable intelligence and opened Iraqi airspace for a Turkish incursion to hit PKK camps as pledged by President Bush in a White House meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last November. With President Gül’s US visit, a further improvement in relations seems to be on the horizon.Milliyet columnist Semih İdiz agrees that Gül’s visit should be evaluated as a continuation of momentum that has recently been maintained in Turkish-US relations. Referring to an earlier statement from the White House which noted that not only the PKK issue but also other regional and global issues would be handled by the leaders, İdiz finds it significant that this meeting is taking place prior to Bush’s Middle East trip. In this respect, he thinks the leaders will inevitably discuss a wide array of subjects such as the Middle East conflict, the status of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Iran, and the emerging division between the Kurds and Shiites. According to İdiz, Bush, who knows that Gül had talks with all political leaders in Pakistan before the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, might ask Gül about his impressions of the country. “When subjects that interest both countries are taken into consideration, it is more easily understood why there are such intense efforts to return Turkish-US relations to a strategic level once again,” he comments.
Yeni Şafak’s Taha Kıvanç counters some remarks circulating in the Turkish media that downplay Gül’s US visit after an American newspaper, The Washington Times, termed it “a fast food trip.” Relying on his experience as a journalist who has covered the Washington visits of Turkish politicians for many years, he says, “Even though some of these meetings have been very brief and others extended, each of them has produced significant results. No one goes to Washington without reason, and Washington does not invite anyone without a reason. When two leaders come together, they naturally seek ways to improve relations further,” explains Kıvanç, suggesting a positive outcome from this meeting.
Radikal’s Murat Yetkin claims that the Turkish government’s effective cooperation with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in the fight against the PKK might have led the US administration to engage in extensive cooperation with Turkey, as seen with Gül’s visit. He thinks this factor might have played an important role in Washington siding with Turkey instead of the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq and its choosing Turkey as its energy partner as well. According to Yetkin the July 22 general elections and Gül’s election as president as well as the government-military cooperation in the most strategic subject -- the fight against the PKK -- are the main developments that have boosted Washington’s expectations for stronger cooperation with Turkey, for which steps will be taken during Gül’s visit, he thinks.
