The Turkish view: Nobel goes to hopes, not actions

Obama managed to reverse, though only to a certain extent, the widespread anti-US feelings among the Turkish public when he made his first foreign bilateral visit to Turkey in April, a charm offensive which included top-level talks on the Middle East with government officials and an address to Parliament, as well as a visit to İstanbul's famed Blue Mosque and a lengthy meeting with Turkish youth. The visit convinced the Turks that Obama is not his predecessor, George W. Bush, who had record-low popularity rates in Turkey, but most remained skeptical over whether he would live up to his promises for change.

“This award is not for what Obama has done,” Onur Öymen, a deputy chairman of Turkey's main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), told Today's Zaman. “This award is for what he is expected to do; it is for hope and for expectations of change. The world has huge expectations of him.”

Asked what actions he has actually taken so far that could have made him a nominee for the Nobel, Öymen cited his attempts to close down the Guantanamo prison and his positive messages for dialogue with the Muslim world.

The Norwegian Nobel committee's decision is likely to please the Turkish government, which is working in tandem with the US administration in its efforts to normalize relations with neighboring Armenia. The Obama administration has also taken up a positive stance toward Turkish initiatives to strengthen dialogue with Syria, Iran and Palestinian groups, including the radical Hamas -- actions that were criticized by the previous administration.

“We certainly welcome that the leader of a country which we view as our ally was given the Nobel Peace Prize, particularly given the fact that he paid one of his first trips overseas to Turkey,” said a Foreign Ministry official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The Nobel Peace Prize for Obama may indirectly bolster Turkey's negotiating powers in talks with Armenia or in efforts to resolve the Cyprus dispute, two objectives supported by the Obama administration, according to Özdem Sanberk, a former foreign minister and an esteemed foreign policy analyst.

“It is obvious that it is Armenia and the Greek Cypriots who are less enthusiastic about resolving the disputes. The Nobel Peace Prize award for Obama indirectly supports efforts to solve the Cyprus problem and achieve Turkish-Armenian reconciliation because Obama clearly supports both goals,” Sanberk said, noting that the Nobel committee's decision will increase pressure on Greek Cyprus and Armenia if they reject a settlement. “Those who oppose a solution will have to know that they do so at the expense of confronting a US president whose commitment to peace was honored by the Nobel committee,” he added.

The Nobel Peace Prize is itself a message that the international community wants peace and that it supports the new US administration in its efforts to reverse those Bush-era policies that hardly promoted peace, according to Sanberk. “This award is an encouragement for US diplomats working for the peaceful resolution of the Iran nuclear dispute or for settlement in the Middle East,” he said.

What has he done?

But criticism over the choice of Obama for the prestigious peace prize, expressed most widely in the Middle East, was echoed in Turkey, too. “I don't think it was an unusual decision to choose Obama for the prize since this is a message of support for what Obama promised to do. But I can't say that criticism which points to the fact that he has actually done nothing to deserve it is completely wrong,” Mehmet Altan, the chief columnist for the Star daily, said.

“What has he done? Has he brought peace to Afghanistan or Palestine? Has he resolved the Cyprus problem or the [outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party] PKK threat?” asked Hüsnü Mahalli, a columnist from the Akşam daily with a Syrian background. “He does not give any hope at all, and he has done nothing. Those who pin hopes on him will be sorely disappointed,” he said.