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Turkey to launch lobbying campaign in US Congress
The decision to reach out to Congress came after a series of talks between a Turkish delegation and senior US administration officials in Washington earlier this week. Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu and Deputy Undersecretaries Tacan İldem and Selim Yenel met with US officials, including Undersecretary for Political Affairs William Burns, National Security Council Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy and Special Envoy of the Secretary of State for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar.
The meetings covered every single issue on the agenda of Turkish-US relations, ranging from energy to Afghanistan and Turkish-Israeli relations, and were an opportunity to convey a first-hand account of Ankara’s position on each of these chapters, Foreign Ministry officials said on Friday. There are differences of opinion and method regarding Iran’s nuclear program and Turkish-Israeli ties, the officials said, while the two countries’ opinions converge on Iraq and Afghanistan. The two countries agreed during this week’s talks that there should be more contacts between the Turkish and US administrations to eliminate some of the misunderstandings, particularly regarding Iran.
President Abdullah Gül and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who will both be in the United States next month to attend UN General Assembly meetings, will also have talks with US officials.
Turkey’s credibility has weakened the most in the US Congress, where the Jewish lobby wields significant influence in both houses. It recently emerged that President Barack Obama warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that Turkey may not get some of the weapons it seeks to buy from the US given the negative views about Turkey in the Congress.
In addition, some Republican congressmen are also blocking the appointment of Francis Ricciardone, Obama’s nominee for ambassador to Turkey, because they see Ricciardone as too soft to deal with the Turkish government.
The US administration, which is eager to maintain cooperation with Turkey especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, has asked for Turkish assistance in informing the Congress on issues related to relations with Turkey, the officials said. Thus, Turkey will increase efforts to inform Congress and will start a campaign to that effect after the Congress returns from its recess next month. Members of Congress mostly receive one-sided information on Iran and Turkish-Israeli ties, the officials said, thus making an information campaign by Turkey necessary.
Turkey’s relations with Israel took a nosedive when Israeli commandos raided an aid flotilla trying to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza on May 31, killing eight Turks and one Turkish American.
The Turkish delegation also reiterated in the US that Turkey only observes sanctions passed in the UN Security Council and that it would not implement additional sanctions imposed by the US. Turkey says the decision whether to implement additional sanctions was up to the private companies doing business with Iran and the US.
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