US must see Turkey as significant partner

Turkey’s relations with Israel and Iran were detrimental to US-Turkish ties, considering that currently the biggest security and foreign policy challenge of the US is Iran’s nuclear ambitions thanks to Israel’s policy of brinkmanship. Turkey wielded its privilege in the United Nations Security Council to vote “no” in June to a resolution that aimed to impose harsher economic sanctions on Iran. It is believed the harsher sanctions would push the Islamic republic to relinquish its controversial nuclear program.

Since June, the UN Security Council, the United States and the European Union have tightened sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, which Washington fears is a cover to build an atomic bomb. Tehran says its aims are purely peaceful.

Turkey’s “no” vote in fact matched its diplomatic rhetoric of the past year, when it worked vociferously to ensure diplomacy takes precedence over war or sanctions in dealing with Iran. It was a deeply unfortunate turn of events that Turkey’s “no” vote at the UN Security Council came shortly after Israel’s attack on a Turkish aid vessel that left eight Turks and one American citizen dead. Turkey’s outcry against Israel and attempts to urge the US to condemn Israel drew the ire of many pro-Jewish policymakers in the US Congress and led the administration to question Turkey’s significance as a reliable partner in various spheres of American interests.

“I think many people in Washington feel US-Turkish ties are in crisis because they are not what they used to be during the Cold War and the ‘old’ Turkey, which was simply a strategic ally, is not the ‘new’ Turkey, which is more of a model partner,” Joshua Walker, a Transatlantic Academy fellow, said.

Turkey’s position toward Israel and Iran was personally pilloried by US President Barack Obama two months ago, the Financial Times reported last week, something denied by both Ankara and Washington. According to the report, Obama personally warned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that Turkey might not be able to purchase weapons it seeks unless Turkey reconsiders its position on Israel and Iran.

Although the warning was allegedly made a few weeks ago, these reports are coming to light at a time of growing friction between the US and Turkey. Observers note that although Ankara and Washington have dismissed allegations that Obama warned Erdoğan, there are overwhelming concerns in Congress that Turkey is not a reliable partner.

In an effort to navigate out of this impasse, a Turkish delegation led by Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu reportedly met with several senior US officials from the departments of state, defense and commerce to discuss bilateral ties.

But absent any perception in the administration and among foreign policy mandarins in the US that American interests might not all overlap and may sometimes even differ, any attempts to revamp US-Turkish ties will come to naught. A campaign run by some hawkish congressmen in an attempt to demonize Turkey has also resulted in the blocking of Obama’s nominee for US envoy to Turkey, Francis Ricciardone. Ricciardone is facing objections in Congress, raised by Republican congressmen who would prefer someone willing to deal with the Turkish government in a firmer manner.

Walker claims there is serious cause for concern in the US-Turkish relationship, but ultimately he estimates that Turkey and the US share more than they differ on and that both countries need one another. “Turkey remains America’s best ally in the region and America remains Turkey’s preferred regional ally and superpower despite all of the rhetoric of a turn to the East and the ‘return’ of the Russians or the rise of the Chinese or the Indians,” Walker noted.

Some in the US believe that Turkish foreign policy is completely designed to undermine US interests in the region. For instance, the US and its allies are working to avert Iran’s nuclear ambition to build a nuclear weapon, but Turkey, the argument goes, wants a nuclear-armed Iran.

“Turkey and the US clearly have a shared interest in preventing the emergence of a nuclear Iran, and in the success of the Middle East peace process. This is well understood on both sides,” Ian Lesser, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said. He made the same remarks as he testified before the US House Committee on Foreign Relations in a panel discussion called “Turkey’s New Foreign Policy Direction” in late July.

“But we have done an insufficient job of reconciling specific policy approaches,” Lesser stressed. “These may not always converge, and we will just have to accept that reality.”