The US and Turkey in January 2009

Let me underline that this time Turkey is ready to work with the new US president as never before. We have engaged with teams from both camps and, regardless of who wins, Turkey will already have good access to key people in an administration led by Barack Obama or John McCain. As is most of the world, Turkey is ready to offer the new US president a clean slate. One cannot overemphasize the opportunity at hand here. The first six months will be critical for redefining the Turkish-American agenda. The next president should visit Ankara within the first six months of his presidency and thus acknowledge the strategic significance of this country for Washington. A good number of issues that have high priority for Washington have a Turkish dimension. Ankara, too, is eager to move forward and better detail a common agenda. That said, we also need to be realistic and acknowledge that Turkish-American relations will not return to their pre-2003 state. To think otherwise does not fit with the trends and facts in the region.

First of all, Turkey has become a very different country. It is much more democratic. Public opinion now matters here. Turkey's neighborhood policy has extensive outreach and this has consequences for the US. Turkey is a proactive player in the Caucasus, the Middle East and the Islamic world and plays key roles in a number of multilateral organizations. Turkey's membership in the UN Security Council will introduce a new dimension to our relations. Turkey will openly take positions on a variety of regional and global issues. These may not always correspond with US policy priorities. We should brace ourselves for disagreement over issues coming to the Security Council in 2009. Also, we must notes that Turkey is seeking to bring more justice and morality into its thinking on foreign policy. True, our foreign policy is traditionally guided by a realist perspective. Yet our foreign policy will become more informed by our sense of justice, particularly on perennial conflicts in the Middle East and the Caucasus. In addition, we aim to consolidate our gains in our neighborhood. As Ambassador Ahmet Davutoğlu recently noted in Washington, Turkey has reached its primary objectives in its neighborhood and will now focus on consolidating these gains.

All in all, whoever wins, there is bound to be tension between the hegemonic discourse of most of the US policy elite and the facts on the ground, which all point to a relative decline in US power. Turkey is a country that has observed these dramatic changes very closely and has felt the impact of these shifts forcefully. One challenge awaiting those who mean well on both sides will be to get the new president to focus on Turkey. When there are tons of other competing issues waiting to be dealt with, both domestically and internationally, it is evident that this is no easy task. Ultimately, the election of a new US president offers a significant opportunity for stabilizing our neighborhood. We should welcome this opportunity and work hard to make it happen.