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| A Comedy of Errors U.S.-Turkish Diplomacy and the Iraq War By Michael Rubin Posted: Monday, May 2, 2005 Although the mistakes of the past two years in relations between the United States and Turkey cannot be undone, Washington and Ankara stand to lose a great deal if relations continue to deteriorate. If differences can be overcome, however, this partnership could help to resolve important regional issues such as the status of Kirkuk and Iraqi constitutional debates, and to ensure Iraqi stability and Turkish security. Turkey and the United States have for more than half a century enjoyed a special relationship. Turkish troops fought alongside Americans in the Korean War. As one of only two North Atlantic Treaty Organization members to border the Soviet Union, Turkey truly was a frontline state throughout the Cold War. In the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Turkish government reaffirmed its alliance. Within a month, the Turkish Grand National Assembly voted 319 to 101 to send troops to Afghanistan to assist the United States in its Global War on Terror.[1] Three years later, U.S.-Turkish ties are in disarray. In December 2004, Mehmet Elkatmis, head of the Turkish Parliament’s Human Rights Commission, accused the United States of “conducting genocide in Iraq.” Faruk Anbarcioglu, a Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, or AKP) deputy, suggested the dissolution of the Grand National Assembly’s Turkish-American Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group.[2] American officials, long friends of Turkey, also sounded alarm bells. Despite frequent assurances from both Turkish and American diplomats that U.S.-Turkish relations were on the mend, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith acknowledged the problems during a February 17, 2005, speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. Responding to a question from a Turkish reporter, Feith said, “It’s crucial that the appreciation of . . . relationships extend beyond government officials [and] down to the public in general, because otherwise the relationship is not really sustainable.” He implied that the AKP was responsible for the rise of anti-Americanism, commenting, “We hope that the officials in our partner countries are going to be devoting the kind of effort to building popular support for the relationship that we build in our own country.”[3] An opinion article entitled “The Sick Man of Europe--Again” examining Turkish anti-Americanism sent shockwaves through Turkish intelligentsia, both because of its sharp tone and because of its publication in the Wall Street Journal, a conservative daily generally supportive of both the George W. Bush administration and U.S.-Turkish relations.[4] |