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US SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON TO VISIT TURKEY SATURDAY
By Dorian Jones
Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-06- voa36.cfm
March 6 2009
US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton arrives for a meeting of the EU-US
Troika in Brussels, 06 Mar 2009 U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
visits Turkey Saturday, the final stop on a trip that has included
stops in the Middle East and Europe.
Secretary of State Clinton's efforts to bring peace to the Middle
East is expected to be at the top of her agenda in Ankara.
Analysts note Turkey's ties with Hamas and with countries in the
Arab world make the country an important asset, and Ankara is also
reported to be mending fences with Israel after a war of words between
the two counties over the recent Israeli military operation into Gaza.
Another difficult issue expected to come up during the Clinton visit
will be Afghanistan, and the Secretary of State is expected to press
Turkey to increase its military forces there.
A Turkish soldier salutes during the Regional Command Capital
transfer of authority from Turkish to Italian forces at NATO-ISAF's
multi-national brigade in Kabul, (2007 file photo) Turkish forces are
currently engaged in peacekeeping in and around the Afghan capital
Kabul, but the United States is hoping other countries contributing
troops to Afghanistan will put additional efforts in the south,
where the Taleban insurgency has shown growing strength.
International relations expert Soli Ozel of Bilgi University says
that will be hard sell to Turkey's armed forces chiefs.
"Look if you do indeed have in Kabul have a situation where other
country's soldiers are wearing Turkish soldiers uniforms because it
is a lot safer in the streets that tells you something about the kind
of the prestige that the turks enjoy in Kabul, would you really want
to ruin this by sending fighting troops to the south," Ozel said.
But analysts say there is not only military opposition to such a
move. The country's Islamic rooted government also has ideological
concerns over the Turkish army being engaged in the war against the
Taleban according to Ozel.
"There is this issue Turkish troops fighting Muslims they don't want to
give this impression, how are going to explain the body bags that are
inevitably going to be coming. It is the same kind of concerns that
the Germans and others express with the added dimension of Islamic
orientated government being in power the country being overwhelmingly
Muslim and not seeing the operations in Afghanistan necessarily as
legitimate as other NATO members do," said Ozel.
A general view shows the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear
power plant, in southern Iran (File) Another hot button topic expected
to be discussed during the Clinton visit is Iran's nuclear program,
which the United States suspects is being used as part of a program
to develop a nuclear weapons program, a charge Tehran denies.
Gokhan Cetinsaya is an adviser to the Turkish foreign ministry on
Iran he says Ankara is well placed to help defuse tensions.
"There are good relations with Iran, there are good relations with the
United states . I think Turkey is in that sense, Turkey is in a very
unique position. Probably this is an unofficial role and in that case
probably you can facilitate their communication their understanding
and you can inform them about intentions and discourse of the other
side," he said.
Another focus of Clinton's talks Saturday will likely be Iraq, where
the United States is planning to draw down its forces. The Turkish
foreign minister this month indicated that United States would
be allowed to use Turkish territory for the withdrawal. But that
cooperative spirit could be compromised by the ongoing effort in the
U.S. Congress to push through a motion to recognize the mass killings
of Turkish Armenians in 1915 by then Ottoman forces as genocide -
a charge Ankara strongly denies.
A 23 July 2008 file photo of a ruined church near the Turkish-Armenian
border, in the now- uninhabited capital of a medieval Armenian
kingdom During his election campaign, then presidential candidate
Barack Obama said he supports such efforts. But Turkish government
minister Ergemen Bagis while predicting Mr. Obama will not honor such
a commitment warns of far reaching consequences if he does.
"That would be seen as an insult to our efforts to make peace. There
would be important implications. Turkey today provides 70% of all
the logistical goods to all the US troops in Iraq. Turkey is an
important player in NATO, we have the second largest military in NATO
in the United States. We are together in most of the peacekeeping
operations. But we have saying the head that wears the crown is
wiser. Once the US president sits in their office and understand
turkey's role in the security in this very difficult part of the world,
they try not to interfere the local domestic issues," said Bagis.
During her meetings, analysts say Clinton will likely hear that Turkey
is working hard to improve relations with Armenia including resolving
historical disputes. She is also expected to again be made aware that
anti-U.S. sentiment in Turkey is amongst the highest in the world. But
analysts say with Mr. Obama's election is being overwhelmingly welcomed
both in the country and in government, Clinton's visit comes at an
opportune time.
By Dorian Jones
Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-06- voa36.cfm
March 6 2009
US Sec. of State Hillary Clinton arrives for a meeting of the EU-US
Troika in Brussels, 06 Mar 2009 U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton
visits Turkey Saturday, the final stop on a trip that has included
stops in the Middle East and Europe.
Secretary of State Clinton's efforts to bring peace to the Middle
East is expected to be at the top of her agenda in Ankara.
Analysts note Turkey's ties with Hamas and with countries in the
Arab world make the country an important asset, and Ankara is also
reported to be mending fences with Israel after a war of words between
the two counties over the recent Israeli military operation into Gaza.
Another difficult issue expected to come up during the Clinton visit
will be Afghanistan, and the Secretary of State is expected to press
Turkey to increase its military forces there.
A Turkish soldier salutes during the Regional Command Capital
transfer of authority from Turkish to Italian forces at NATO-ISAF's
multi-national brigade in Kabul, (2007 file photo) Turkish forces are
currently engaged in peacekeeping in and around the Afghan capital
Kabul, but the United States is hoping other countries contributing
troops to Afghanistan will put additional efforts in the south,
where the Taleban insurgency has shown growing strength.
International relations expert Soli Ozel of Bilgi University says
that will be hard sell to Turkey's armed forces chiefs.
"Look if you do indeed have in Kabul have a situation where other
country's soldiers are wearing Turkish soldiers uniforms because it
is a lot safer in the streets that tells you something about the kind
of the prestige that the turks enjoy in Kabul, would you really want
to ruin this by sending fighting troops to the south," Ozel said.
But analysts say there is not only military opposition to such a
move. The country's Islamic rooted government also has ideological
concerns over the Turkish army being engaged in the war against the
Taleban according to Ozel.
"There is this issue Turkish troops fighting Muslims they don't want to
give this impression, how are going to explain the body bags that are
inevitably going to be coming. It is the same kind of concerns that
the Germans and others express with the added dimension of Islamic
orientated government being in power the country being overwhelmingly
Muslim and not seeing the operations in Afghanistan necessarily as
legitimate as other NATO members do," said Ozel.
A general view shows the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear
power plant, in southern Iran (File) Another hot button topic expected
to be discussed during the Clinton visit is Iran's nuclear program,
which the United States suspects is being used as part of a program
to develop a nuclear weapons program, a charge Tehran denies.
Gokhan Cetinsaya is an adviser to the Turkish foreign ministry on
Iran he says Ankara is well placed to help defuse tensions.
"There are good relations with Iran, there are good relations with the
United states . I think Turkey is in that sense, Turkey is in a very
unique position. Probably this is an unofficial role and in that case
probably you can facilitate their communication their understanding
and you can inform them about intentions and discourse of the other
side," he said.
Another focus of Clinton's talks Saturday will likely be Iraq, where
the United States is planning to draw down its forces. The Turkish
foreign minister this month indicated that United States would
be allowed to use Turkish territory for the withdrawal. But that
cooperative spirit could be compromised by the ongoing effort in the
U.S. Congress to push through a motion to recognize the mass killings
of Turkish Armenians in 1915 by then Ottoman forces as genocide -
a charge Ankara strongly denies.
A 23 July 2008 file photo of a ruined church near the Turkish-Armenian
border, in the now- uninhabited capital of a medieval Armenian
kingdom During his election campaign, then presidential candidate
Barack Obama said he supports such efforts. But Turkish government
minister Ergemen Bagis while predicting Mr. Obama will not honor such
a commitment warns of far reaching consequences if he does.
"That would be seen as an insult to our efforts to make peace. There
would be important implications. Turkey today provides 70% of all
the logistical goods to all the US troops in Iraq. Turkey is an
important player in NATO, we have the second largest military in NATO
in the United States. We are together in most of the peacekeeping
operations. But we have saying the head that wears the crown is
wiser. Once the US president sits in their office and understand
turkey's role in the security in this very difficult part of the world,
they try not to interfere the local domestic issues," said Bagis.
During her meetings, analysts say Clinton will likely hear that Turkey
is working hard to improve relations with Armenia including resolving
historical disputes. She is also expected to again be made aware that
anti-U.S. sentiment in Turkey is amongst the highest in the world. But
analysts say with Mr. Obama's election is being overwhelmingly welcomed
both in the country and in government, Clinton's visit comes at an
opportune time.