{"id":5877,"date":"2010-06-14T00:00:05","date_gmt":"2010-06-13T22:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=5877"},"modified":"2010-06-10T14:00:12","modified_gmt":"2010-06-10T12:00:12","slug":"turkey-goes-from-pliable-ally-to-thorn-for-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2010\/06\/turkey-goes-from-pliable-ally-to-thorn-for-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Goes From Pliable Ally to Thorn for U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

For decades, Turkey was one of the United States\u2019 most pliable allies, a strategic border state on the edge of the Middle East that reliably followed American policy. But recently, it has asserted a new approach in the region, its words and methods as likely to provoke Washington as to advance its own interests.<\/em><\/p>\n

The change in Turkey\u2019s policy burst into public view last week, after the deadly Israeli commando<\/a> raid on a Turkish flotilla<\/a>, which nearly severed relations with Israel, Turkey\u2019s longtime ally. Just a month ago, Turkey infuriated the United States when it announced that along with Brazil, it had struck a deal with Iran<\/a> to ease a nuclear standoff, and on Tuesday it warmly welcomed Iran<\/a>\u2019s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad<\/a>, and the Russian prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin<\/a>, at a regional security summit meeting in Istanbul.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s shifting foreign policy is making its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan<\/a>, a hero to the Arab world<\/a>, and is openly challenging the way the United States manages its two most pressing issues in the region, Iran\u2019s nuclear program<\/a> and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.<\/p>\n

Turkey is seen increasingly in Washington as \u201crunning around the region doing things that are at cross-purposes to what the big powers in the region want,\u201d said Steven A. Cook, a scholar with the Council on Foreign Relations. The question being asked, he said, is \u201cHow do we keep the Turks in their lane?\u201d<\/p>\n

From Turkey\u2019s perspective, however, it is simply finding its footing in its own backyard, a troubled region that has been in turmoil for years, in part as a result of American policy making. Turkey has also been frustrated in its longstanding desire to join the European Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Americans, no matter what they say, cannot get used to a new world where regional powers want to have a say in regional and global politics,\u201d said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Bilgi University in Istanbul. \u201cThis is our neighborhood, and we don\u2019t want trouble. The Americans create havoc, and we are left holding the bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s rise as a regional power may seem sudden, but it has been evolving for years, since the end of the cold war, when the world was a simple alignment of black and white and Turkey, a Muslim democracy founded in 1923, was a junior partner in the American camp.<\/p>\n

Twenty years later, the map has been redrawn. Turkey is now a vibrant, competitive democracy with an economy that would rank as the sixth largest in Europe. Unlike Jordan and Egypt, which rely heavily on American aid, it is financially independent of the United States. And, paradoxically, its democracy has created some problems with Washington: Members of Mr. Erdogan\u2019s own party defected in 2003, for example, voting not to allow the Americans to attack Iraq from Turkish territory.<\/p>\n

Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey\u2019s foreign minister, said in an interview that economics was at the heart of the new policy. The party he belongs to, led by Mr. Erdogan, is made up of merchants and traders, who are more devoted to their business interests than to advancing Islamic solidarity.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic interdependence is the best way to achieve peace,\u201d he said at his home in Ankara last weekend. \u201cIn the 1990s we had severe tension all around us, and Turkey paid a huge bill because of that. Now we want to establish a peaceful order around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that vision has led to friction with Washington, particularly over Iran, Turkey\u2019s only alternative energy source after Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are ambitious, and this gives them a major role on the world stage,\u201d said a senior American official. \u201cBut there is a risk that Americans won\u2019t understand what Turkey is doing, and that will have consequences for the relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is Mr. Erdogan\u2019s confrontation with Israel, which he accused of \u201cstate terrorism\u201d in the flotilla raid, that raised the loudest alarms for Americans. Many see his fiery statements as a sign that he has not only abandoned the quest to join the European Union, but is aligning himself with Islamic rivals of the West.<\/p>\n

Yet, for years Mr. Erdogan encouraged closer ties with Israel, even taking a planeload of businessmen to Tel Aviv in 2005. While the relationship has deteriorated badly in recent years \u2014 with Mr. Erdogan lambasting Shimon Peres<\/a>, the Israeli president, over the Israeli military\u2019s tactics in the Gaza campaign \u2014 Jewish leaders in Istanbul say that it is more about Mr. Erdogan\u2019s dislike of the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/a> than his view of Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Jewish community in Turkey is not at all alarmed,\u201d said Ishak Alaton, a prominent Jewish businessman in Istanbul. The tough talk, he said, is simply Mr. Erdogan\u2019s style, an attempt to score points ahead of an election.<\/p>\n

Mr. Erdogan, though a pragmatist, is also a devout Muslim, a category that was once the underdog in secular Turkish society, and sympathy for the Palestinians<\/a> is ingrained. He is hotheaded, with a street fighter\u2019s swagger that becomes more pronounced in crises. He took personal offense, for example, when Ehud Olmert<\/a>, then Israel\u2019s prime minister, began without warning the bombing of Gaza while Mr. Erdogan was mediating talks between Israel and Syria.<\/p>\n

Shafeeq Ghabra, a political science professor at Kuwait University, argued that Turkey had stepped into a vacuum left by a failed peace process, and that it was trying to \u201csave the Palestinians from becoming desperate again and save Israel from itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

That may be so, but Mr. Erdogan\u2019s tough talk eliminates Turkey\u2019s place at the table as a moderator with Israel, analysts said, and also boxes in the Obama administration, forcing it into a choice between allies that the Turks are sure to lose.<\/p>\n

Behind the friction between the United States and Turkey is a larger question about how to approach crises in the Middle East, argues Stephen Kinzer, author of the book \u201cReset: Iran, Turkey and America\u2019s Future.\u201d Turkey calls for talks, while Washington seeks sanctions. \u201cTurks are telling the U.S.: \u2018The cold war\u2019s over. You have to take a more cooperative approach, and we can help,\u2019\u00a0\u201d said Mr. Kinzer, a former New York Times correspondent. \u201cThe U.S. is not prepared to accept that offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkish and American officials play down their differences, saying they share the goal of peace in the Middle East. But certain viewpoints \u2014 on Hamas<\/a> and Israel\u2019s security concerns \u2014 do seem to be throwing up insurmountable obstacles, and some see the Turkish stance as ignoring the realities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world hasn\u2019t changed in 48 hours just because a boat was raided,\u201d said Asli Aydintasbas, a columnist for the Turkish daily Milliyet. \u201cAnkara thinks it is remaking the world, but in the long run this could backfire.\u201d<\/p>\n

______________________<\/p>\n

Sabrina Tavernise reported from Ankara, and Michael Slackman from Cairo.<\/em><\/p>\n

A version of this article appeared in print on June 9, 2010, on page A10 of the New York edition.<\/em><\/h6>\n

<\/em>GO TO ORIGINAL \u2013 THE NEW YORK TIMES<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For decades, Turkey was one of the United States\u2019 most pliable allies, a strategic border state on the edge of the Middle East that reliably followed American policy. But recently, it has asserted a new approach in the region, its words and methods as likely to provoke Washington as to advance its own interests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglo-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5877\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}