Like most Turks, I am very happy that Barack Hussein Obama has been elected the next president of the United States. The US is still the global leader, and whatever happens there or whatever it does inevitably affects Turkey. Even though some argue that US foreign policy changes little from one president to another, even this "little" may mean much to countries in the periphery. Secondly, if there was a change between the Bill Clinton administration and the George W. Bush administration (of course there was), there will definitely be differences in President-elect Obama's foreign policy. And we all hope to see that this foreign policy is decisively influenced by a comparatively more humane State Department rather than the Pentagon -- provided Obama keeps most, if not all, of his promises.
Obama's election is definitely bad news for Turkey's pseudo-nationalist ulusalc?lar(Kemalist so-called nationalists). They were happy to cooperate with the Pentagon and notorious neocons who look at Turkey from only one narrow militaristic dimension or through the lens of Israel. Our pseudo-nationalists' friends never cared about Turkish democracy and even said they were impartial to the democratically elected government and the coup-threatening military after the April 27 e-memo shambles. Furthermore, their mouthpieces frequently referred to the Erdo?an government as Islamo-fascists just because the Turkish government wanted to follow a slightly independent foreign policy -- a foreign policy that President-elect Obama has promised to emulate. Maybe for the first time after Turgut Ozal the Turks will be leading the Americans. So, Turkey's democratic future looks hopeful. But some in Turkey are afraid that Obama's promises with regard to the Armenian massacre and the Cyprus issue pose dangers to Turkey. I do not agree with this view.
We may even lose in the short run, but we will definitely benefit in the long run, provided that we make a full effort to communicate our rational and good cause to the relevant sides and to the international community. These two issues are stumbling blocks to both Turkish democracy and Turkish foreign policy. Our neocon-friendly pseudo-nationalists have attempted to make use of the Cyprus problem as a brake to halt Turkey's EU accession process, and they have been successful, to a certain extent. Thus, any feasible solution to the problem will help Turkey. If Obama can impartially pressure both sides, we might get such a solution. This will then definitely help Turkish democracy. With regard to the Armenian issue, Turkey has already started taking some steps, maybe with the fear that Obama would probably win the elections. Whatever the reason, Turkey will now be forced to deal with the issue. I am not sure if saying this makes me a traitor, but I hope that Obama does not entirely forget the issue, provided we inform him fully as well instead of threatening him with Incirlik, the US base in southern Turkey.
If he again impartially pressures both sides, Turkey has a lot to gain. First, we will not expend a large amount of our foreign policy energy on the issue every year. Second, we will not have to embarrassingly use the Incirlik base as a bargaining chip against the Americans. In this way the militarist dimension of the issue will disappear. Third, we will not have to beg certain lobbies in the US every year who in turn try to limit our foreign policy options in the Middle East. I will not even mention the economic benefits, such as saving millions paid to public relations companies in the US or the benefit of direct trade with Armenia. Lastly, facing our history bravely will make more people aware of what people with an ignorant Ergenekonian militaristic mentality could do to their innocent compatriots in the name of saving the country. This is obviously helpful to Turkish democracy.
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