Clinton will make a brief visit to NATO member Turkey on Saturday, finishing up a weeklong trip where much of the focus will be on Arab-Israeli peacemaking, in which Ankara is increasingly involved.
On the surface, US-Turkish relations appear stellar, but peel back a layer and Clinton will find a host of bilateral tensions on her visit here later this week. While in Turkey, Clinton will discuss a range of topics, including US President Barack Obama's review of the war strategy in Afghanistan. Clinton wants Turkey to be helpful in convincing its neighbors to allow their territory to be used as supply routes to Afghanistan, particularly after Kyrgyzstan announced plans to close the Manas Air Base, a major transit point for US troops going to Afghanistan.
Ankara believes the US should focus more on expanding and improving the Afghan security forces and on pressing Afghan authorities to reconcile with elements of the Islamic insurgency, rather than on putting tens of thousands more US troops in Afghanistan, as the Obama administration is planning to do.
Middle East role
US officials are playing up Turkey's important role in the region ahead of Clinton's trip and highlighting areas where the two can work together, particularly in intelligence sharing to fight the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the region.
"The bilateral relationship with Turkey has improved, but now we have an opportunity to build on that and build a genuine, close strategic partnership," said senior State Department official Dan Fried.
Turkey is a major player in Arab-Israeli peacemaking and has mediated indirect talks between Syria and the Israelis. Those talks broke down after Israel's invasion of Gaza in December, but Turkish officials have said they are ready to resume mediation efforts once a new Israeli government is in place.
While welcoming Turkish mediation with Syria, the Obama administration differs over how to tackle Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. Washington wants to isolate it, while Ankara feels the Palestinian group should not be excluded from any major peace agreement.
Despite differences over Hamas, the Obama administration might now find Ankara an invaluable ally if it tries to reach out to Damascus and Tehran and as it engages in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. Turkey and Iran share important energy agreements, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited ?stanbul last year, but Turkey shares Washington's misgivings about Iran's nuclear program. Armenian
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