Mark Parris, a former US ambassador to Turkey, describes Obama's decision as part of "a smart, timely series of moves on the part of the new administration," while Zeyno Baran, a Turkish analyst at the Hudson Institute, highlights the importance of the fact that Obama will not visit Turkey as part of a Middle East tour, since this is, according to her, "a clear sign" showing that he sees Turkey as part of the European picture.
"I suspect that as his new foreign policy team settles in, they've come to realize that some nations can help (or hurt) them more than others, and they've realized it makes sense to make an early, sustained investment in Turkey, rather than play catch-up later on. They are right, of course," Parris, now a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, replies when asked why he believes Obama has decided to visit Turkey so early in his tenure as president.
For Ambassador Edward Djerejian, the founding director of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, Obama's choice to visit Turkey on one of his very first trips overseas as president is "a very important decision underscoring the importance of the US-Turkey relationship."
The visit, which has a great deal of symbolism, is also a signal of the importance that Obama attaches to relations with the Muslim world, Djerejian notes. "Turkey is a Muslim country that has a secular model of governance and can be a very effective bridge between the East and the West. This is an important step. Whatever he says in Turkey -- beyond the bilateral relationship, but to the Muslim world -- will be noted. This trip will be a major public diplomacy success," he asserts. President Obama will visit Turkey in the coming weeks, probably on April 6-7. The global dispute over Iran's controversial nuclear program is expected to be one of the main issues on the agenda of the talks, in addition to a possible Turkish role in the US troop pullout from Iraq and Turkish contributions to international military efforts to stabilize Afghanistan in the face of a rising Taliban insurgency.
For David Mack of the Middle East Institute (MEI), also a former deputy assistant to the US secretary of state, the visit is a recognition by the US and the Obama administration of Turkey's importance both as a NATO ally and as a progressive Muslim country that has a very important relationship in the Middle East, in Central Asia and the Caucasus. "It's a big change from unilateralist policies. He wants to deal in a more cooperative way with our traditional allies and the new relationship with Turkey will be based upon mutual respect and mutual interest," says Mack.
Armenian issue
James Holmes, head of the leading US business association the American-Turkish Council (ATC), meanwhile, stresses how Turks are basically apprehensive over the issues of Armenian resolution, referring to the question of whether or not the Obama administration views the 1915 killings of Anatolian Armenians committed by the Ottoman Turks as genocide. How the Obama administration might deal with any plans in Congress to revive a resolution describing it as such is one thorny issue in the near future of bilateral relations between Ankara and Washington.
"I believe this visit is ultimately positive for the handling of the issue of the Armenian resolution. President Obama will certainly want to deal with this issue and in his foreign policy he will want to engage in processes that have the advantage of promoting Armenian-US and Armenian-Turkish relations as well. And I think he understands that this can't be done if he engages in policies and actions that have the consequence of alienating the Turks. And alienating the Turks is a very easy thing to do if you mishandle the Armenian resolution," says Holmes.
"He [Obama] can put the Armenian diaspora in a position to recognize that there is the political interest of the diaspora on the one hand, and there is the political interest of the Armenian nation on the other. The political interests of the Armenian nation are certainly in reconciliation with Turkey. I think President Obama in the end will be commended by the people of Armenia and the Armenian-Americans if he can engage in a policy that results in a better position for Armenia within the region," Holmes says.
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