There is such an image in the foreign policy that it differs for the observers looking from Washington and Ankara.
Let's first check the view that observers in the American capital, Washington see;
Turkey, the loyal ally of United States during WWII, has changed its axis. It is on the side of Americans' enemies and backing Hamas. It welcomes Sudanese leader who cannot travel almost any country in the world. It moves side by side with Iran. Syrian leader Al-Esad, who couldn't get out of the atmosphere of war with Israel visits Turkey almost every month. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threats Israel, the closest ally of United States in the region, with harsh words...
Despite the requests and pressure of President Barack Obama, protocols with Armenia is suspended and Turkey sets ending the occupation in Nagorno-Karabakh as a precondition for normalization of relations although it is not mentioned in protocols. Turkey and Armenia do not seem to overcome these problems in short time frame...
Obama Under Pressure
The view is totally different for the observers in Ankara;
Turkey is an important country in the region which struggles to bring prosperity and stability to the region. It tries to assist all the problematic regions from Syria and Afghanistan to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It does not spare efforts for establishing peace in the regions like Afghanistan and Iraq where the conflicts are still alive. It does utmost to prevent United States to do the same thing to Iran which it did in Iraq. It struggles to balance Israel's agressor policies and removes borders not only with Middle Eastern and Arabian countries but also with Russia. It follows a policy to integrate Syria and Sudan to international community...
It does not matter where the observer is positioned the truth is loud and clear. Turkish-American relations is experiencing maybe the most stressed days. The crisis in the relations is even worse than the crisis emerged when Turkey did not let United States troops use Turkish territory to pass to Iraq. A group in Washington has already started to press Obama to punish Turkey over these. American media has launced a heavy assault against Turkey as Turkish-Israeli ties tensed and Turkey also voted for the sake of Iran in United Nations. Armenian and Jewish lobbies may even make the pressure deeper. The statements of both White House and U.S. Department of State expressed American displeasure on Turkish stance. American Minister of Defence, Robert Gates also made similar statements.
Following these developments, American administration may change its stance regarding to PKK and Armenian resolution in the Congress. If Obama cannot deal with the pressure and decides to review American policies against Turkey the situation in the region will get even more catastrophic.
Hakan Celik/Posta
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