How to repair Washington's damaged ties with Turkey
If the Americans want Turkey to support their decisions, they will need to stop ignoring Ankara's vital interests
Visiting Turkish capital Ankara last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter made a statement all too familiar to local reporters. Upon paying lip service to Washington's close cooperation with Turkey on a number of issues, he added that the two countries did not agree on everything.
It is no secret that Turkey and the United States have major differences of opinion and conflicts of interest across the board. If you ask policy makers in Washington, they would complain about the Turkish government being difficult all the time - which is, to some extent, accurate. In recent years, the Turks refused to blindly follow Washington's lead as they did during the Cold War. When they feel that American actions hurt Turkish interests, officials in Ankara publicly raise their objections. In other words, Washington does not pull the strings in Turkey anymore. The Iran nuclear crisis was a textbook example of how things changed over the years. Again in Egypt, the two countries found themselves on opposite sides of the coup. Likewise, Turkey's efforts to help the Kurds sell their oil to the world market led to heated exchanges between Turkish and U.S. officials behind closed doors. Unlike in the past, the Turks did not backtrack amid U.S. objections in either case.
If you ask policy-makers in Ankara, however, they would blame the Americans for failing to keep their promises in Syria and elsewhere. In 2014, a senior Turkish official had told me the following: "When the situation in Syria escalated, Obama gave us a call in July 2011 and promised to remove Bashar Assad from power one way or another. He asked Ankara to side with Washington. At the time, we were trying to convince Assad that he should implement reforms - an effort that the Americans did not like. Now Syria has turned into a quagmire and the U.S. kept none of their promises whatsoever." Another source claimed that the CIA had ended up in a tough spot when Mr. Obama made a deal with Russia instead of attacking Syria after the Ghouta chemical attack. "In a meeting between intelligence officers, they apologized to the Turkish delegation," he added.
What turned unkept promises into a full-blown crisis was Washington's complete disregard for Turkish interests in the Middle East. In recent years, the U.S. has been providing weapons to the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian franchise of the PKK - a terrorist organization that has been targeting Turkish citizens since 1984. In other words, American weapons have been used to kill Turkish troops and civilians. For many Turks, this is something that not even their worst enemies, let alone a self-proclaimed ally, would do.
At this point, Turkey-U.S. relations have hit rock bottom. But both sides need to turn things around before it's too late. Here's why: Problems with Washington create additional problems for Turkey in the neighborhood. If things get better, the Turks would find it easier to reach their regional goals and secure their interests. At the same time, the U.S. needs to wake up to the fact that, at this rate, their relationship with the Turks will be beyond saving soon. If policy-makers in Washington believe they will figure out the solution as they go, they are dead wrong. Conflicts of interest can be forgotten. But neither Turkish officials nor the Turkish people would turn the other cheek knowing the Americans openly armed the PKK.
People on both sides, however, agree that rapprochement will have to wait until there is a new president in the Oval Office. After all, it's not just the Turks who are unhappy with the Obama administration's Syria policy: Last week, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. foreign policy elite was concerned about Washington becoming increasingly irrelevant in the Middle East - a concern shared by Turkey. Come January, the U.S. might reflect on Mr. Obama's failures and take steps to repair Washington's damaged ties to the Turks.
Under the circumstances, getting back on Turkey's good side will require actual policy change. Washington will need to keep in mind at all times that the Turkish leadership will not be on board with every decision. If the Americans want Turkey to support their decisions, they will need to stop ignoring Ankara's vital interests.
It is no secret that Turkey and the United States have major differences of opinion and conflicts of interest across the board. If you ask policy makers in Washington, they would complain about the Turkish government being difficult all the time - which is, to some extent, accurate. In recent years, the Turks refused to blindly follow Washington's lead as they did during the Cold War. When they feel that American actions hurt Turkish interests, officials in Ankara publicly raise their objections. In other words, Washington does not pull the strings in Turkey anymore. The Iran nuclear crisis was a textbook example of how things changed over the years. Again in Egypt, the two countries found themselves on opposite sides of the coup. Likewise, Turkey's efforts to help the Kurds sell their oil to the world market led to heated exchanges between Turkish and U.S. officials behind closed doors. Unlike in the past, the Turks did not backtrack amid U.S. objections in either case.
If you ask policy-makers in Ankara, however, they would blame the Americans for failing to keep their promises in Syria and elsewhere. In 2014, a senior Turkish official had told me the following: "When the situation in Syria escalated, Obama gave us a call in July 2011 and promised to remove Bashar Assad from power one way or another. He asked Ankara to side with Washington. At the time, we were trying to convince Assad that he should implement reforms - an effort that the Americans did not like. Now Syria has turned into a quagmire and the U.S. kept none of their promises whatsoever." Another source claimed that the CIA had ended up in a tough spot when Mr. Obama made a deal with Russia instead of attacking Syria after the Ghouta chemical attack. "In a meeting between intelligence officers, they apologized to the Turkish delegation," he added.
What turned unkept promises into a full-blown crisis was Washington's complete disregard for Turkish interests in the Middle East. In recent years, the U.S. has been providing weapons to the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian franchise of the PKK - a terrorist organization that has been targeting Turkish citizens since 1984. In other words, American weapons have been used to kill Turkish troops and civilians. For many Turks, this is something that not even their worst enemies, let alone a self-proclaimed ally, would do.
At this point, Turkey-U.S. relations have hit rock bottom. But both sides need to turn things around before it's too late. Here's why: Problems with Washington create additional problems for Turkey in the neighborhood. If things get better, the Turks would find it easier to reach their regional goals and secure their interests. At the same time, the U.S. needs to wake up to the fact that, at this rate, their relationship with the Turks will be beyond saving soon. If policy-makers in Washington believe they will figure out the solution as they go, they are dead wrong. Conflicts of interest can be forgotten. But neither Turkish officials nor the Turkish people would turn the other cheek knowing the Americans openly armed the PKK.
People on both sides, however, agree that rapprochement will have to wait until there is a new president in the Oval Office. After all, it's not just the Turks who are unhappy with the Obama administration's Syria policy: Last week, The Washington Post reported that the U.S. foreign policy elite was concerned about Washington becoming increasingly irrelevant in the Middle East - a concern shared by Turkey. Come January, the U.S. might reflect on Mr. Obama's failures and take steps to repair Washington's damaged ties to the Turks.
Under the circumstances, getting back on Turkey's good side will require actual policy change. Washington will need to keep in mind at all times that the Turkish leadership will not be on board with every decision. If the Americans want Turkey to support their decisions, they will need to stop ignoring Ankara's vital interests.