INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: The U.S. has many doubts about its long-term ally Turkey's dependability as a partner, according to diplomatic cables that were leaked by WikiLeaks on Sunday evening.
Confidential cables from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara describe Islamist tendencies in the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Germany's Der Spiegel, which received some of the leaked documents, said.
The Turkish leadership is depicted as divided, and PM Erdogan's advisers, as well as Foreign Minister Ahmeet Davutoglu, are portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Ankara, the magazine said.
Turkey and the U.S. shared a cordial relationship since 1947, when U.S. guaranteed the security of Turkey and Greece from Soviet forces. Turkey remained a close ally of the U.S. through the Cold War and through the late 1990s and post-World Trade attacks in the U.S.
Cordial relationship with the U.S. was believed to be crucial to Turkey's security.
However, the relationship has been strained since the Iraq war, as Turkey grows warier about the creation of an independent Kurdish state. >>> IB Times Staff Reporter | Monday, November 29, 2010
