Inside Story - Does Turkey Trust Washington?

‘Know Your Place!’: Erdogan on US Official’s Reaction to Failed Coup Aftermath

President Erdogan once again slammed the US for harboring Gülen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, and demanded his extradition. He also lashed out at the head of US Central Command, General Joseph Votel, who has criticized the detention of thousands of Turkish military personnel in the aftermath of the coup attempt .

Sour Relations: Tensions between Turkey, US Escalating after Failed Coup Attempt

Turkey is casting suspicions much further afield in the aftermath of the failed coup - now implicating its supposed NATO ally, the United States. RT’s Lizzie Phelan has more.

Turkey Goes From Pliable Ally to Thorn for U.S.
THE NEW YORK TIMES: ANKARA, Turkey — For decades, Turkey was one of the United States’ most pliable allies, a strategic border state on the edge of the Middle East that reliably followed American policy. But recently, it has asserted a new approach in the region, its words and methods as likely to provoke Washington as to advance its own interests.

The change in Turkey’s policy burst into public view last week, after the deadly Israeli commando raid on a Turkish flotilla, which nearly severed relations with Israel, Turkey’s longtime ally. Just a month ago, Turkey infuriated the United States when it announced that along with Brazil, it had struck a deal with Iran to ease a nuclear standoff, and on Tuesday it warmly welcomed Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the Russian prime minister, Vladimir V. Putin, at a regional security summit meeting in Istanbul.

Turkey’s shifting foreign policy is making its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a hero to the Arab world, and is openly challenging the way the United States manages its two most pressing issues in the region, Iran’s nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Turkey is seen increasingly in Washington as “running around the region doing things that are at cross-purposes to what the big powers in the region want,” said Steven A. Cook, a scholar with the Council on Foreign Relations. The question being asked, he said, is “How do we keep the Turks in their lane?”

From Turkey’s perspective, however, it is simply finding its footing in its own backyard, a troubled region that has been in turmoil for years, in part as a result of American policy making. Turkey has also been frustrated in its longstanding desire to join the European Union.

“The Americans, no matter what they say, cannot get used to a new world where regional powers want to have a say in regional and global politics,” said Soli Ozel, a professor of international relations at Bilgi University in Istanbul. “This is our neighborhood, and we don’t want trouble. The Americans create havoc, and we are left holding the bag.” >>> Sabrina Tavernise reported from Ankara, and Michael Slackman from Cairo | Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Relations Between the US and Turkey Begin to Sour Over Armenian ‘Genocide’
THE GUARDIAN: Turkey and the US were heading for a diplomatic showdown today over a Congressional vote on whether it should recognise as genocide the 1915 killings of Christian Armenians by Muslim Turks

Turkish politicians have warned of grave consequences if the House of Representatives endorses the bill, which is opposed by the Bush administration.

Yesterday the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, warned of "serious troubles in the two countries' relations" if the measure is approved.

The threats come as the Turkish government seeks parliamentary approval for a cross-border military operation to pursue separatist Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq. The move, which is opposed by the US, could open a new front in the most stable part of Iraq.

Turkish MPs in Washington yesterday put their case to members of the House of Representatives' foreign affairs committee.

"I have been trying to warn the lawmakers not to make a historic mistake," said Egemen Bagis, a Turkish MP and close foreign policy adviser to the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

"Let us not forget that 75% of all supplies to your troops in Iraq go through Turkey."

Many in the US fear for the crucial supply routes through Turkey to Iraq and Afghanistan, and the closure of Incirlik, a strategic air base in Turkey used by the US air force.

A measure of the potential fallout from the vote came in a warning to American citizens in Ankara issued by the US embassy in Ankara.

The statement said: "If, despite the administration's concerted efforts against this resolution, it passes committee and makes its way to the floor of the House for debate and a possible vote, there could be a reaction in the form of demonstrations and other manifestations of anti-Americanism throughout Turkey." Turkey and US head for showdown over vote on Armenian ‘genocide’ (more)

Mark Alexander