{"id":29791,"date":"2010-12-30T19:50:54","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T17:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=29791"},"modified":"2014-01-06T00:41:34","modified_gmt":"2014-01-05T22:41:34","slug":"turkeys-rise-on-world-stage-makes-waves-in-the-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2010\/12\/30\/turkeys-rise-on-world-stage-makes-waves-in-the-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey’s Rise on World Stage Makes Waves in the West"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cover Profile \/ Ambassador Namik Tan<\/h3>\n

by Larry Luxner<\/span><\/h3>\n

News Editor of The Washington Diplomat<\/p>\n

\"\"Nine years ago, Namik Tan wrapped up his last tour of duty in Washington as first counselor at the Turkish Embassy and flew back to Ankara. Barely two weeks later, Muslim terrorists drove planes through the World Trade Center and Pentagon.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, shortly after returning to Washington as Turkey\u2019s ambassador, the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution recognizing the World War I deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians as genocide \u2014 and Turkey angrily recalled Tan for consultations.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan eventually sent him back here, but the very next month, Israel attacked an aid flotilla headed for the Gaza Strip, killing eight Turkish citizens and a U.S. citizen of Turkish descent. The ensuing fallout between the two former allies sullied Ankara\u2019s reputation on Capitol Hill while giving ammunition to neoconservatives who claim that Erdogan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are leading Turkey away from secular democracy and down the slippery slope to Islamic extremism.<\/p>\n

And all that was before Turkey opposed United Nations sanctions against Iran \u2014 after brokering its own Iranian deal with Brazil that was promptly dismissed by Western powers \u2014 and half a year before WikiLeaks released a trove of U.S. State Department cables in late November suggesting, among other things, that Erdogan is a power-hungry, paranoid Islamist who surrounds himself with \u201csycophantic,\u201d contemptuous and incompetent advisors. Oh, the documents also say that Erdogan has an \u201cunbridled ambition stemming from the belief God has anointed him to lead Turkey\u201d and likes to present himself as the \u201cTribune of Anatolia.\u201d Not exactly a flattering portrayal.<\/p>\n

All in all, it\u2019s been one crisis after another for Tan, a veteran Turkish diplomat who did little to hide his frustration or displeasure during an interview over breakfast in early November.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States that I found after relocating here is different than the United States I left in 2001,\u201d Tan told us. \u201cI think the trauma of 9\/11 is still alive, and it\u2019s affected the American people in unprecedented ways. I found that they have started to develop some paranoid reactions. This is so unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking with The Washington Diplomat for over an hour, Tan said, \u201cAmerica is the only country on the face of the earth where you won\u2019t feel like a foreigner once you get in. This country is known for its great democracy, tolerance and freedom \u2014 and these assets should be preserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet lately, Tan says, that tolerance is being drowned out by the paranoia he sees all around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the energy on the streets is lost on security,\u201d he complained. \u201cThis economic downturn, coupled with the whole trauma of 9\/11, makes peoples\u2019 lives difficult, especially for foreigners. How could you imagine an ambassador taking off his shoes in an airport? This is too much,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the paranoia over Turkey \u2014 and perennial worrying about whether it\u2019s drifting away from the West and toward the East \u2014 is just too much.<\/p>\n

Tan lamented the fact that even American officials who should know much better often have misconceptions about Turkey \u2014 a predominantly Muslim nation of 75 million inhabitants that straddles a strategic position between Europe, Asia and the Middle East, enjoys one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing economies, and is considered an emerging world power.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me tell you a story,\u201d the ambassador said, sipping on his tiny cup of thick Turkish coffee. \u201cWhen I was assigned to be ambassador here, I was already deputy undersecretary for the Americas [at the Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry]. Before coming to Washington, we applied for visas, and my son was denied. I asked why, because he spent almost 16 years here and had graduated from McLean High School and George Mason University\u201d \u2014 thanks to Tan\u2019s previous diplomatic posting in D.C.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me he had made an \u2018erratic departure\u2019 from the U.S., that he didn\u2019t fill out the right form when he left the country,\u201d the ambassador recalled with a look of indignation on his face. \u201cSo did that qualify him to be a terrorist? It was ridiculous. I mean, this was my son, for God\u2019s sake. He\u2019s spent more of his life in the United States than in Turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n

The error was immediately fixed, but the snafu illustrates what many Muslims fear is growing Islamophobia in the United States \u2014 at the same time that policymakers in Washington fret that historically secular Turkey is now, under Erdogan\u2019s AKP, turning away from the West and embracing American foes like Iran and Syria.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a foreign policy challenge of the first order because it is important for the United States, NATO and the Western allies to figure out a way to engage a country like Turkey on many, many different levels and make it a success story,\u201d said Michael Werz, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, which sponsored a Nov. 10 conference on U.S.-Turkish relations \u2014 conferences that have lately become something of a cottage industry in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we talk about Turkey in the West,\u201d he said, \u201cthinking that religion or Islam or Islamic political organizations may be the root cause of the changes, I think, is applying a faulty perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds James Traub, writing in Foreign Policy: \u201cIt\u2019s a caricature to say that Turkey has chosen the Middle East, or Islam, over the West. Turkey\u2019s aspirations for full membership in the club of the West, including the European Union, is still a driving force. But Turkey aspires to many things, and some may contradict each other. The country wants to be a regional power in a region deeply suspicious of the West, of Israel and of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the seemingly endless speculation about Ankara\u2019s true intentions, the government has spelled out its overriding philosophy pretty clearly over the last few years with its \u201czero problems\u201d foreign policy \u2014 originally articulated by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who says the country\u2019s policies are based on \u201ca realistic, rational analysis of the strategic picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be a frontier country like in the Cold War,\u201d Davutoglu told New York Times columnist Richard Cohen in late October. \u201cWe don\u2019t want problems with any neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Turkey is becoming much more neighborly, as Cohen detailed in the article \u201cTurkey Steps Out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnnual trade with Russia has since soared to $40 billion. Syrian-Turkish relations have never been better. Turkey\u2019s commercial sway over northern Iraq is overwhelming. It has signed a free trade agreement with Jordan. And now Turkey says it aims \u2014 United Nations sanctions notwithstanding \u2014 to triple trade with Iran over the next five years,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The ambassador told The Diplomat that Turkey\u2019s economic policies have put it in an enviable position. In fact, the Turks barely feel the global recession at all. Turkey\u2019s gross domestic product soared by 11.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, and 10.3 percent in the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurkey is now a booming economy in every sector,\u201d Tan boasted. \u201cWorldwide, we\u2019re in second place in GDP growth after China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Commensurate with that economic strength, Turkey is ready to take its place as an influential world player \u2014 not surprising given its position as a Muslim democracy located at a geopolitical crossroads in the midst of some of the world\u2019s most intractable crises.<\/p>\n

Yet when Ankara tried to help defuse one of those crises, it was quickly rebuffed by the West. Relations with the United States tumbled after Turkey \u2014 along with Brazil \u2014 helped to broker a deal last May to reprocess up to 1,200 kilograms of Iran\u2019s low-enriched uranium for peaceful purposes. The United States immediately denounced the move as ineffective and instead pushed forward a set of stringent new economic sanctions against Tehran that were backed by the U.N. Security Council \u2014 and which Turkey loudly opposed, exposing a rift in strategy when it comes to the Iranian nuclear dilemma.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the first time in history, the Islamic Republic of Iran has committed itself on paper to negotiations on the nuclear issue thanks to our efforts,\u201d Tan contends. \u201cDespite all the arguments against Iran, this is the reality. We never claimed we would solve this problem, but we have created a medium for negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that \u201ctoday, everybody including the United States is trying to build upon this. We have discussed\u00a0extensively and in detail every effort with our American friends. So the criticism of Turkey\u2019s efforts is really hard for us to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, however, the West showed some signs of warming up to the idea of Turkish assistance to break the impasse with Iran, having agreed to schedule the next round of international talks in late January in Istanbul.
\nCohen of the New York Times agrees that the country offers the West a diplomatic opportunity. \u201cTurkey can be the West\u2019s conduit to the Muslim world if Washington can bury its pique. The new Turkey won\u2019t abandon NATO or its American alliance: If NATO wants to talk to the Taliban, or the West to Iran, it can help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet not everyone sees Turkey\u2019s newfound self-confidence<\/strong> as helpful. Indeed, the country\u2019s diplomatic muscle flexing has been met with the consternation from American and European officials who worry it comes at the expense of their regional interests.<\/p>\n

For its part, however, Europe may only have itself to blame. It\u2019s clear Turkey is actively looking elsewhere for partners after the European Union\u2019s less-than-enthusiastic response to the country\u2019s quixotic journey to join the 27-member bloc \u2014 an elusive goal that had defined Ankara\u2019s foreign policy for years. \u201cThe E.U.\u2019s rejection of Turkey, a hugely bad move, has been a key factor prompting Turkey to move closer to Iran and the Arab world,\u201d argues New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.<\/p>\n

Tan says membership is still a priority, but for now, Turkish business executives seem more interested in Baghdad than in Brussels.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurkey is trying to improve living standards for its people. That\u2019s why we will continue looking toward the West,\u201d said the ambassador. \u201cOur complaint is this: We think the EU is very slow in embracing Turkey, even though we have met all their standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think that when we join this union, we\u2019ll take our share from the existing cake. What we are saying is that when we become a full member, the cake will become bigger and then we\u2019ll take our share. They should understand that Turkey would be a big asset for the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sept. 12, Turkish voters approved a sweeping package of constitutional reforms aimed at bringing the nation\u2019s military-imposed constitution in line with European standards of law and democracy. The package of 26 constitutional amendments passed with 58 percent of the vote, in what was widely seen as a referendum on the government of Erdogan. Nearly 36 million Turks \u2014 77 percent of eligible voters \u2014 cast ballots in the referendum, which analysts say will have profound consequences for Turkey\u2019s general elections this spring.<\/p>\n

But opponents of the amendments say the vote was no more than a power grab aimed at undermining the secular state established in 1923 by Turkey\u2019s founder, Mustafa Kemal Atat\u00fcrk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe suggested changes are nothing more than the ruling party trying to convert institutions that do not favor their government, closer to their side. After these changes, all we would be left with would be a system lacking checks and balances,\u201d wrote columnist Sedat Ergin of Hurriyet Daily News shortly before the referendum.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy neoconservative friends argue that Turkey needs more democracy,\u201d said Steven Cook, senior fellow at the\u00a0Council on Foreign Relations. \u201cI agree, though I don\u2019t believe that Turkey needs more democracy because Prime Minister Erdogan is in the thrall of the Iranian president or Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Rather, Turkey is in the intermediate stage of a transition to democracy, which means that it will more often than not manifest both democratic and authoritarian tendencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also commenting on the \u201cunresolved state\u201d of Turkey\u2019s democracy, Foreign Policy\u2019s Traub pointed out that, \u201cEight years after Erdogan gained power, secular Turks continue to doubt his commitment, and that of the ruling AKP, to human rights, tolerance, and the rule of law. Although many of the people I spoke to saw the country\u2019s recent constitutional referendum \u2014 which among other things reduced the power of the army over the judiciary \u2014 as a further consolidation of Turkish democracy, plenty of others viewed it as a dangerous ploy by the AKP to increase its control over the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the whole though, Traub argues that the West and secular Turks should welcome the country\u2019s evolution. \u201cBut Turkey is not content with being the brightest star in its benighted neighborhood; it wants to play on the world stage,\u201d he cautions. \u201cAnd that ambition may force Turkey to find a new balance among its competing identities.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in its neighborhood, probably the most conflicted relationship Turkey has is with Israel \u2014 which has many people concerned that Erdogan is sacrificing a critical partnership to make himself look like a popular hero in the Arab world.<\/p>\n

In fact, Turkey\u2019s image in the United States, and especially among pro-Israel members of Congress, took an enormous hit after its Gaza flotilla confrontation with Israel last summer. Tan, a 54-year-old seasoned diplomat from Antakya<\/strong>, has a unique perspective on that crisis: He spent three years before coming to Washington as Turkey\u2019s ambassador in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so many friends in Israel, and they will continue to be my friends,\u201d said Tan, who speaks a smattering of Hebrew in addition to fluent English, Russian and of course his native Turkish. \u201cWe are not against the Israeli people. But this is not the issue. How can a country just turn a blind eye to the killing of its own people? This was done in international waters, in total breach of international law. Nine people were killed, one of them an American citizen. How can we just forget this?\u201d<\/p>\n

The May 31 incident that so deeply infuriates Tan and most of the Arab and Muslim world was sparked when a motley crew of 663 activists from 37 countries \u2014 including members of several known terrorist organizations and, conversely, Jewish survivors of the Holocaust \u2014 attempted to sail a flotilla of six ships carrying aid to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli maritime blockade.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to deliver the aid to Gaza if the ships would dock instead at the Israeli port of Ashdod, but flotilla organizers refused \u2014 precipitating a violent clash between Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and activists on board the largest ship, the MV Mavi Marmara.<\/p>\n

Nine Turks were killed in the ensuing bloodshed, which succeeded in getting Israel to relax the blockade but sparked riots in the streets of Istanbul and further ruptured diplomatic relations between the two countries.<\/p>\n

Turkish President Abdullah G\u00fcl, saying the IDF raid marked the first attack against Turkish citizens by a foreign military force in the republic\u2019s 87-year history, recalled Turkey\u2019s ambassador from Tel Aviv and demanded an apology from the Netanyahu government.<\/p>\n

Tan, who told The Diplomat he\u2019s lobbying members of \u201cthe powerful Jewish-American community\u201d on this issue, warned, \u201cIsrael should remember that it\u2019s about to lose one of its most important friends. Our relationship with the Jews goes back 500 years, and Turkey was the second country after the United States to recognize Israel\u2019s independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cTurkish-Israeli relations are critically important for the peace and stability of this region. We\u2019re a Muslim country and that makes us quite different,\u201d he added. \u201cWhat we expect from our Israeli friends is an apology and compensation. Nothing is more natural or fair. They should apologize to us as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s offer of assistance to tackle Israel\u2019s deadly forest fire in December was a step toward mending ties, and the two are said to be hashing out an agreement to end the friction, but it\u2019s clear that resentment lingers on both sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it was only incidental, Israel would have apologized, or at least shown its regret in a more public way. However, in the last two or three years, Turkey has been conducting a campaign to delegitimize Israel,\u201d counters Anat Lapidot-Firilla, head of the Mediterranean program at Israel\u2019s Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and a professor of Turkish foreign policy at Hebrew University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Turks have played a very destructive role here,\u201d added Aaron David Miller, public policy scholar at the D.C.-based Woodrow Wilson International Center. \u201cErdogan\u2019s motives go well beyond the flotilla. He\u2019s unhappy with [Turkey\u2019s failure to achieve] entry into the European Union. Turkey\u2019s role in NATO has fundamentally changed as a consequence of the end of the Cold War, so now Erdogan sees a new role for himself as Mr. Palestine.\u201d
\nNevertheless, Lapidot-Firilla, who knew Tan when he was posted to Tel Aviv, praised him as a professional diplomat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a message he must convey, and that\u2019s what he does,\u201d she told The Diplomat in a phone call from Jerusalem. \u201cHere in Israel, he was doing an excellent job. Nevertheless, Turkey\u2019s last ambassador to the U.S. had to resign because of disagreements with his foreign minister, and Namik Tan replaced him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, Ilhan Tanir, Washington correspondent for Turkey\u2019s Hurriyet Daily News, said the former ambassador, Nabi Sensoy, felt compelled to submit his resignation abruptly following an argument between him and Foreign Minister Davutoglu \u2014 \u201can unfortunate incident\u201d he says occurred in front of severaSl people in the White House.<\/p>\n

Tanir said the deeply conservative AKP was clearly unhappy with Sensoy\u2019s service even before the embarrassing encounter. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t particularly sensitive to the developments that were working against the AKP administration\u2019s agenda\u201d in Washington, Tanir reported on his blog.<\/p>\n

Ambassador Tan, on the other hand, \u201chas maintained special and strong relationships with many of his old colleagues in the U.S. capital and enjoyed a great working relationship with some of the most important lobbyists in Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides his posts in Washington and Tel Aviv, Tan has served as deputy undersecretary of bilateral political affairs and public diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2009-10), as well as deputy director-general at the ministry\u2019s Information Department (2004-07). A graduate of the University of Ankara\u2019s law school, he\u2019s also been posted to Turkish embassies in Abu Dhabi and Moscow.<\/p>\n

On the job for nearly a year now, Tan says his most important priorities as Ankara\u2019s top diplomat in Washington are the Balkans, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Russia and energy. \u201cThese are very serious issues, all high on the agenda of U.S. policy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On one of those fronts, Turkey and Russia signed 17 agreements earlier this year, including pacts to build Turkey\u2019s first nuclear power plant as well as an oil pipeline linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. In his first official visit to Turkey, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev predicted that the $40 billion in annual trade between the two countries would soon jump to $100 billion.<\/p>\n

Another potential goldmine is Iraq \u2014 even though Ankara vehemently opposed the U.S. invasion in 2003. Tan was clearly excited to talk about what\u2019s going on with Turkey\u2019s southern neighbor. In fact, the morning of our breakfast interview, he had just gotten off the phone with his boss, Foreign Minister Davutoglu, who was leaving the next day for Baghdad.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the hottest issues we\u2019re dealing with,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been strong supporters of the recent election. This was an important achievement for the Iraqi people, and we think a government should be formed as quickly as possible, and that it should be broad-based to embrace all groups and parties who were successful in that election.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf you try to build a coalition based on different sects and ethnicities, then you\u2019re dead. You should be embracing, reaching out to every single group. We have a great stake in that country\u2019s stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

One reason Ankara is so keen on seeing a stable Iraq is the infiltration into Turkey of thousands of militants belonging to the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) \u2014 which the United States, the EU, NATO and Turkey all list as a terrorist group. More than 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms against the Turkish government in 1984, fighting for Kurdish autonomy in southeastern Turkey.<\/p>\n

The most recent terrorist attack was a suicide bombing on Nov. 1 that injured 32 people in downtown Istanbul; the PKK said it had nothing to do with that incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe power vacuum created in the early days of the Iraqi war of course made our job very difficult, and this has led to an increase in terrorism,\u201d said the ambassador. \u201cThey found a safe haven there and started hitting us from Iraq.\u201d
\nSince then, however, Ankara\u2019s security cooperation with Baghdad \u2014 and even to a degree with the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq\u2019s north \u2014 have vastly improved.<\/p>\n

Yet as much as Turkey has strengthened its relations with a number of countries, it remains haunted by old diplomatic demons. Ankara has no chance of ever entering the EU if it doesn\u2019t solve its long-standing dispute with Cyprus over the Turkish-occupied northern part of the island, which is recognized only by Turkey.<\/p>\n

Likewise, the decades-long battle over the \u201cso-called Armenian genocide issue\u201d \u2014 as Tan puts it \u2014 remains a constant political headache, one the ambassador personally experienced his first few months on the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was recalled for consultations\u201d following the House committee\u2019s decision to label the killing of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as genocide, he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve received some assurances from the administration that they\u2019re strongly against such a resolution, and that they\u2019d fight it,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo my government decided to put me back into my place. You cannot compromise your foreign policy \u2014 especially relations with Turkey \u2014 for such an irrelevant issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the ambassador, the Armenian genocide may be irrelevant, but not to Canada, France and 20 other countries whose sympathetic governments have passed similar genocide resolutions despite Turkish objections and threats.
\nIn fact, what exactly happened to the Armenians during World War I is a highly sensitive subject in Turkey, where the government says that to describe it as genocide equates it with the Nazi Holocaust (also see \u201cArmenia-Turkey Genocide Battle Rears Its Head Again in U.S. Politics\u201d in the April 2010 issue of The Washington Diplomat).<\/p>\n

In recent years, Turkish officials have admitted that hundreds of thousands of predominantly Christian Armenians died, but they dispute suggestions that it was part of a concerted religious or ethnic cleansing campaign. Rather, they insist that many Armenians died from war and the chaotic demise of the Ottoman Empire \u2014 and they claim that thousands of Turks were killed by Armenians as well.<\/p>\n

For the moment, the two adversaries do not have diplomatic relations, and a protocol signed in Geneva more than a year ago promising to restore bilateral ties has yet to be ratified by the parliament of either country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we say to our Armenian friends is, let\u2019s establish a historical commission with experts from other countries,\u201d Tan said. \u201cAnd when they come up with a decision, we\u2019ll respect it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he says, \u201cevery subject should be dealt with on its merits. If you try to do otherwise based on subjective political favors, then you\u2019ll be in really big trouble. It only complicates your job \u2014 and that\u2019s what we don\u2019t want in our relationship with the United States. We\u2019re very much satisfied with our relations, and we\u2019ve been friends and NATO members for ages, cooperating on some very critical issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

But whether Turkey is a friend or foe, or both, has dominated the discussion in Washington foreign policy circles. Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a frequent critic of the AKP government, accuses Turkey of adopting an \u201cus-versus-them Islam at the expense of its nationalist identity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRiding the wave of anti-Western sentiment unleashed by the 2003 Iraq war, the AKP has chilled Turkey\u2019s relationship with the West and, instead, has tried to reposition the country as a leader of the re-christened Muslim world. It has encouraged an \u2018us (Muslims) versus them (the West)\u2019 worldview at the expense of Turkey’s historic flexibility,\u201d he wrote recently in Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

Others say it\u2019s the West that needs to be flexible and engage, rather than demonize, Turkey. \u201cIn the Middle East, the other regional heavyweights are either authoritarian allies \u2014 Egypt and Saudi Arabia \u2014 authoritarian and antagonistic toward the United States \u2014 Iran \u2014 or democratic but besieged on all sides \u2014 Israel. No other state can substitute for Turkey as a pillar of stability and democratic values,\u201d wrote Daniel M. Kliman and Joshua W. Walker in the Christian Science Monitor. \u201cIn European capitals and Washington, it will be tempting to conclude that Turkey is already \u2018lost,\u2019 that it is inevitably fated to become a rising theocracy that will work against rather than for international order. This would be a grave mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

For their part, AKP government officials routinely dismiss the theory that the West has somehow \u201clost\u201d Turkey. Rather, they say Ankara is simply finding its voice, both in its own backyard and on the world stage, as a Muslim democracy unapologetically advancing its own economic and political interests.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the WikiLeaks revelations reflect American anxiety and uncertainty about the government\u2019s direction, paradoxically praising and insulting its prime minister. On the one hand, the dispatches describe Erdogan as a \u201cnatural politician\u201d who has \u201cstreet-fighter instincts\u201d yet is \u201ccharismatic\u201d and \u201ca perfectionist workaholic who sincerely cares for the well-being of those around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he\u2019s labeled \u201cthin-skinned,\u201d with \u201can authoritarian loner streak\u201d and advisors \u2014 including Davutoglu \u2014 who have \u201clittle understanding of politics beyond Ankara.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leaked cables also accuse Erdogan of corruption and of personally hating Israel, while also suggesting that the government is quietly letting weapons flow across the border to al-Qaeda jihadists executing terrorist attacks in neighboring Iraq.<\/p>\n

Erdogan responded furiously to the allegations, calling them slanderous lies and suggesting that Turkey was considering legal action against some U.S. diplomats, while the United States worked just as furiously to patch things up with this critical ally.<\/p>\n

In fact, the cables acknowledge Turkey\u2019s importance \u2014 and the dangers of Ankara distancing itself from the West. \u201cEvery day is a new one here, and no one can be certain where this whole choreography will fall out of whack,\u201d James Jeffrey, then the U.S. ambassador in Turkey, wrote in late February 2010 about the country\u2019s stability.
\n\u201cThen, look out.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Tan couldn\u2019t be reached for comment on the leaked cables, Davutoglu \u2014 who happened to be speaking in Washington when the story hit the press Nov. 29 \u2014 claimed he wouldn\u2019t be the least bit upset if Turkey\u2019s diplomatic cables and other documents were disclosed in similar fashion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe follow a foreign policy of principles. We do not say one thing in Tehran and something different in Washington,\u201d the foreign minister told his audience at the Brookings Institution. \u201cOpen all the archives. Our foreign policy is sincere, honest and candid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cover Profile \/ Ambassador Namik Tan by Larry Luxner News Editor of The Washington Diplomat Nine years ago, Namik Tan wrapped up his last tour of duty in Washington as first counselor at the Turkish Embassy and flew back to Ankara. Barely two weeks later, Muslim terrorists drove planes through the World Trade Center and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":29792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,34,922],"tags":[4848],"class_list":["post-29791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-turkey","category-usa","category-world","tag-namik-tan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}