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| Europe |
| Rice Wants Turkey to Challenge Anti-U.S. Views, Support Iraq |
| 2006-04-25 |
| U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, set to visit Ankara today, will try to persuade Turkey's leaders to challenge a surge in anti-Americanism and do more to help neighboring Iraq. Relations with the Muslim ally have been strained since the Turkish parliament refused to permit U.S. ground troops to invade Iraq from Turkey in 2003. Turkish officials and business executives now are concerned that the U.S. is letting Kurdish rebels operate with impunity against Turkey from northern Iraq. Fresh irritants have complicated the picture. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's February invitation to the violent Palestinian group Hamas to visit the Turkish capital irked U.S. officials, as did a blockbuster anti-American, anti-Semitic Turkish film, ``Valley of the Wolves: Iraq.'' ``There is a lot of disappointment'' in Washington over the Hamas visit and the movie, said Soner Cagaptay, who directs the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The movie, the most-watched Turkish film ever, depicts U.S. soldiers in Iraq as brutish and shows a Jewish doctor harvesting Iraqis' organs for sale. ``The film is absolutely magnificent,'' Turkey's parliamentary speaker, Bulent Arinc, said after watching it, according to the London-based Times newspaper. The new Turkish ambassador to the U.S., Nabi Sensoy, defined the spats over the film and the hosting of Hamas as ``hiccups'' in the relationship at a lecture at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington last week. Overhaul Sought Other prominent Turks say there are deeper troubles. Mustafa Koc, the chairman of Turkey's biggest industrial company, Koc Holding AS, told a Washington audience last month that the U.S.- Turkish relationship needs an overhaul. ``Concrete steps'' are required to confront the Kurdish rebels, known as the PKK, and the U.S. must engage in ``constructive dialogue'' rather than ``imposition'' to settle policy differences, said Koc, whose conglomerate builds cars with Ford Motor Co. From the perspective of Turkish companies, friendlier ties with the U.S. should translate into dollars. While Turkish executives point to such transactions as General Electric Co.'s $1.56 billion purchase last year of a stake in Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS, a consumer bank, Koc said at a Washington conference that U.S. investment overall is ``very minimal.'' Democracy `Anchor' Turkey's value to the U.S. often comes down to geography and democracy, say observers of the country. Turkey borders Iraq and is a conduit for goods and construction services; Turkish companies have long-standing trade ties with Iraq. What's more, the U.S. points to Turkey and its 73 million people as an example of a stable Muslim democracy. ``I think Turkey sees itself very much -- and we see Turkey -- as having a strong anchor in democracy, a strong anchor in European traditions, but also having a great deal to say to the future of the Middle East and to be a part of that future,'' Rice told reporters yesterday en route to the region. Iraq's prime minister-designate, Jawad al-Maliki, is trying to finish shaping a government that can secure the country and rebuild its oil-based economy. Rice will encourage Turkish officials to back sanctions on Iran to thwart its suspected efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, U.S. officials and analysts said. Turkey has urged Iran to clarify the objectives of its nuclear program while stopping short of supporting sanctions. ``The best way to get a message across to the Turkish elite is in closed, high-level meetings,'' Cagaptay said of Rice's visit. ``What she's going to tell them is we are concerned about Turkey's place in the Western world.'' Anti-Americanism A Bush administration official described Turkish anti- Americanism as shallow and predicted it would dissipate if violence subsides in Iraq. A survey of Turkish public opinion sponsored by the German Marshall Fund last year showed 73 percent of Turks say U.S. leadership in the world is undesirable. Animating the anti-U.S. opinion is the existence of an enclave inside Iraq near Turkey's border with an estimated 4,000 members of the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, a group labeled by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. ``We need to work with the Turks, and with the coalition, to do what we can to deal with the PKK problem,'' Rice said yesterday, without committing to any military action. ``But we want to do it in a way that does not cause greater instability in the north.'' Arab Summit Even with U.S. pressure to tilt westward, a prominent view in Turkey at the moment is that the country can only be a regional power by developing good ties with its Arab neighbors, analysts say. Erdogan demonstrated this when he attended the Arab League Summit in Khartoum, Sudan, last month and was made an observer. As for Turkey's decision to host Hamas officials, Rice yesterday said the Turkish government had used the opportunity to ``send a very strong message'' that the group, now running the Palestinian government, must recognize Israel's existence. Rice was due to stop in Greece on the way to Turkey and is set to visit Sofia, Bulgaria, on April 27 for informal NATO discussions on the agenda for the November summit of the alliance in Riga, Latvia. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #6 Dibs on the wishbone. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2006-04-25 22:56 |
| #5 Remember, folks, that Turkey's held out as one of the ideal Islamic nations. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-04-25 19:05 |
| #4 News from the Future! Aug 2017, Ankara, Today Turkey turned down an offer of membership in the Eurabian Union (ER). The Turkish PM reiterated concerns about allowing Islamists 'activists' from the EU to have open access to Turkey. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-04-25 18:55 |
| #3 "I'll bet they had no idea that Turkish audiences would think it was a true-to-life story." I'll bet they don't care one way or 'tother. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-04-25 16:35 |
| #2 thanks to Hollywoodistan for providing willing "American" actors. Well, dumb actors at least. The evil American officer is played by Billy Zane, famous for being evil dude on Titanic. The doctor who harvests the organs of iraqis for sale is Gary Busey, whose career has nose dived since the Buddy Holly movie. At the best, they're B-list actors in B-list movies. Most likely they'll do any part if the check clears. I'll bet they had no idea that Turkish audiences would think it was a true-to-life story. |
| Posted by: Steve 2006-04-25 12:39 |
| #1 the most-watched Turkish film ever, depicts U.S. soldiers in Iraq as brutish and shows a Jewish doctor harvesting Iraqis' organs for sale. ``The film is absolutely magnificent,'' Turkey's parliamentary speaker, Bulent Arinc, said after watching it, according to the London-based Times newspaper. My thanks to Hollywoodistan for providing willing "American" actors. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-04-25 10:15 |