US President Barack Obama said that Europe's reluctance to allow Turkey into the European Unions may have pushed Ankara to "look elsewhere," in an interview published in the Thursday edition of Italian daily Corriere della Sera.Obama said that the US "always expressed the opinion that it would be wise to accept Turkey into the European Union. I recognize this raises strong feelings in Europe, and I do not think...[this] is the sole or predominant factor at the root of some changes recently observed in Turkey's orientation."
It's not that recently. Erdogan's got a majority in 2002, about a year after 9/11.
However, Obama told the Italian newspaper, this is "destined to play a role in how Turkish people see Europe. If they do not feel like they're being treated as part of the European family, it's natural that they would look elsewhere for alliances.
EU membership is much more than an alliance. A rough analogy for the US would be Mexico joining the United States as one or several new States of the Union.
"Although some things, such as an attempt to broker an agreement with Iran on nuclear issue, have been unfortunate, I think they were motivated by the fact that Turkey has a long border area with Iran and does not want any type of conflict in that area," Obama added.
"Perhaps the desire to flex muscles played a role," Obama told Corriere della Sera. "What we can do is continue to work with Ankara, clarify to them the benefits of integrating with the West, while respecting their unique qualities, that they are a great Islamic democracy."
The net result so far of 'Turkish integration with the West' includes a sharp turn against Israel by the entire political establishment in Germany.
As Germany often is the lone pro-Israel holdout in the EU, this will have a disproportional negative effect of Israel's diplomatic standing.
Obama likely considers this a plus.
Obama said that alliances with Turkey "can potentially be very good for us, if they embody a kind of Islam that respects universal human rights and the secular state, and can have a positive influence on the Muslim world."
However Turkey forced the NATO Secretary General to apologize for not enforcing Sharia as Denmark's PM.
Turkey officially demands Sharia restrictions for non-muslims in other NATO countries, which would necessitate a partial repeal of the 1st Amendment in the US.
The issue is Turkey's negative influence on the Western World; not some hypothetical influence on the Islamic World.