Lankan Ranger
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Cooperation on Libya brings Turkey & US closer
The approach that Ankara described as being cautious when dealing with the international operation in Libya was called unjustified intransigence by a considerable number of analysts. Some of them further suggested that Washington, annoyed at this intransient approach, has eventually run out of patience.
This perception was also reflected in remarks by a retired senior diplomat, now a leading executive in the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP). Retired Ambassador and CHP Deputy Chairman Osman Korutürk, who led a CHP delegation that had various meetings in Washington last week, spoke of their impressions.
During our talks, we also got the impression that there was an expectation for Turkey to play a leadership role in popular uprisings in the Middle East but that it has failed to do so. The impression we got there is that Turkey has fallen behind these developments, Korutürk said.
Yet, what senior US and Turkish officials voiced this week doesnt exactly fit into the framework of the picture sketched by those analysts and politicians.
Look at what NATO is doing today with Turkey, not as a country being consulted but Turkey in leadership conversations and very much shaping what NATO is doing in Libya. For all of us this is a new phenomenon, US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone said on Thursday when he visited the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (USAK).
What Turkey has done in the meantime -- during the process leading up to NATOs eventual takeover from the United States of the command of all air operations over Libya on Thursday and an international conference on Libya in London on Tuesday, and amid ambiguity and controversy over what responsibility the so-called coalition of the willing will take for Libyas future once they have carried out the UN mission to protect citizens -- can be summarized as: regularly hosting visitors from Middle Eastern countries in a bid to strengthen the notion of regional ownership via constant dialogue and tirelessly underlining the importance it attaches to the protection of the territorial integrity of countries in the region. Turkeys focus on those elements stemmed from its earlier experiences in the Balkans and Afghanistan and, as a matter of fact, sensitivities reflected by Ankara have matched those of US President Barack Obama, who definitely doesnt want to experience a repeat of the US failures in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A senior Turkish diplomat has pointed out the consistency in Ankaras approach from the beginning by saying that the operation in Libya should be claimed by regional countries. Otherwise, no matter what kind of a coalition it is, it would be labeled solely as Western, by people of the region, the diplomat told Sundays Zaman.
Cooperation on Libya brings Turkey, US closer
The approach that Ankara described as being cautious when dealing with the international operation in Libya was called unjustified intransigence by a considerable number of analysts. Some of them further suggested that Washington, annoyed at this intransient approach, has eventually run out of patience.
This perception was also reflected in remarks by a retired senior diplomat, now a leading executive in the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP). Retired Ambassador and CHP Deputy Chairman Osman Korutürk, who led a CHP delegation that had various meetings in Washington last week, spoke of their impressions.
During our talks, we also got the impression that there was an expectation for Turkey to play a leadership role in popular uprisings in the Middle East but that it has failed to do so. The impression we got there is that Turkey has fallen behind these developments, Korutürk said.
Yet, what senior US and Turkish officials voiced this week doesnt exactly fit into the framework of the picture sketched by those analysts and politicians.
Look at what NATO is doing today with Turkey, not as a country being consulted but Turkey in leadership conversations and very much shaping what NATO is doing in Libya. For all of us this is a new phenomenon, US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone said on Thursday when he visited the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organization (USAK).
What Turkey has done in the meantime -- during the process leading up to NATOs eventual takeover from the United States of the command of all air operations over Libya on Thursday and an international conference on Libya in London on Tuesday, and amid ambiguity and controversy over what responsibility the so-called coalition of the willing will take for Libyas future once they have carried out the UN mission to protect citizens -- can be summarized as: regularly hosting visitors from Middle Eastern countries in a bid to strengthen the notion of regional ownership via constant dialogue and tirelessly underlining the importance it attaches to the protection of the territorial integrity of countries in the region. Turkeys focus on those elements stemmed from its earlier experiences in the Balkans and Afghanistan and, as a matter of fact, sensitivities reflected by Ankara have matched those of US President Barack Obama, who definitely doesnt want to experience a repeat of the US failures in Afghanistan and Iraq.
A senior Turkish diplomat has pointed out the consistency in Ankaras approach from the beginning by saying that the operation in Libya should be claimed by regional countries. Otherwise, no matter what kind of a coalition it is, it would be labeled solely as Western, by people of the region, the diplomat told Sundays Zaman.
Cooperation on Libya brings Turkey, US closer
