Turkey—Ally or Adversary?

By Gene Rossides

April 9, 2011

Is Turkey an ally or adversary of the United States and the West?

Since the Erdogan regime took office in Turkey in 2002, the evidence is sufficient to state that Turkey has been since 2002 an adversary of the United States and the West.

From the refusal in 2003 to allow the United States to open a second front against Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq by asking for 6 billion dollars more than the 26 billion dollars irresponsibly offered by the then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz to Turkey, an alleged ally, to support the United States. The U.S, Treasury representative in those negotiations was quoted in the New York Times as calling Turkey’s actions “extortion in the name of alliance.”

Turkey’s actions in 2003 made efforts against Saddam Hussein more difficult and more costly in U.S. lives according to Defense Department officials.

Turkey then embarked on a pro-Iran policy in direct opposition to U.S. positions. Turkey’s pro-Iran positions, including opposition to Iranian opponents of Iran’s religious dictatorship, continue currently unabated.

Turkey’s Erdogan regime, influenced greatly by its Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, also embarked on an anti-Israeli policy. In 2004, at the Davos annual conference Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan publicly attacked Israel’s President Simon Perez for Israel’s Palestinian policy.

Erdogan’s attacks on Israel continued since then and Turkey initiated the flotilla that tried to break the Israeli blockade which resulted in Israel ships attacking the Turkish flotilla ship.

One important result of Erdogan’s anti-Israel actions was the demise of the Turkey-Israel military cooperation agreement arranged in 1996 by an initiative, of Leon Fuerth, National Security Advisor to then Vice President Al Gore.

That agreement, in my view, was harmful to U.S. interests in the area. Its ending has provided for the development of a strengthened Greece-Israel relationship which is beneficial to U.S. interests in the region.

Also during this period, Erdogan has praised the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir who had been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. Erdogan praised him and actually stated that the Sudanese president was a fellow Muslim and a Muslim does not commit genocide.