What the US failed to see
The secularists want to make Erdoğan out to be Washington’s lackey, so he is going out of his way to disprove this. This is why he is also taking a hard line now on the issue of Northern Iraq, and ties with the US.
Relations between Turkey and its key ally of over 50 years standing continue to get worse as the uncertainty surrounding Iraq grows, and the PKK reaps benefits from this. The latest incident, in which the Turkish General Staff announced to the public through its web page that two US fighter jets had violated Turkish airspace, goes to show the level that the tension has reached.One would have assumed that two supposedly “key allies” would, in the event of such a violation, sort it out quietly among themselves. It seems, however, that the Turkish military wanted the public to know of this violation, and thus actively contributed to the already high level of anti-Americanism that prevails in the country.
Büyükanıt’s accusations to the US:
It will be recalled that General Yaşar Büyükanıt, the chief of the General Staff, had accused the US in April, of backing the Kurdish leadership in Northern Iraq, which he said was actively supporting the PKK. Büyükanıt did not name the US, of course, but even the “deaf sultan knew what he meant,” to cite a Turkish saying. Prime Minister Erdoğan, for his part, stirred the cauldron further on Wednesday, when he told the news channel NTV that if there was a second violation by US jet Turkey would know what to do. This was a loaded remark which the man on the street took to mean that those jets would be shot down. It is clear that if push comes to shove Erdoğan will deny this, and say that was not what he meant at all. What is important, however, is that he must have known how his remark would be interpreted. Despite this he felt no need to clarify it during his interview. When all of this is combined the picture that emerges is one of ties with Washington going from bad to worse. Not surprisingly some retired generals, who once held key positions in the military, are now calling for Turkey to quit NATO. It is clear that continuing PKK attacks against Turkey, and the political pretensions of “American backed” Northern Iraqi Kurds, are making the Turkish public and authorities alike see red. Does all of this have a “domestic agenda” that aims to stymie the political ambitions of the ruling AKP, considered by the military and Turkey’s hard-core secularist elite as a fundamentalist party with a hidden Islamic agenda? It would be naïve to answer this question in the negative. This is why Erdoğan is also taking a hard line now on the issue of Northern Iraq, and ties with the US. The secularists want to make him out to be Washington’s lackey so he is going out of his way to disprove this. But whatever the domestic political dimension of the problem may be, it is clear that all of this is having a very negative effect on Turkish – American ties. Then there is the increasingly foul political mood in Washington over the question of Iraq. Clearly, as America’s military debacle grows the anger will mount and one of the scapegoats will be Turkey “the so called ally that contributed to the mess by not supporting the US at a critical moment.” This will in turn add grist to the mill of the anti-Turkish lobby in Washington, most notably the Armenian lobby, and make matters even worse. So who is to blame for all of this?
What Turkey watchers missed:
Personally I think it is the American side. It relied too heavily on the assumption that as a “strategic ally” Turkey would support it come what may over Iraq. I think that both the embassy in Ankara at the time, and “Turkey watchers” in Washington did not understand what was going in this country. Neither did they realize that Turkey’s support for such international operations have always been predicated on “multilateralism” and “international legitimacy.” This is the only way that involvement in such operations can be sold to a public, which is always wary on these issues. The US-lead first Gulf War which was legitimized by the United Nations is a case in point.Another mistake of Washington’s was underestimating just how angry Turks can get over the PKK issue, especially with the number of body bags coming from the East increasing daily. The “special coordinators” appointed for this purpose, and the US promises of going after PKK funds in the West were taken by the Turkish public and authorities alike as mere devises to prevaricate and buy time. That time may have been bought for a while but at the price of “Metal Storm” scenarios now being aired, and the unthinkable, namely a military confrontation between Turkey and the US, being openly discusses in the media.