BUSH’S VICTORY, AND A NAGGING
QUESTION
BY TUFAN TURENC (HURRIYET)
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan yesterday sent their congratulations to
US President George W. Bush for winning a second term on
Tuesday’s election. Pointing to healthy relations
between Turkey and the US, the two top leaders stated
that they expected those ties would grow stronger during
Bush’s second term. They added that Ankara would
continue to cooperate with the US in the fight against
terrorism. /Turkiye/
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to travel
to Luxembourg on Nov. 14 for an official visit. The
visit is important since Luxembourg will assume the
rotating European Union presidency on Jan. 1. During his
stay, Erdogan is expected to meet with Luxembourg Prime
Minister Jean Claude Junker and seek his support for
Turkey beginning its EU accession talks. In related
news, on Dec. 3-4 Erdogan is due to pay an official
visit to the Netherlands, the current EU president.
/Aksam/
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday warned
members of his ruling Justice and Development Party
(AKP) to steer clear of any statements which might
antagonize French President Jacques Chirac in the runup
to Dec. 17, the day European Union decision-makers are
set to decide on starting Turkey’s EU membership talks.
“I believe Chirac will take a positive stance on our
membership bid,” said Erdogan. “However, he asked me to
understand the problems he’s facing due to domestic
opposition to our joining the EU. Therefore, everybody
should be careful not to make statements in this period
that could bother him. We must show understanding for
his problems.” /Hurriyet/
Visiting Lisbon yesterday, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul met with
Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio. During their
meeting, Sampio lent support for Turkey’s European Union
membership bid. At December’s EU summit, a date is
expected for beginning Turkey’s accession talks.
Turkey’s accession process may take as long as
Portugual’s, but the important thing is not to be
demoralized, counseled the president. Stressing that
Turkey was ready for its negotiations, Gul asked the EU
to treat Ankara the same as all other candidates. The
Turkish foreign minister then met with Portuguese
parliamentarians and businessmen and in the late
afternoon saw Jose Socrates, the opposition Socialist
Party leader. After completing his contacts in Lisbon,
Gul proceeded to Brussels to attend EU meetings, where
he is expected to see EU Commissioner for Enlargement
Guenter Verheugen. /Turkiye/
Last month’s European Union Commission progress report on Turkey
contains elements which could complicate Ankara’s EU
accession talks, yesterday warned Murat Sungar, Turkey’s
secretary-general for EU relations. Addressing a
conference on Turkey’s EU bid, Sungar reiterated
Turkey’s determination for membership. /Cumhuriyet/
The French Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission yesterday rejected a
proposal for a European Union “special partnership” with
Turkey in lieu of full membership. The proposal, made by
the Union for French Democracy (UFD), was voted down
during debates on France’s contribution to EU financial
aid for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).
/Turkiye/
Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos yesterday threatened that his
government would veto Turkey beginning its European
Union accession negotiations if Ankara doesn’t recognize
Greek Cyprus by Dec. 16, one day before the EU summit
when the Union is to decide on beginning talks. Speaking
to reporters before flying to Brussels, Papadopoulos
predicted that if Turkey doesn’t “fulfill its
obligations” it won’t get a date. “Recognizing Greek
Cyprus is Ankara’s obligation not only for us, but also
for the EU,” said Papadopoulos, adding that he would
discuss the issue in Brussels with EU foreign policy
chief Javier Solana. /Cumhuriyet/
NATO officials yesterday announced that Turkey is to
take over command of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in
Afghanistan next February, to be followed by a
co-command of Italy, Britain and Spain. Currently the
ISAF is commanded by the Eurocorps, an intervention
force including troops from Belgium, Spain and
Luxembourg. A number of countries including Turkey, the
Czech Republic and Romania have agreed to take turns at
the command of Kabul airport, said one NATO official.
The number of troops to be sent to Afghanistan is to be
determined at a NATO meeting on Nov. 23 in Brussels.
/Hurriyet/
Germany’s visiting Greens Group leader Claudia Roth
yesterday traveled to the southeastern Anatolian
province of Sirnak. While there, Roth asked local mayors
whether tanks that Turkey purchased from Germany some
years ago had been used against civilians. “It’s very
important to us that the German tanks were not used
against the civilian population,” she added afterwards.
Roth and her accompanying delegation then went to the
Habur Border Gate where they listened to the complaints
and problems of Turkish trucker drivers doing business
in neighboring Iraq. /Hurriyet/
Columnist Sami Kohen comments on the US President George W. Bush and
Turkish-US relations. A summary of his column is as
follows:
“Will US President George W. Bush change? In other
words, will he change the policies of his first term?
Everybody around the world is talking about this and
wondering. We hope that he will be more realistic,
compromising and pragmatic rather than continuing to act
unilaterally and aggressively on foreign policy.
Everybody in the US knows that unilateral and aggressive
policies bring bad results. In addition, the political
and economic pricetag of Iraq is mounting. International
hatred of Bush’s policies is turning into
anti-Americanism. In his second term, Bush will need to
move closer to Europe, avoid more military adventures,
deal with such problems as the Palestinian issue and be
more respectful to international bodies like the United
Nations. In short, Bush should review his first-term
policies. Such changes would help Turkish-US relations.
It’s clear that the thorniest aspect of our recent
relations is the Iraq issue, that is, its territorial
integrity and stability, the Kurdish formation in the
north and the presence of the PKK terrorist group. For
these reasons, there’s still tension between Ankara and
Washington.
No great changes in the US policy on Iraq should be
expected in the short term. However, Bush can give
Turkey’s sensitivity and expectations more consideration
and stand with Ankara. This will be a test of how much
Bush will change. Similarly, if Bush doesn’t change how
he approaches Turkey’s neighbors such as Syria, this
will put us into a difficult situation and rock the
region. Turkey has an active role in these issues. If
Bush tries to solve the problems in cooperation with his
allies instead of acting unilaterally, Turkey can help
this. Finally, if he adopts a policy of transatlantic
rapprochement, this will also boost Turkish-US
relations. Our diplomacy wants to maintain its freedom
of movement in foreign policy, and it doesn’t want to
have to choose between America and the European Union. A
US-EU rapprochement would make things much easier for
Turkey.”
Columnist Tufan Turenc comments on this week’s US presidential
elections. A summary of his column is as follows:
“When US President George W. Bush put the blame for
the September 11 attacks on distant countries and
societies, he gained the support of many conservatives.
Many Americans saw Bush as a leader who would protect
them from terrorism. Thus, the Republicans scored a
great victory. Yet many other Americans and people in
other parts of the world thought that Bush’s violent
policies would fail. We’ll see whether Bush’s victory
will make the US president and his hawks more aggressive
or make them see common sense. No doubt that Bush’s
victory is in no way good for the world. One cannot help
but worry about humanity when Bush is in office, because
his policies can neither end terrorism, nor lead to
peace in the Middle East. Bush ruined everything that
his predecessor Bill Clinton did over eight years for a
positive US image internationally.
Even people who favor the war in Iraq accept that the
US is in a quagmire there. Over 1,100 American soldiers
have been killed. Americans have killed 100,000 Iraqi
civilians. What was Bush’s justification? ‘Saddam poses
a threat to the US because Iraq has weapons of mass
destruction.’ These justifications proved wrong. What
will happen now? Iraq will become an even greater
nightmare for the US. What will the future of the region
be if Bush leaves Iraq in such chaos?
Looking at the US elections from the Turkish angle,
the situation is clear: US policies about Turkey
wouldn’t have changed much even if Kerry had been
elected. In fact Kerry’s policies on Cyprus and the
Armenian question weren’t clear, and this could have
caused some problems. Thus, in the short term, Bush’s
victory is good for Turkey. But in the long run, there’s
no doubt that Bush’s violent policies will also harm
Turkey. In the future the US will have to leave Iraq in
chaos and this will cause trouble for Turkey and other
countries in the region. Whatever we say, the world will
have to live with Bush for four more years. The election
is over, but this question still nags me. Would Bush
have won if Hillary Clinton had been the Democrats’
candidate instead of Kerry?”
