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Obama brings hope for warmer relations to Turkey

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-06 15:45

"Obama starts with a great advantage because his name is not George Bush," said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

While Bush was extremely unpopular in Turkey and the Islamic world, "there's a sense of goodwill toward the US, and particularly toward President Obama. And the entire Islamic world will be watching" Monday's speech to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, Aliriza said.

In talks with Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, and prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Obama will try to sell his strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He should find welcoming ears, given the new US focus on melding troop increases with civilian efforts to better the lives of people in both countries.

Related readings:  Obama lays out vision for nuke-free world  Obama campaigns for European support in Afghan terror fight  Obama pledges new US relations with Europe  Obama: Six-party talks to achieve Korean Peninsula issues

Turkey opposed the war in Iraq in 2003 and US forces were not allowed to go through Turkey to attack Iraq. Now, however, since Obama is withdrawing troops, Turkey has become more cooperative. It is going to be a key country after the US withdrawal in maintaining stability, although it has long had problems with Kurdish militants in north Iraq.

Turkey maintains a small military force in Afghanistan, part of the NATO contingent working with US troops to beat back the resurgent Taliban and deny al-Qaida a safe haven along the largely lawless territory that straddles Afghanistan's border with Pakistan. Turkey's participation carries enormous symbolic importance because it is the only Muslim country with a presence in the fight against Islamic extremism.

Turkey has diplomatic leverage with both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

One of the most contentious issues for Obama may be the Armenian genocide resolution before Congress. Obama supported the resolution during the 2008 presidential campaign, and Turks are worried that he will support it as president, which would be a break from both his two immediate predecessors, Bill Clinton and Bush, who opposed it

That could send a chilly blast through otherwise warming US-Turkish relations.

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