What does the US really want?

IHSAN DAGI
i.dagi@todayszaman.com

What does the US really want?

I wonder if the US administration is aware that the prevailing negative public perception of the US is destroying the social and psychological basis of a working relationship in the long run between the US and Turkey. Even if a rapprochement is made today on the government level, it will be very difficult to carry it out in an atmosphere of common distrust and disappointment among the Turks. In an ever-democratizing Turkey, no government can remain indifferent to the demands and opinions of the masses. At the moment both sides seem to be losing their ability to make a new start in the future. Anti-Americanism has become part of "popular culture" with novels, movies, and TV series. While I sense some sort of an orchestrated effort to impact the negative American image in public, some actions and inactions of the US administration are paving the way towards this end.

Let's be honest, the US is not viewed as an ally, a strategic partner or a friend today. The image of the US is that of an adversary, which is largely due to its inaction when it comes to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its policy toward northern Iraq. Like it or not, many in this country have come to see the US as a national security threat and not as an ally.

The widespread belief is that the US wants Turkey to divide up along ethnic lines to create a Kurdish state. An independent Kurdish state is believed to be a reliable, long-term ally in the region for the US, whose friends are low in number both in the region and in the rest of the world. Here reliability, in fact, means "dependence" on the US. Being surrounded by enemy states and nations -- Turkey in the north, Iran in the east, Syria in the west and the Sunni Arabs in the south -- an imaginary Kurdish state will be nothing but dependent on the US for its survival. And this is the basis of a perfect ally for the US. Along with Israel, such a Kurdish state in northern Iraq under the protection of the US is believed to be the objective of the US. An independent Kurdish state is expected to be a permanent ally for the US.

Strengthening its Kurdish ally or poking their nose into trouble and thus needing US help, it is also believed that the US is encouraging the Kurds of Turkey to be part of a greater Kurdish state. Many argue that the US support is not confined to Iraqi Kurds; the PKK is armed with American weapons. There is even talk of the US sharing intelligence on the Turkish military with the PKK.
It would be a mistake to think that all these are the views of the "public." These have indeed also become the views of many policy-makers who are in the security establishment and political institutions.

I think it is getting too late for the US to convince the Turkish people and authorities of alliance and friendship. Unless it moves quickly and disproves current public perceptions, Turkish-American relations will be permanently and structurally damaged.

I still believe that the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and its leader, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, are capable of controlling the nationalist outcry. But they should be provided with some sort of gains in the fight against the PKK. Otherwise, the nationalist fever will hijack Turkish politics and crash all, including those who assist them in their politics, the military and the media, creating waves of tension and clashes both in Turkey and in its neighbors.

The US administration should realize before it's too late that the PKK is sabotaging the Turkish-US alliance -- does the US have any interest in maintaining it? The PKK is also sabotaging stability and security in Iraq and the region as a whole -- does the US have any interest in securing it? I would even argue that the PKK is sabotaging a possible Kurdish independent state in northern Iraq -- does the US have any interest in having it? Moreover, the PKK is also sabotaging the friendship and understanding between the US and the Iraqi Kurds -- does the US have any interest in keeping it?
I wonder if the Americans do not see that they are being fooled by the PKK.

Anyhow, I still think that the US administration will not sacrifice its relationship with Turkey to the PKK and will avoid going down in history as the administration that lost Turkey.
29.10.2007