Clouds gathering over Turkish-US relations

"The style of leadership in Washington now has changed and is quite different from the Bush style. I am optimistic about the future of bilateral ties but there are two very serious problems on the horizon," retired Ambassador James Holmes, president of the American-Turkish Council, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review in an interview yesterday.

One issue is the negative repercussions in Washington from a public confrontation between Peres and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the now-infamous Davos panel that ended when the latter walked off stage, he said.

"As popular as that was in Turkey and in much of the Arab world it was received very negatively in the United States and particularly in the American-Jewish community, which has always been a supporter and ally of Turkey," said Holmes.

"The American-Jewish community’s support for Turkey's position on the Armenian genocide resolution, for example, is gone. They will not expend any political energy in blocking a resolution or a presidential proclamation."

Holmes said he watched the full panel debate.

'Mediator role blown away'
"I could see what happened, I could see who raised his voice first, I could see who pointed fingers, but in the United States we got 30 seconds in which Erdoğan lost his temper with Peres and stalked off stage. That was it and all the blame was put on Erdoğan's shoulders," he said. "That is not a fair presentation but is a fact of media life in the United States. I don't think it is permanent, I don't think it is terribly serious but it does need to be addressed."

Turkey has expended energy in positioning itself as peace broker in the Middle East and according to Holmes, the mediation role has been undertaken successfully for the better part of the year with a lot credit going to Turkey for this.

"And in the minds of most in Washington this has been blown away now by what happened in Davos," he said.

Holmes illustrated what he said was "the inconsistency of Turkey's policy of inclusiveness," in the case of Gaza when Erdoğan skipped Israel on his regional tour following the Israeli offensive and his rhetoric excluded recognition of some of the initiatives that were taken by Hamas and had led to violence.

As another example of inconsistency, Holmes said many in Washington questioned the visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, whose regime stands accused of genocide in Darfur.

"Turkey has shown an independent foreign policy streak over the last three or four years, much of that was appreciated or well-received in the United States. Over time people have begun to understand there was value in Turkey's ability to speak with Hamas, there was value in its ability to work with the leadership of Syria," Holmes said.

Anti-Semitism
"But this is certainly not the case with al-Bashir. Turkey received al-Bashir and his deputy was recently here (in Ankara), so many people have scratched their heads and asked what is going on here."

While the government's strong rhetoric against Israel raised questions over Turkey's regional role, it also awakened grave distress among Turkish Jews over rising anti-Semitism.

Holmes said some instances, particularly in Istanbul, had frightened the Turkish-Jewish community and led to the emergence of a feeling in Washington that Turkey and the government were moving in the direction of anti-Semitic behavior. "This is another sign of anti-Western behavior on the part of Turkey that has to be addressed," he added.

"It is all loss, no gain. This is the message that we need to get across in Washington," he said referring to Armenians’ efforts to make their claims regarding the 1915 incidents recognized as "genocide".

Armenia, with the backing of the diaspora, claims up to 1.5 million of their kin were slaughtered in orchestrated killings in 1915.

Turkey rejects the claims saying that 300,000 Armenians, along with at least as many Turks, died in civil strife that emerged when Armenians took up arms, backed by Russia, for independence in eastern Anatolia.

The issue remains unsolved as Armenia drags its feet on accepting Turkey's proposal to form an independent commission to investigate the claims.