Gates: Rhetoric Harms Turkey, U.S. Relations
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Tuesday
said Turkish anger over proposed U.S. congressional resolutions could have a
negative effect on that country’s support for the U.S. military conflicts in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Our two nations should oppose measures and
rhetoric that needlessly and destructively antagonize each other,” Gates said in
a speech before the American-Turkish Council in Washington, D.C. “That includes
symbolic resolutions by the United States Congress, as well as the type of
anti-American and extremist rhetoric that sometimes finds a home in Turkish
political discourse.”
Two recently introduced bipartisan
congressional resolutions condemn the 1915-1917 mass killings of 1.5 Armenians
as “genocide” — something long acknowledged by historians but that Turkey
denies.
Gates said that, partly as a result of that
tension, the war in Iraq is “one of the most difficult matters we have had to
work through as allies.”
Turkey, a NATO ally, would like to wipe out the
Kurdish militant group popularly known by its old initials — PKK, for Kurdistan
Workers’ Party — that is based in northern Iraq. More than 20 years of Turkish
conflict with the separatist group has produced some 30,000 total casualties,
according to the U.S. State Department.
The U.S. wants to maintain the relative
stability that much of northern Iraq enjoys.
“We recognize that every Turkish citizen killed
by the PKK is a setback for success in Iraq, and a setback in our relationship
with Turkey,” Gates said. “As President Bush has underscored, the United States
is committed to the stability and territorial integrity of Iraq, and opposes
policies or groups that would undermine that integrity in any way.”
Gates said that the strategic relationship
between the U.S. and Turkey “has undergone some turbulence in recent years,”
later adding, “All relationships need work to remains strong.”
But ties remain strong, Gates said, noting that
Turkey has provided access to Iraq from its Incirlik Air Base, has commanded two
security force rotations in Afghanistan and is a partner in the Joint Strike
Fighter project. Gates also said 16 U.S. Navy ships made port calls in Turkey
last year.
Turkey, as well as other NATO members, has a
vital interest in a successful outcome in Iraq, Gates said.
“Whatever disagreements we might have over how
we got to this point in Iraq, the consequences of a failed state in Iraq, of
chaos there, will adversely affect every member of the Atlantic alliance, and
none more so than Turkey,” Gates said.
Yet while Turkey will continue to play a role
in that effort, the U.S. needs other countries in the region to do their parts
to help stabilize Iraq, Gates said.
“Iraq’s neighbors will have to play a
constructive role going forward, even if they haven’t done so in the past,”
Gates said. “Especially in encouraging political reconciliation and reduction of
violence within Iraq. This is certainly the case with Syria and Iran, who have
not been helpful.” Gates has voiced similar thoughts since becoming defense
secretary.
Gates has previously called for greater
dialogue with Iran. But in his speech, he seemed to express some pessimism over
the efforts.
“In dealing with a regime like Iran’s, one has
to be realistic,” Gates said. “The American search for elusive Iranian moderates
is a recurring and mostly fruitless theme since the revolution in 1979.” But he
said the recent regional talks in Baghdad “were a good start” and that the U.S.
is open to higher-level exchanges.
“We should have no illusions about the nature
of this regime,” Gates said of Iran. “Or about their designs for their nuclear
program, their intentions for Iraq, or their ambitions in the Gulf region.”
