Is Turkey a reliable ally to the U.S.?
Washington, DC — The following Op-Ed by AHI President Gene Rossides appeared in
the April 22, 2006 issue of The National Herald, page 13.
Gene Rossides - President of the American Hellenic Institute
The surfacing last year in Turkey of virulent anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism
raises the question of what should U.S. relations with Turkey be in the
interests of the U.S.?
To answer this question we need to answer the following first
-Is Turkey a reliable ally?
-What is Turkey’s strategic, political and economic value to the U.S.?
-Is Turkey a friend or a foe of the U.S. (or somewhere in-between)?
I submit that Turkey is not a friend of the U.S.; that Turkey’s interests
basically are not compatible with U.S. interests; that Turkey is of minimal
strategic value to the U.S. and that Turkey is clearly and fundamentally an
unreliable ally.
Let’s look at the record.
Is Turkey a reliable ally?
The evidence is overwhelming that Turkey is an unreliable ally whose actions
damaged the U.S. during the Cold War decades and more recently in the 21st
century.
I have written previously regarding Turkey’s traitorous conduct during the Cold
War when Turkey actively aided the Soviet military to the serious detriment of
the U.S. Let me repeat three examples.
1. During the 1973 Mid-East War, Turkey refused the U.S. military
overflight rights to resupply Israel and granted the U.S.S.R. overland military
convoy rights to resupply Syria and Iraq, and military overflight permission to
resupply Egypt. A member of the Turkish Foreign Policy Institute in Ankara
wrote:
During the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, Moscow’s overflights of Turkish airspace
were tolerated. On the other hand, during the same Middle East conflict, Turkey
refused to allow the United States refueling and reconnaissance facilities
during the American airlift to Israel. (Karaosmanoglu, “Turkey’s Security and
the Middle East,” 52 Foreign Affairs 157, 163, Fall 1983.)
2. In the 1977-78 conflict in Ethiopia, Turkey granted the Soviets
military overflight rights to support the pro-Soviet minority of Ethiopian
communist insurgents, led by Colonel Mengistu, who eventually prevailed and
established a Marxist dictatorship directly dependent upon the Soviet Union.
Giant Soviet Antonov-22 transport aircraft ferried Cuban troops, Soviet weapons
and other assorted needs to Ethiopia through Turkish airspace. By late December
1977, 17,000 Cuban troops were in Ethiopia. The Cuban troops were immediately
moved to the fighting front against Somali and anti-communist Ethiopian forces.
They effectively turned the tide in favor of the communists. (C. Meyer, Facing
Reality- From World Federalism to the CIA 276-80, 1980.)
3. Over NATO objections, Turkey allowed three Soviet aircraft carriers,
the Kiev on July 18, 1976, the Minsk on February 25, 1979 and the Novorosiisk on
May 16, 1983, passage rights through the Bosphorous and Dardanelles Straits into
the Mediterranean in violation of the Montreux Convention of 1936. The Soviet
ships posed a formidable threat to the U.S. Sixth Fleet.
Most readers I assume are aware of Turkey’s unreliability as an ally on March 1,
2003, when the Turkish Parliament voted not to allow U.S. troops to use bases in
Turkey to open a northern front against Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.
That negative vote was maneuvered by the Erdogan government and the Turkish
military and was aimed at extracting another $6 billion over the $26 billion
irresponsibly offered to Turkey by then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul
Wolfowitz for use of bases in Turkey.
A U.S. administration official involved in the negotiations called Turkey’s
negotiating tactics “extortion in the name of
alliance.”
What is Turkey’s strategic, political and economic value to the U.S.?
The U.S. defeat of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship in 2003 without Turkey’s help
demonstrated conclusively that Turkey is of minimal strategic value to the U.S.
in the region.
The Turks did not allow the U.S. to use Incirlik airforce base in southeastern
Turkey in the Iraq war. It is not needed by the U.S. today and should be shut
down and U.S. taxpayer money saved. Its primary use was to patrol the Iraqi Kurd
no-fly zone against Saddam Hussein’s government.
In the early years of the Cold War, the U.S. placed nuclear warheads on Turkish
soil. In 1962, during the Cuban missile crisis with the Soviet Union, President
John F. Kennedy secretly removed the U.S. nuclear missiles from Turkey as part
of the deal in which the Soviet Union removed its nuclear missiles from Cuba.
From the time of the removal of U.S. missiles from Turkey in 1962 to the end of
the Cold War in 1990, Turkey was of minimal strategic value to the U.S. And as
stated above, Turkey actually aided the Soviet military to the detriment of U.S.
interests.
After the end of the Cold War, Turkey’s proponents in the State and Defense
Departments and its paid U.S. foreign agents, came up with the argument that
Turkey, a 99.9% Muslim country, is a democracy and can be a model for other
Muslim nations in the Middle East and a bridge between the East and West,
particularly in Central Asia. That allegation was false then and is false today.
And Turkey’s alleged value to the U.S. in Central Asia was a complete failure.
That argument did prolong military and economic aid to Turkey for several years
at U.S. taxpayer expense.
The U.S. has minor trade and commercial relations with Turkey. Whatever they are
now or in the future they should not interfere with U.S. support of the rule of
law and democratic values in our relations with Turkey.
Freedom House in its annual report does not list Turkey as a democracy! It is
listed as a partial democracy. It lacks freedom of speech; it lacks religious
freedom and is openly against Eastern Orthodox Christians and Jews; it regularly
conducts ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and genocide against its 20%
Kurdish minority; and its human rights violations against its citizens in
general is extensive.
Turkey’s military is not under civilian rule and Turkey is an aggressor in
Cyprus and continues to illegally occupy 37.7 of Cyprus, now in its 32nd year.
Turkey continues to blockade Armenia over U.S. objections. And Turkey refuses to
acknowledge its genocide against the Armenians in 1915-1916 and the massacres
against the Armenians in 1894-1896.
Turkey is hardly a model for Muslim nations or anyone.
Is Turkey a friend or a foe of the U.S. (or somewhere in-between)?
Based on the record of the past several decades, there is no substantial
evidence to justify calling Turkey a friend of the U.S. Turkey’s interests and
aims are in most cases not in accord with or compatible with those of the U.S.
While I believe the evidence makes it clear that Turkey is not a friend of the
U.S., I do not believe the evidence is adequate to call Turkey an outright foe
of the U.S. Turkey’s actions have done substantial damage to the U.S. over the
past 50 years from its support of the Soviet military; its invasion of Cyprus
and continuing occupation of 37.3 % of Cyprus; its blockade of Armenia; its
crimes against its 20% Kurdish minority; its actions against the Iraqi Kurds;
its substantial drug trafficking and its “No” vote of March 1, 2003.
These actions and others by Turkey bring Turkey close to the line of being a foe
but not over that line yet.
However, Turkey’s conduct and history are such that the U.S. in its relations
with Turkey should treat Turkey at arms length and should apply forceful
pressure to achieve U.S. aims.
Words are definitely not enough in dealing with Turkey to achieve U.S. goals.
For example, the U.S. seeks a Cyprus settlement based on a bi-zonal, bi-communal
federation in a state with a single sovereignty and international personality,
incorporating norms of a constitutional democracy embracing key American
principles, the EU acquis communautaire, UN resolutions on Cyprus and the
pertinent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the other European
Courts.
If the U.S. acted forcefully with Turkey using the full range of diplomatic
weapons, including economic sanctions, the withdrawal of trade benefits, and
pressure from international financial institutions, the Cyprus problem could be
solved in short order.
I reject the British argument that the Cyprus question is a difficult problem to
solve. It is a problem of aggression and occupation. The British started the
problem during their colonial rule by pitting an 18% minority against an 80%
majority for Britain’s selfish interests. The two communities have proven they
can live and work together peacefully.
The U.S. could go a long ways to solving the problem by publicly calling for the
demilitarization of the island, the removal of the Turkish barbed wire fence
separating the communities and the return of Turkey’s 120,000 illegal Turkish
settlers/colonists to Turkey and stating that if Turkey does not cooperate the
full range of diplomatic actions will be utilized.
In taking such action the U.S. should move multilaterally with other nations
through the UN Security Council.
Similar action should be taken against Turkey regarding full political and human
rights for the 20% Kurdish minority and for full religious freedom for the
Ecumenical Patriarchate, the return of church properties taken by the Turkish
government and the reopening of the Halki Patriarchal School of Theology.
Talking to Turkey has not and will not resolve these problems. State Department
officials misled the Greek American community for years by saying they will
speak to the Turkish government on our issues knowing that their comments would
have no impact on Turkey.
Turkey will only respond to forceful action. Turkey paid the several hundred
thousand dollars court judgment in the Loizidou case after several years only
when the Council of Europe threatened expulsion on a specific date if the
judgment was not paid.
Write to President Bush and Secretary Rice and urge them to apply forceful
pressure on Turkey to solve the above problems in which Turkey is the cause:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Tel. 202-456-1111 (Comments)
202-456-1414 (Main Switchboard)
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail: comments @ whitehouse.gov
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
The State Department
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Phone: 202-647-4000 (Main Switchboard)
Fax: 202-647-2283
For additional information, please contact Georgia Economou at (202) 785-8430 or
at georgia@ahiworld.org. For general information about the activities of AHI,
please see our website at http://www.ahiworld.org
