The American point of view of Turkey’s Foreign Policy under AKP tagged: , ,

The American point of view of Turkey’s Foreign Policy under AKP

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Turkey-GR

I am overwhelmed by the thousands leaked secret diplomatic cables posted on internet. Cables that apart from juicy (Gaddafi’s blond nurse), funny (“Teflon” Merkel ) and definitely offending characterizations for some political leaders and allies to USA , they show one more thing: How obssessive the US Diplomacy is on collecting gathering information. I mean, they are diplomats not men and women working for the intelligence service, right? Anyway…

I have been trying to get some information on Greece, Cyprus and Turkey  but I have been disappointed on the two first countries , as not much have been leaked, at least not so far.

However the cables from Ankara can give some clues not only about Turkey’s ambitions but also about Washington’s  interests in the region – starting from Iran and Armenia and ending in the Balkans – and the American dislike toward  Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s Neo-Ottoman policies . 

Turkey’s Foreign Policy under the AKP

One cable of interest is the US-ambassador to Ankara,  James Jeffrey’s report entitled: What lies beneath Ankara’s New Foreign Policy. The cable must have been sent to Washington early 2010. I post here some excerpts but you can read the whole cable in Armenian Weekly.

Ambassador Jeffrey not only highlights Ankara’s diplomatic openings to its neighbours (Cyprus, Greece, Armenia among others) but also criticizes Turkey’s inability to bring to constructive end its initiatives “What we fear is that this inability to bring to conclusion foreign policy initiatives.” 

H marks as impressive the foreign policy initiatives of recent years ( ”The list of Turkish initiatives under the AKP is impressive:  accepting the Annan Plan in 2004 to resolve Cyprus, continuing the 1999 rapprochement with Greece …”) but he downplays them as Much-a-do-about-nothing  or at least as very little in substance.

Little of Practical and Final Value

“While this new approach is to be applauded, there is a fly in its ointment.  Little of true practical and final accomplishment has been achieved. Cyprus is still split (albeit the fault, at least in terms of the Annan plan, lies more with the Greek Cypriots and the EU); tensions with Greece in the Aegean continue.”  And further he writes that “Turkey continued its overflights of  the Greek islands.”

He criticizes Turkey for ”making a foreign policy consisting  mainly of  popular slogans, ceaseless trips, and innumerable signatures on MOUs of little importance”.

At the very end…

Jeffry predicts that in terms of  foreign policy Turkey will continue to focus on the Islamic World and its Muslim tradition while keeping its Western orientation. He concludes that:
“This calls for a more issue-by-issue approach, and recognition that Turkey will often go its own way.  In any case, sooner or later we will no longer have to deal with the current cast
of political leaders, with their special yen for destructive drama and – rhetoric.  But we see no one better on the horizon.”
 
The American ambassador to Ankara sees as “The greatest potential strategic problem for the US, …., however,  is the Turks neo-Ottoman posturing around the Middle East and Balkans.”
 
He compares Turkish ambitions to acquaint regional leadership as “Rolls Royce ambitions but Rover resources.”
 
Read Full article in Armenia Weekly
 

More Startling Wikileaks to come in the next days

 
Meanwhile British newspaper Guardian, Investigations Executive Editor David Leigh says  “In the coming days, we are going to see some quite startling disclosures about Russia, the nature of the Russian state, and about bribery and corruption in other countries….We will see a wrath of disclosures about pretty terrible things going on around the world.” Guardian is one of the newspapers to which whistle-blower Wikileaks passed the  270.000 secret documents.