Bush Visit Moves US and Turkey Into New Era of "Strategic Cooperation"

By Sami Kohen

Relations between the US and Turkey, which have had their ups and downs in the past two decades, are now entering a new era of what diplomats on both sides call "strategic cooperation. " This turning point was marked by the recent visit of President George Bush to Turkey—the first such trip by a US president in 32 years.

The "strategic relationship," which Bush and President Turgut Ozal of Turkey each referred to in his speech, reflects a new concept on both sides of closer ties ranging from political consultation and security cooperation to expanded trade and business ties and scientific and cultural exchanges.

Even with the Cold War over, the two countries need each other.

The relationship in the past was based mainly on military cooperation. Since the 1950s, when Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and all through the years of the Cold War, the US regarded Turkey as an outpost of the Western defense system, along the borders of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact countries in Eastern Europe. It valued Turkey's contribution to the Western alliance, and the base facilities provided the US under NATO's umbrella. In return, the Turks regarded the US as their protector against Soviet and Communist expansionism, and a donor of much-needed economic and military assistance.

The end of the Cold War changed the relationship between Washington and Ankara. Turkey's strategic role, so important during the years of tension between East and West, was bound to erode. Nor, after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the emergence of new democracies in Eastern Europe, could Turkey's role in Europe remain the same.

Subsequent developments, however, renewed Turkey's importance in Washington's eyes. The Gulf crisis—and war—demonstrated that Turkey is a country that neither the US nor the Western allies should underestimate. Turkey demonstrated that it still has an important role, and the political will to play it, this time in the Middle East, and perhaps, in the light of other developments, in the Balkans and in relation to neighboring republics of the Soviet Union.

Turkey's support of the allied coalition's Gulf policy—from closing down the oil pipeline linking Iraq to the Mediterranean to the granting of base facilities to US bombers raiding Iraqi targets—was welcomed by the US. Moreover, Ozal managed to establish a close personal rapport with Bush through their frequent telephone conversations.

When President Bush announced his decision to visit Turkey, he said his main purpose was to express gratitude to the Turks for their support in the Gulf. If the Gulf crisis was the catalyst for the new relationship between the two countries, the main outcome of the visit is no doubt the realization on both sides that even with the Cold War over and detente in Europe, the two countries need each other.

One of the practical results is the setting up of a new mechanism for political consultation and coordination. Senior officials from both sides will meet twice a year for a review of political developments (in addition, of course, to continuing personal contacts at the presidential and diplomatic levels), to be coupled with talks between members of newly established commissions dealing with defense; economic matters, and scientific and technological cooperation.

This new mechanism also will help coordinate policies in the Gulf and Eastern Mediterranean. Although the Gulf war is over, many issues remain unsettled. These include security in the Kurdish-inhabited areas of northern Iraq, Saddam Hussain's political future and the disposition of Iraq's unconventional weapons stocks. Turkey's support made possible deployment from southeastern Turkey of the allied forces which served in northern Iraq. The air base of Incirlik also is seen by the US as vital for any possible future air operation against Iraq.

Actually few Turks are prepared to go as far as Ozal has in cooperating with the US in possible military interventions. Even the new government led by Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz is more reserved and cautious about getting involved in US operations in the region. The Turkish public is sensitive about being dragged into conflict with neighboring countries.

But officials realize that developments in the region require close contact and coordination with Washington. For instance, the Kurdish problem in northern Iraq is a source of concern in Turkey. Some circles fear the US ultimately might back the creation of an independent Kurdish state in the area. Although President Bush tried to assuage that fear during his visit, the future of the Kurds is likely to be one of the important issues on which Turkey and the US will have to consult in the weeks and months ahead.

Increased US Support to Turkey

The US is further committed to grant more military and economic support to Turkey. President Bush pledged to ask Congress to finance a project for the production of a second batch of 160 advanced F-16 aircraft in Turkey, after completion of the current program for the manufacturing of 160 F-16s. Bush also promised to increase military assistance for the 1992 fiscal year, starting next Oct.1, to a total of $625 million. (Fiscal year 1991 assistance was $500 million.) President Bush also said he would encourage the expansion of trade (by reducing some import restrictions) and investments in Turkey.

While prospects for stronger bilateral ties now look brighter, some issues, like Cyprus, which have caused strains in the relationship, were on the agenda during Bush's visit. The US president made it clear that the United States wants the parties concerned to make serious efforts to resolve this problem, which for many years has damaged relations between Greece and Turkey, and between Greek and Turkish Cypriots on their divided island, and has also adversely affected US Turkish ties.

Although there has been talk in some Turkish circles that the US was trying to put pressure on Turkey, and impose an American solution to the problem, the current talks and Bush's public statements in Ankara reduced this concern, particularly in official quarters. In turn, Turkish leaders expressed their readiness to seek a breakthrough and arrange for a meeting under the auspices of the UN secretary-general in September.

Another positive aspect of Bush's visit was that he took the time to meet the leaders of the two major opposition parties, conservative Suleyman Demirel and Social Democrat Erdal Inonu. Given the fact that the next elections, due by 1992, could result in a defeat for the ruling Motherland Party of Mesut Yilmaz (which is still under the direct control of President Ozal), it was prudent to meet leaders who might be in the next government. That ensures both broader Turkish support and enhanced continuity in the new kind of relationship that Washington and Ankara wish to establish.

Sami Kohen is an editor of Milliyet newspaper in Istanbul.