"If this relationship is so strategic, and so firmly founded on common interests and values, why is our image in Turkey so abysmal? Why is Iran more popular than we are?" wrote Mark Parris, a former US ambassador to Turkey, two months before last November's US presidential election.
Having engaged in a "charm offensive" during a two-day visit to Turkey this week, did President Obama really have a different agenda than his predecessor Bush?
Having engaged in a "charm offensive" during a two-day visit to Turkey this week, did President Obama really have a different agenda than his predecessor Bush?
US President Obama and Turkey's President Gul
“So let me be clear: Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran's neighbors and our allies.”
[US President Barack Obama’s speech in Prague, 5 April 2009] [2]
“The peace of the region will also be advanced if Iran forgoes any nuclear weapons ambitions. Now, as I made clear in Prague yesterday, no one is served by the spread of nuclear weapons, least of all Turkey.”
[US President Barack Obama’s speech to Turkey’s parliament in Ankara, 6 April 2009] [3]
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from the archives:
“We find the latest package offered [to Iran] by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany positive. [...] The time is running out, don't miss this opportunity. Bush might strike [Iran] before leaving office. If the US were to strike, they would strike fiercely. As your neighbour, we wouldn't want Tehran to be devastated like Baghdad.”
[Turkey’s President Gül meets Iran’s President Ahmadinejad in Istanbul, 17August 2008] [4]
“[T]he Iranian way - I will say this loud and clear - is seen as undermining its neighbor's hegemony. Turkey gives rise to hope, Iran gives rise to fear.”
[Israeli President Shimon Peres' speech to Turkey's parliament in Ankara, 13 November 2007] [5]
“Like other countries and especially the United States, we have been following Iran’s nuclear efforts with serious concern. Turkey can never welcome an Iran who possesses nuclear weapons. The nuclear states axis starting from North Korea, passing through Iran and extending to other possible powers in our region poses sensitivity on part of Turkey.”
[Turkey’s (then-Deputy) Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug, 6 June 2005] [6]
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“While our public is regularly provided alarming media reports of nuclear dangers in Iraq, North Korea or Iran, what is supposed to be a well-informed western audience is living in ignorance of the destructive power of thousands of potential Hiroshimas stored in their backyards.”
[excerpt from the Mayors for Peace petition launched on 6 December 2007 by European Mayors on whose territory US nuclear weapons are deployed, namely:
Stefano Del Cont (Aviano, ITALY), Anna Giulia Guarneri (Ghedi, ITALY),
Theo Kelchtermans (Peer, BELGIUM), Dr. Joke W. Kersten (Uden, NETHERLANDS), Heinz Onnertz (Buechel, GERMANY) and Vedat Karadag (Incirlik, TURKEY) ] [7]
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US Nuclear Weapons in Europe 2008
____________________________________
Country Air Base Estimated
Weapon
____________________________________
Belgium Kleine Brogel 10-20
Germany Büchel 10-20
Holland Volkel 10-20
Italy Aviano 50
Ghedi Torre 20-40
Turkey Incirlik 50-90
____________________________________
Total 150-240
source: Hans Kristensen, “U.S. Nuclear Weapons Withdrawn From the United
Kingdom”,
Federation of American Scientists, 26 June 2008
http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/nukes/_images/EuroNukes.pdf ______________
Percentage of population desiring Europe to be nuclear free:
88.1% in Turkey
71.5% in Italy
70.5% in Germany
64.6% in Belgium
63.3% in Netherlands
source: Hans Kristensen, “US Nuclear Weapons in Europe: A Review of Post-
Cold War Policy, Force Levels, and War Planning”,
Natural Resources Defense Council, February 2005
http://www.cnduk.org/pages/binfo/nato2005.pdf _____________
NOTES
[1] U.S.-Turkish Relationship: What's Wrong with This Picture?
by Mark Parris, Brookings Institute, 10 September 2008
http://www.brookings.edu/speeches/2008/0910_turkey_parris.aspx [2] Remarks by President Barack Obama in Prague as Delivered
White House website, 5 April 2009
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-President-Barack-Obama-In-Prague-As-Delivered/ [3] Remarks by President Barack Obama to the Turkish Parliament
White House website, 6 April 2009
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-President-Obama-To-The-Turkish-Parliament/ [4] Gul: Tehran shouldn't be devastated like Baghdad
by Ugur Ergan, Hürriyet, 17 August 2008
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/president-gul-turkey-is-nobody%25e2%2580%2599s-launching-pad/ [5] President [Peres] Speaks to the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey, November 13, 2007
President of the State of Israel website, 13 November 2007
http://www.president.gov.il/defaults/default_en.asp [6] Luncheon remarks by General Ilker Basbug, Deputy Chief of Turkish General Staff
Turkish General Staff website, 6 June 2005
http://www.tsk.mil.tr/eng/konusma/gnkurIIncibsk_atckonusmasiogleyemegi_eng__06062005.htm [7] European mayors want withdrawal of US nukes from their territory marking INF 20th anniversary
2020 Vision Campaign website, 6 December 2007
http://www.2020visioncampaign.org/pages/319 _____________
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