Washington sees EU process as key to Turkey's exit from crisis

18/07/2008

US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley stressed that continuing reforms on the road to EU accession with strengthen Turkey's stability and diplomacy.

By Ayhan Simsek for Southeast European Times -- 18/07/08

"The United States and Turkey have a strong strategic partnership. We want to continue and further strengthen this partnership," US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said on Friday (July 18th). [Getty Images]

US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley visited Turkey on Friday (July 18th), at a time of deepening domestic crisis that coincided with intense diplomatic traffic on Iran and Iraq.

Hadley underlined the importance of Turkey's stability and praised democratic accomplishments in the past few years. Urging Turkey to continue political and economic reforms, he also backed the country's EU membership bid.

"These reforms will make Turkey stronger and more prosperous. ... The United States strongly supports Turkey's membership in the EU," Hadley said after talks with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey is facing its worst political crisis in decades, and many analysts blame EU policy towards Turkey for aggravating the crisis.

"The crisis is … an indictment of the [EU] for its lamentable failure to handle Ankara's membership bid positively," the Financial Times editorialised this week. "If the Union had given Turkey a clear set of conditions and timetable, both the generals and the AKP could have concentrated their energies on accession, not headscarves," it said.

Erdogan's Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) is fighting an effort by prosecutors at the Constitutional Court to ban it for allegedly undermining the secular-democratic character of the state. Meanwhile, a group of retired Turkish soldiers and hard-line nationalists now face charges of plotting to oust the AKP government.

The crisis of confidence among both secular liberals and Islamist-rooted conservatives deepened after the Cyprus problem and French President Nicolas Sarkozy's opposition effectively blocked Turkey's EU membership talks. Analysts fear the power struggle may engender domestic instability and doom efforts to pacify Iraq and solve the nuclear crisis with Iran.

Hadley, turning to strategic issues, expressed willingness to further improve co-operation between Washington and Ankara. "The United States and Turkey have a strong strategic partnership," he stressed. "We want to continue and further strengthen this partnership."

Hadley also discussed recent developments in Iraq and recent joint efforts to strengthen security and stability in the neighbouring country. Erdogan had his first official visit to Baghdad last week, opening a new strategic era in Turkish-Iraqi relations.

Hadley expressed a commitment to support Turkey in eliminating the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) threat in northern Iraq. "The United States, Turkey and Iraq will continue co-operation against our common enemy, the PKK," he remarked.

During talks with President Abdullah Gul, Turkish Deputy Chief of Staff and General Ergun Saygun and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, Hadley brought up the nuclear threat posed by Iran. He elaborated on the recent decision by Washington to participate in EU-Iranian nuclear negotiations and to assess the likelihood of a diplomatic solution.

Babacan, who also hosted Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Ankara on Friday, said Turkey is ready to make every effort to find a peaceful settlement to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Turkish policy opposes nuclear weapons in the region but says countries have the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.