Diamonds and rust

After more than half-a-century-long love (and hate) affair it is too difficult to know whether it was the Turks or the Americans who gave the other a pair of cuff links and which one gave the troubles to the other. Or whether President Barack Obama’s visit was a "call from a booth in the Midwest," or if Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s "yes to all" was offering diamonds to the American.

Of course politics in the 21st century is so much different to the love affairs of the mid 70s, when the song that gave its name to this headline was written. But since we are talking about "love revived" in the personality of President Obama, let’s talk about love Ğ between allies, not lovers. The Turks were too happy because the foreign head of state they love the most held their prime minister’s hand uninterrupted "for several minutes" which was a sign of "love."

But what did President Obama tell the curious Turkish audience in parliament? That he has not changed his mind about the Armenian genocide... Which means that he firmly believes the ancestors of the people who made his audience were genocide committers. Let’s refresh our minds. This is the mind President Obama told the Turks he did not change: "...the Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact." Now, is that diamonds, or rust? It depends. You may call it a rusty diamond.

But since in "love affairs" shiny metal may turn to rust, let’s talk about shiny metal. Shiny metal, for example, in the shape of unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs... Turkey, the lover, has a rather sad story about the UAVs which it tremendously needs to better fight the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The Isreaeli solution(s) has never been a real cure, partly due to Israel and partly to due to Turkish fault. This is a complicated and rather shadowy story. But America, the other lover, can help. And whether it will is the question the lovers should see to if they will give each other diamonds or rust.

Here is the story: In February Turkey officially sent a letter of request for the purchase of U.S.-made Predator B, otherwise known as the MQ-9 Reaper, or the ’hunter-killer,’ a solid UAV which, unlike most others in its family of military air platforms, can bomb designated targets Ğ which in this case would be PKK targets.

The sale of the Predator B to Turkey the ally is subject to congressional approval. Congress earlier approved its sale to the United Kingdom, but the key U.S. ally uses the weapons systems in NATO-led operations in Afghanistan Ğ in joint operations with the U.S from a base in Nevada. But Congress also gave its nod to the sale of its unarmed version to Italy and Germany none of which intends to use it against terror targets.

We have no means to know whether Congress will endorse this critical weapons transfer to Turkey. We have no means to know whether President Obama thinks it would be just normal if the Predator Bs have been shipped to "model partner" Turkey and used against PKK targets; or if giving the Turks a pair of cuff links would upset America’s other affairs.

There is a lot of contamination from an overdose of public diplomacy. It would be best if we wait and saw whether the call from a booth in the Midwest will turn into diamonds or rust.