Obama visit a big story, says former ambassador to Turkey

To former Ambassador to Ankara Mark Parris, Obama’s visit to Turkey was a big story. Parris shared his thoughts on the event in an interview with Sevim Demiray, from daily Milliyet.  �

According to Parris, it was Obama’s responsibility during the visit to avoid words and deeds that could derail the sensitive and promising negotiations underway as Turkey and Armenia seek to normalize relationships. “The President’s point, of course, was that ultimately nations are better off confronting the dark chapters they all have in their pasts,” Parris said. “I think he should be taken at his word when he says he has not changed his views on the events in Turkey’s Ottoman past that he has called ‘genocide.’”

Parris said the Obama administration takes Turkey very seriously and that the revival of a U.S.-Turkey partnership that goes beyond rhetoric would be an important development throughout the region and the world. He said the main reasons for Obama’s visit could be categorized in terms of five main topics: Afghanistan-Pakistan, Iran, Russia and strategic energy issues, Israeli-Arab relations and overall U.S. relations with the Muslim world.

Replying to a question about the comments made by some Western observers, who have said that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s reactions at Davos and to Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s NATO candidacy had hurt the Turkish leader’s image, Parris said, “I think the Davos incident made a negative impression on American audiences.... As for the Rasmussen affair, most Americans are probably unaware that there was one. The only people inclined to draw conclusions about the Prime Minister from that episode were those who had done so before Rasmussen became an issue.”

Parris also emphasized that though Erdoğan’s performance – as conveyed by the media – made a strong, and generally negative impression on American audiences, “predictions that Davos would destroy Turkish-Israeli relations or undercut Turkey’s regional influence were clearly exaggerated.”

“My impression is that the damage to Turkish-Israeli relations has in fact been contained,” the former ambassador added. “Even if Israeli confidence in Turkey’s impartiality has suffered – and it probably has – Israeli leaders value their strategic relationship with Turkey.”

Influence in Afghanistan, Pakistan
Turkey has been a big help, and still could aid in the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Parris said, adding that one major reason for the visit was an awareness of Turkey’s long-standing influence on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border (as reflected in the trilateral meeting President Gül convened just before Obama arrived), the role the country had played in the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, and the kind of “soft power” Turkey could bring to this effort.

Defining these vital contributions as the Obama administration got its Afghanistan/Pakistan strategy underway, Parris added that even if Turkey says no to the U.S. request to send combat troops to Afghanistan, it would not be a threat to the potential partnership, as other types of contributions to the effort would be welcomed by the United States.

In response to a question about Nagorno-Karabakh, a region that is the subject of a longstanding dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Parris said the U.S. would be prepared to encourage both countries to show the necessary flexibility to reach an agreement. “That’s what ‘full support’ implies,” he said.

Parris also answered a question about Obama using the term “Kurdish minority” at speech he gave to students in Istanbul, saying it was a slip of the tongue. The former ambassador added that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, would remain on the U.S. terrorism list and that the U.S. would continue to cooperate with Turkey in its effort to defeat the PKK.

Mark Parris was the American ambassador to Ankara between 1997 and 2000 and was known as the architect of a major expansion of relations between Turkey and the United States, culminating in President Clinton's designation of Turkey as a "strategic partner" in November 1999. Parris played a pivotal role in defining and advancing U.S. objectives with respect to the Baku-Tiblisi-Ceyhan oil-export pipeline and an associated gas pipeline.