Turkey at the tipping point

The editorial wrote, "the United States appointed a retired Air Force general and former NATO commander, Joseph Ralston, to work with Turkish authorities. General Ralston will be responsible for coordinating American antiterrorist efforts with Iraq and Turkey. The Turkish foreign ministry hailed the appointment as a 'new opportunity' for cooperation between the United States and Turkey."

Defining Turkey as a "predominantly Muslim, secular democracy, situated between Europe and the Middle East", the editorial pointed out that PKK violence has resumed in Turkey recently.

It said, "the United States needs to frankly acknowledge that instability in Iraq, on Turkey's southeast border, has fomented the instability in Turkey. That morally obligates the United States to help with corrective action."

Noting that a renewed focus on Turkey is in the United States' self interest, the editorial said that the nonprofit German Marshall Fund of the United States released the results of its annual survey of public opinion in the United States and 12 countries in Europe, including Turkey. "The survey's most striking finding is the degree to which Turks now question their ties to the United States and Europe, and have warmed to Iran, their neighbor to the east," it emphasized.

"The discontent appears anchored in Turks' overwhelming disapproval of  President Bush's handling of international affairs and growing disapproval of European Union leadership," the editorial wrote, pointing out that the support of Turks to Turkey's NATO membership and EU membership aspirations is gradually diminishing.

"The appointment of General Ralston may help the United States to re-engage with Turkey, through ending Kurdish violence and tensions requires mainly political solutions," it argued.

The paper added, "the United States can also help to keep Turkey's aspiration to join the European Union on track, by advocating more openly for resolution of the division of Cyprus."