Why did President Barack Hussein Obama visit Turkey so soon? Considering that Turkey and the United States have a long history of strategic relations both at the bilateral level and in the context of the North Atlantic alliance, the opening question may seem redundant. However, it is not. What is unusual in Obama s state visit to Turkey is its timing.
US presidents traditionally pay their first visits to their northern neighbor Canada, and Obama did not make an exception to this rule. Then, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Washington Treaty that established NATO, Obama stopped in Europe. In the aftermath of this important summit meeting, Obama chose Turkey for his first state visit to a foreign country.
Despite the degree of deterioration in Turkish-American relations during the better part of the two Bush administrations and the need for a quick recovery, Obama would still not have visited Turkey on day 76 of his term in the White House had there not been urgency to fulfill another important mission.
The accomplishments of US presidents in their first 100 days in office are carefully scrutinized by the world s media. Needless to say, putting in place a series of comprehensive measures to effectively deal with the economic as well as financial crisis in the United States, which has had far-reaching consequences worldwide, was assigned the highest priority by the Obama administration.
A second and equally important priority of the new administration in its first 100 days, however, was to appeal to the Islamic world with a view to repairing the severely damaged relations since 9/11. Political observers were quick to place bets on which country Obama would choose as the podium to appeal to the hearts and minds of more than a billion Muslims around the world.
Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan were all touted in this context, while Turkey was rarely mentioned. A few on the list, such as Egypt and Indonesia, were seen as the most likely candidates for such a mission by virtue of the strategic relationship between the United States and the former, and the close personal connection of President Obama with the latter.
Turkey was not seen as a likely candidate mainly because of strong opposition from secular circles in Turkish society, including the powerful military, who are very keen on the secular character of the republican regime founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923, and not so keen on being perceived as a role-model for the Islamic world. These circles had reason to be suspicious of possible hidden intentions behind such a role for Turkey, given the fact that the United States was not successful in mitigating their fears with several reckless statements to this effect from the higher ranks of the Bush administration.
Thus Obama s address on April 6 to the Turkish Grand National Assembly was delicately balanced with respect to the role that the new US administration had in mind for Turkey. His speech incorporated carefully placed references to Turkey s strong and secular democracy being Ataturk s greatest legacy , as well as statements about America s partnership with the Muslim world being critical in rolling back a fringe ideology that people of all faiths reject . Obama on the one hand emphasized that the United States [was] not at war with Islam and [would] never be, and, on the other hand, underlined the fact that he was one of [the Americans] who had Muslims in their family .
In hindsight, no other country than Turkey could better suit the expectations of the Obama administration in appealing to the Islamic world. There are two reasons for this. The first is Obama s strong emphasis on the co-habitation of the virtues of secularism and democracy with the Islamic faith in the Republic of Turkey, which are clearly acknowledged and appreciated by the western world.
Second is the rising profile of Turkey in the public domain of Islamic nations across the globe, especially since the critical involvement of Turkey in efforts to stop the Israeli Gaza offensive, and also due to the growing popularity of Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan following his strong reaction to Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Davos summit in January.
Decades-old strategic relations between the United States and Turkey aside, the early-bird visit of Obama to Turkey owes much to the secular, democratic character of Muslim Turkey and also aims at fulfilling an urgent mission, long overdue: to capture the broken hearts and the confused minds of Muslim populations around the world, including those of secular Turks.
Dr. Mustafa Kibarogluteaches courses on arms control and disarmament in the Department of International Relations at Bilkent University in Ankara. This commentary is published by DAILY NEWS EGYPT in collaboration with bitterlemons-international.org.
