Tag: Barack Obama

Obama Stands By Armenian Genocide Recognition

By Emil Danielyan

U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday stood by his earlier statements describing the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide and said they should not hamper the normalization of Turkish-Armenian relations.

Making his first official visit to Ankara, Obama also said that he is “very encouraged” by Armenia’s and Turkey’s ongoing efforts to normalize bilateral ties.

“Well, my views are on the record and I have not changed those views,” Obama was reported to tell a joint news conference with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.

“I want to focus not on my views right now, but on the views of the Turkish and Armenian people. If they can move forward and deal with a difficult and tragic history, then I think the entire world should encourage that,” he said.

Obama made the same point when he addressed the Turkish parliament later in the day. “I know there are strong views in this chamber about the terrible events of 1915, and while there has been a good deal of commentary about my views, it is really about how the Turkish and Armenian people deal with the past,” he said. “And the best way forward for the Turkish and Armenian people is a process that works through the past in a way that is honest, open, and constructive.”

During his election campaign Obama repeatedly referred to the 1915-1918 slaughter of more than one million Ottoman Armenians as genocide and pledged reaffirm such declarations once in office. “The Armenian genocide is not an allegation, a personal opinion or a point of view, but rather a widely documented fact supported by an overwhelming body of historical evidence,” he said in a January 2008 statement on his campaign website. “America deserves a leader who speaks truthfully about the Armenian genocide and responds forcefully to all genocides. I intend to be that president.”

Obama is under strong pressure from the influential Armenian community in the United States to honor this pledge in his statement due on April 24, the Armenian Remembrance Day. He has also been warned by Ankara that the use of the word genocide would seriously harm U.S.-Turkish relations and undermine Turkish-Armenian reconciliation.

While not backtracking on his campaign statements, the U.S. president was on Monday careful not to publicly reiterate his affirmation of what many historians consider the first genocide of the 20th century. According to Western news agencies, he argued that the highly sensitive issue is on the agenda of the ongoing Turkish-Armenian dialogue.

“What I have been very encouraged by is that … there is a series of negotiations, a process between Armenia and Turkey to resolve a whole host of long-standing issues, including this one,” Obama told journalists. “I’m not interested in the United States in any way tilting these negotiations.”

Standing alongside Obama, Gul denounced Armenian efforts at genocide recognition and renewed Ankara’s calls for a joint Turkish-Armenian academic study of the 1915 events. “It is not a political but an historic issue,” he said. “That’s why we should let historians discuss the matter.”

For his part, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Friday that his nation will never admit to the “so-called genocide.” “For Turkey, it is impossible to accept a thing that does not exist,” Erdogan told a news conference in London.

Obama’s statements in Ankara prompted different reactions from the two main Armenian-American lobby organizations. Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), said Obama “missed a valuable opportunity to honor his public pledge to recognize the Armenian Genocide.” “We expect that the President will, during Genocide Prevention Month this April, stand by his word,” Hamparian said in a statement.

“For the first time, a U.S. President has delivered a direct message to Turkish officials in their own country that he stands behind his steadfast support and strong record of affirmation of the Armenian Genocide,” read a separate statement by Bryan Ardouny of the Armenian Assembly of America. “On April 24, the Assembly looks forward to President Obama’s statement reaffirming the Armenian Genocide.”

April 6, 2009
Return from Turkey

The Southeast Europe Project invites you to a forum

Return from Turkey:

Obstacles and Opportunities in Obama’s Agenda

with

Asla Aydintasbas, Forbes columnist/analyst and former Ankara bureau chief, Sabah newspaper (Turkey)

Thrusday, April 16, 2009

10:00 – 11:30 a.m.

5^th Floor Conference Room

RSVP acceptances only [email protected]

For directions visit www.wilsoncenter.org/directions

All events, unless otherwise noted, are held at the:

Woodrow Wilson Center

1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20004

April 5, 2009
Turkish Hopes High for Obama’s Visit

By Utku Çakirözer
Reporter, Milliyet
Ankara, Turkey

President Obama visits Turkey this weekend on his first overseas trip as U.S. president, and he sets a milestone by doing so: other U.S. presidents have always visited Ankara much later in their terms of office. This isn’t a coincidence or a tiny detail. It represents a significant shift in fundamental foreign policy priorities under the new U.S. administration. I believe there are two main reasons for Obama to choose Turkey: The necessity to increase security cooperation and to reshape the global image of the United States in the aftermath of the Bush era.

Obama’s presidency has put many Turks on edge, especially those in government; there’s a general sense in Ankara that the more security-oriented U.S. Republican party appreciates Turkey’s importance more than the Democrats do. But Obama’s visit seems poised to dismiss that cliché; his pragmatism in international diplomacy, including public diplomacy, will put an early mark on his presidency as well as his administration’s foreign policy.
Prior to his journey, Mr Obama underlined that his priority in foreign policy would be to deal with al-Qaeda terrorism and declared he would send more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. But his plan will only be sustainable with the contribution of his NATO allies. Turkey, on the other hand, has NATO’s second-largest armed forces and has historically been a staunch ally to the U.S. in many peace and stability missions throughout the world (the only exception being the Turkish Parliament’s rejection in 2003 to allow U.S. troops to invade Iraq through Turkish territory.) Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, Turkey has been a permanent participant of that multinational force as well. After the talks in Ankara between Obama and the Turkish leaders, one can expect a visible increase in Turkey’s military and civilian presence in Afghanistan, with which Turkey had enjoyed a long history of friendly relations. Turkey can also help the U.S. in its efforts to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

Turkey can also play a crucial role serving as a main logistics hub for the implementation of Obama’s second priority in world affairs: Pulling the troops out of Iraq. Turkey’s government is already indicating support for potential U.S. use of Incirlik Air Base and the port of Mersin.

Last year, Istanbul was the venue not only for Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s visit but also for the new round of peace negotiations between Israel and Syria. So President Obama will also look for ways of cooperation with Turkey to deal with Iran’s nuclear program and the Middle East Peace Process.

Mr Obama’s second reason to visit Turkey aims to deal with a much deeper problem. During the Bush administration, the very strong anti-American (or shall we say anti-Bush-policies) sentiments in Turkey have been an issue of deep concern for both capitals. According to Pew Center polls, America’s favorability rating in Turkey in recent years has fluctuated between 9 and 12 percent, far behind Russia, Iran and Syria. According to the latest polls during the electoral campaign, skepticism toward Obama was still higher in Turkey than it was in other European countries, and relatively few Turks believed that American foreign policy would improve under the new administration.

In sharp contrast with the Bush administration’s preemptive diplomacy, there have been glimmers of hope for many Turks since Obama’s election. The president’s readiness to listen to allies and friends in world affairs, and his early decisions – pulling troops out of Iraq, closing the Guantanamo detention center, opening dialogue with Iran – are all good signs.

But in order to leave this upsetting picture in the past and reshape the global image of his country, the president will need an ambitious public relations program in Turkey. In Ankara he will speak before the Turkish Parliament, a rare honor presented to visiting foreign leaders. In Istanbul, he will come together with young Turkish students in a meeting. Youth organizations throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia will also participate through videoconference. He might even use the forum of the UN Alliance of Civilizations initiative (co-chaired by the Turkish and Spanish prime ministers), which will take place while he is in Istanbul, as a platform to reach out the Muslim world.

So Turkey the Muslim country he promised to visit in the first 100 days of his presidency? Officials in both capitals try to downplay this, but the fact remains that Turkey is a country with a predominantly Muslim population. But Turkey is also the only constitutionally secular Muslim nation that has for decades been anchored to the Western institutions like NATO and EU. Turkey has been a link between East and West not only geographically but also culturally and historically. And certainly Turkey has demonstrated that there is a third way through which Islam and Western style democracy can coexist despite occasional ups and downs. This is the message that President Obama ought to emphasize in his visit to Turkey with global implications: that a clash of civilizations is not inevitable.

Having said that, Turkish people want to hear the president’s view on where Turkey stands in the eyes of his administration. Stopping at Turkey in his tour to Europe is a clear sign that the president views this country as part of that continent, but Turks wonder whether he is willing to lobby in Europe, as one of his predecessors former president Bill Clinton did in the past, on behalf of Turkey’s most important political project: accession to the European Union. They also want to see Obama stand by their side in their struggle against terrorism. They want to see trust, partnership and confidence re-established in U.S.-Turkish relations. They want to see the new president take the lead in restoring peace, security and prosperity in the region they call home.
Utku Cakirozer is a reporter for the Turkish newspaper Milliyet and a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at the University of Maryland.

Posted by Utku Cakirozer on April 3, 2009 5:38 PM

Comments (11)

Frog2 :

Even if is the interest of the US to have Turkey anchored at the EU, it is not in the spirit that led to the creation of the EU.

At first the EU was an association of Western Europe countries in the way to avoid another conflict among them, after two major wars that started there (WW1 and WW2.)

The later expansion was (in my humble view!) a mistake.
The EU should have its natural eastern borders where was the Iron Curtain.

The hypothetic Turkey’s membership would justify the natural candidature of Israel for its historical and cultural roots in the Old Continent with, as a dowry, the Israel Palestinian conflict.
Then would follow, say,Lebanon, the Maghrebian Nations (Algeria, Morrocco and Tunez) for being former European colonies and then the remnant African nations (except Ethiopia and Liberia that were never colonies)

In an other hand, after Poland, why not Ukraine, Bielorussia and then Russia?

And if Russia, why not the US ?Or China?

The claim that the EU nations are white-people nations is unthrue. Get some ride to Paris, London or Berlin and keep a watch if people there are just white Christian ones!

Turkey is in an undeniable great nation that deserve a special status vis-a-vis the EU.
It is a cousin, an ally and a friend, but it is not part of inner familly neither are Israel, Russia and even the US…

Thank you
An average European.

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April 5, 2009 12:43 PM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 5, 2009 12:43

Turkey should admit the Armenian genocide, apologize for it, and move on. Even if such an admission is disingenuous. The western democracies are full of such hypocrisies, it will be accepted with few questions and everybody can move on.

I lived in Adana as a teenager, from the age of 13 to 15. My father was stationed at Incirlik AFB.

My friends and I spent time with our Turkish friends, mostly on the basketball court. We never argued about religion, genocide, oppression, none of that crap. At worst we disagreed on how many steps you’re allowed to take when doing a layup and how we Americans didn’t like the Turkish toilets.

We were welcomed as friends, and not just as guests. So I have no problem with the people of Turkey becoming members of the EU

These days I’m living and doing business in Bulgaria (software engineering), and for what it’s worth I know several people of ethnic Turkish ancestry here. I visit Istanbul on occasion for business, a vacation in Izmir is coming this summer and I’m looking forward to that 🙂

So I have to say – it’s the ideologues and the demagogues who are running this conversation these days. I would like to see the Turkish people express their revulsion at the idea that religious authorities can censor the “outside world”, but at the same time I know how widespread software competency is in Turkey and how easily people will be able to get around this censorship.

Time will tell. Turkey is facing pressures from the west to be more secular, and from the islamists to be more fundamentalist. I doubt many countries in Europe can understand that.

I wish you well, Turkey. You have issues you must deal with, and you must dispose of false pride when it becomes a barrier to your progress. I think one day you will join the EU, hopefully soon, and I think it will be a good day when it happens.

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April 5, 2009 6:01 AM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 5, 2009 06:01

It is doubtful that anything lasting can come out of such a meeting [aide from hot air a la G20] without the USA succeeding in the Palestine/Israel problem. The scene form Davos [under the tutalage of Mr. Ignatius] clearly indicates that Turkey’s Muslim majority wont permit this issue to be sidetracked. The rest is balderdash, for the USA is broke, is in wars opposed by the Muslim Majority and the USA does not take advise from foreigners.

So another foto-opportunity after G20, NATO, and now Turkey — then coomes the problem the USA econopmy, the unwanted and expensive wars, and the military industrial complex.
GOOD GRIEF!! sid Charlie Brown.

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April 4, 2009 3:53 PM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 4, 2009 15:53

Whether the 1915 Armenian genocide (the killing of between a million and 1.5 million Armenian Christians) was more or less than 100 yrs ago is rather irrelevant.

What is relevant is that the very term “genocide” was coined in 1944 to describe that particular Holocaust, and that Turkey has been aggressively trying to deny that Holocaust for the century since.

Read the chapter concerning this genocide in Robert Fisk’s great book about the Middle East, and you will never forget what a genocide can be. It may not have equalled in NUMBERS the Holocaust of European Jews in the 30s and 40s, but in methods used it was even more barbaric (if that is possible) than Hitler’s Holocaust.

I will respect Turkey when it steps forward, acknowledges the genocide, and speaks openly in acknowledging its shame. It is not enough to say, “oh, we were not alive when that happened, and none of the survivors are either.”

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April 4, 2009 3:11 PM | Report Offensive Comment

Turkey is a country rich in tradition and history occupying a key position between Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. It is also relatively stable (for the region) and pragmetic. It is an important relationship for the US, and Obama does well in making this visit.

Yet there is also the difficult history with Armenia, and the “genocide” resolution that Obama once promised to support would do much harm. I hope there is a bit of background diplomacy going on here. It would be nice if Turkey could acknowledge the Ottoman’s ethnic cleansing and offer a limited apology, providing sufficient cover for the US Congress to respond with a more limited resolution.————————–

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April 4, 2009 1:55 PM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 4, 2009 13:55

Whew so many thing to comment on and not enough space to do so.

First Turkey is NOT less than 100 years old, unless you mean the republic of Turkey. Turkey itself was the center of the Ottoman Empire, which the Turks created from the Byzantine Empire.

Turkey was not secular by people’s choice, it was a requirement by the UK and UN, as punishment for siding with the Axis Powers in WWI. Either they accepted the terms and put it in the new constitution, or they would partition it further into smaller states.

As for the EU, it is a losing battle. The EU is a racists organization. It will only accept white christian countries. They will never accept a muslim majority country. I thought that they would include Kosovo, but they didn’t.

Turkey would be smarter to stop trying to act like Europeans, and be proud of their heritage. If it is the wealth, that they want then they can forget it. Without oil, no western country is about to make a Muslim nation rich and prosperous.

The Armenian genocide? Come on that was nearly 100 years ago. Are there even anyone alive now who lived through it? Why complain now, why didn’t anyone go after and try the leaders of the former Empire, like they did in Germany and Serbia?

Look two things are not going to happen and everyone just needs to move forward: 1) The EU ain’t gonna allow any non-white non-christian country in its organization. 2) Turkey ain’t gonna apologize for something an old administration and empire did.

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April 4, 2009 1:24 PM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 4, 2009 13:24

Turkey has more of a history that is open to other Religions and peoples than other mid-east countries. The bigger cities have robust minority religious communities from the Jews in Istanbul and Christian Orthodoxy in Istanbul and other cities. Of course there are backward villages and towns (mostly in the far east) that are more fundamentalist but that is similar to the US.

Turkey is a secular state with a primary Muslim population. Most of its citizens understand why Ataturk founded it as a Secular state and continue to support his blue print. Europe has its own issues with non-Christian cultures so it should deal with that prior to expecting Turkey to solve all of its problems overnight. Turkey is less than a century old and has a long way to grow, but Europe is much much older and dealing with the same issues.

James

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April 4, 2009 10:36 AM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 4, 2009 10:36

The EU does not look kindly on prison officials fondly embracing the killers of Armenian intellectuals and journalists. The turks still resent other relgions

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April 4, 2009 8:51 AM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 4, 2009 08:51

In regards to the Kurds… The Kurds have to give-up claims to land within Turkey to end the violence; the cross-border incursions have been going both directions, with Kurdish fighters attacking within Turkey.

As far as religious oppression and what Attaturk would think, I can’t tell you. However, I can tell you that the state has two seperate legal systems: one for religious judgements, and one for common law. It isn’t perfect, but it isn’t as bad as some would have you believe either.

Turkey is one of the few countries left that illustrates that predominately Muslim countries need not be havens of despotism.

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April 4, 2009 7:20 AM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 4, 2009 07:20

Whatever else people are using to resist Turkey’s membership in the EU, censoring the internet for religious reasons only plays into their hands.

There is nothing an American president can do to influence the EU in your favor until you stop this religious oppression. I can only wonder how Mustafa Kemal would felt about this.

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April 4, 2009 4:38 AM | Report Offensive Comment

Posted on April 4, 2009 04:38

The status of the Kurds needs to be addressed in Obama’s discussions with the Turkish leadership, though I have doubts about that happening.

The Kurds in Iraq need to be guaranteed either autonomy or independence without Turkish troops invading them. Without this there may never be peace in Iraq. If the Turks are afraid of what their Kurdish minority will do if that happens, then there is a problem with the way they are treating the Turkish Kurds.

April 4, 2009 3:17 AM | Report Offensive Comment

April 5, 2009
Obama Hopes for Approval Turnaround With Turkish Public

Turks not hopeful about improving U.S. policies toward their country

by Ian T. Brown and Zsolt Nyiri

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As President Barack Obama prepares to visit Turkey with the hopes of improving U.S.-Turkey and Israel-Turkey relations, Gallup surveys underscore the extent of the challenge he faces there. Before Obama took office, a majority of Turks disapproved of the job performance of the leaderships of the United States and Israel.

To put these findings in perspective, it is worth noting that Turkish respondents are cool toward the job performance of foreign organizations and country leadership in general. However, the United States’ and Israel’s leadership are the only two to have a majority of respondents disapprove.

The Road Traveled and the Road Ahead

U.S.-Turkey relations declined during the Bush administration (partly because of Turkey’s refusal to serve as a launching pad for U.S. troops going into Iraq and the United States’ reluctance to help Turkey’s fight against Kurdish rebels), but Obama maybe better positioned to improve public sentiment. The Gallup Poll conducted in Turkey in July 2008 also asked respondents about whom they would personally rather see elected president of the United States: 22% chose Obama over McCain, but only about one in three believed the election’s outcome would make a difference to their country. Obama’s visit, just months after taking office, signals the significant role Turkey plays in his foreign policy.

Gallup also surveyed Turks on different approaches to improving U.S. policies toward their country and region. Gallup asked, on a 1 to 5 scale, how much hope people place in the role of several approaches to improving U.S. policies toward their country, where 1 signifies no hope at all and a 5 signifies a great deal of hope.

Among the options given, respondents did not express overwhelming hope for any one approach. Relative to the other choices, larger percentages of respondents felt there was no hope at all in influencing U.S. policies through interreligious dialogue or through terrorist attacks.

Along with improving U.S.-Turkey relations, Obama will likely address Israel-Turkey relations, which have likely deteriorated since Gallup last polled in the country. This January, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergodan spoke out against Israeli aggression in Gaza, telling Israeli President Shimon Peres that Israeli military action was “very wrong,” and then left the forum, vowing not to return.

Bottom Line

Obama’s reception in Turkey, positive or negative, could signal whether Turks see government-to-government dialogue as a hopeful approach for improving relations. However, with citizens’ low approval of the United States and Israel, Obama must make gains to ensure his appeals do not go unheard.

Survey Methods

Results are based on face-to-face interviews with 1,004 adults in Turkey, aged 15 and older, conducted in July 2008. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3.5 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

Source: www.gallup.com, April 3, 2009

April 5, 2009
Obama wise to court Turkey as partner

Apr 02, 2009 04:30 AM

Haroon Siddiqui

Following his much-anticipated debut at three summits – G20, NATO and EU – Barack Obama will fly on Sunday to Turkey, his first presidential visit to a Muslim nation.

Turkey, the seat of the last great Muslim empire (the Ottoman), is not an Islamic state. It is not the largest Muslim nation (that being Indonesia). Nor is it rich (those being oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, etc.) It has little oil.

But Turkey has led the 56-member Islamic Conference Organization. It’s the only Muslim member of NATO, with a contingent in Afghanistan. It wants to join the European Union, despite the latter’s xenophobic rebuffs. It has long-standing relations with Israel and it has emerged as a strong regional power.

One excuse for the Iraq war was to export democracy to the Arab Middle East. That mission has been a bust – the neighbourhood remains as autocratic as ever. Ironically, the biggest beneficiaries of the Iraq folly have been non-Arab Turkey and Iran, both already democratic in varying degrees. The rise of Iran is widely recognized. Turkey’s isn’t.

Turkey opposed the Iraq war. But it may serve as an exit point for American troops and equipment out of Iraq. It can also help Obama on other fronts.

The mildly Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become sure-footed on both the domestic and foreign fronts.

It won re-election in 2005. Its candidate, Abdullah Gul, was elected president in 2007 over the stiff opposition of the military, judiciary and bureaucracy – the so-called Deep State that maintained a stranglehold on power by cleverly anointing itself the guardian of Turkey’s authoritarian secularism.

These same retrograde forces tried unsuccessfully to undermine the government through the courts last year, accusing it of creeping Islamism. Separately, a group of ultranationalists stand charged with planning terrorist attacks.

Erdogan is fixing Turkey’s two foundational but flawed precepts: that secularism equals hostility to religion, rather than neutrality between faiths; and that being Turkish means erasing ethnic, linguistic and other identities.

He has been inclusive of both the majority Muslim/Islamic identity and minority Kurdish rights. And he has quietly abandoned the pan-Turkish claims on Turkish minorities abroad, including the Turkoman in Iraq.

This has allowed the emergence of a regional Kurdish government in southern Turkey and the isolation of the PKK, the separatist terrorist Kurdish group.

It has also enabled Erdogan to make peace with Iraq. Now Baghdad is singing the Turkish tune, counselling the PKK to give up arms and enter into negotiations.

Turkey helped initiate contact between Israel and Pakistan and it arranged peace talks between Israel and Syria. The negotiations were suspended only after the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which Erdogan denounced. He felt betrayed by Israel and shocked by the ferocity of the attack.

His anger spilled over at the Davos conference, where he walked out after tangling with President Shimon Peres. He returned home to a hero’s welcome. Palestinian flags were waved in Turkey and Turkish flags in Gaza. Yet relations with Israel remain intact.

Turkey helped secure a ceasefire in Gaza, with shuttle diplomacy between Egypt and Hamas. It is also working with Egypt on reconciling Hamas and Fatah, believing it to be the sine qua non of peace with Israel.

Turkey is a more credible interlocutor than Egypt, partly because it has provided a democratic outlet for public anger against the United States over the Iraq war and now against Israel’s excesses in Gaza.

Turkey talks to Iran as well.

Belonging to both the East and the West, Turkey is a strategic partner for peace in the Middle East and beyond, especially for Obama’s promised dialogue with the broader Muslim world.

Haroon Siddiqui writes Thursday and Sunday. [email protected]

Source: www.thestar.com, Apr 02, 2009

April 5, 2009
OBAMA VISIT TO BOLSTER THE TURKISH-AMERICAN ALLIANCE

Ergun KIRLIKOVALI

[ Please note: The press release below dated April 3, 2009 by Nurten Ural, President, ATAA, Phone: 202.483.9090, E-mail: [email protected] , pretty much sums up my thoughts on this issue at this time. I do hope, however, to do an overall evaluation of the Obama visit in the near future . EK]

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EMBASSY NOTES: (OBAMA) VISIT TO BOLSTER THE TURKISH-AMERICAN ALLIANCE AND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

U.S. President Barack Obama will make an historic visit to Turkey next Monday and Tuesday, April 6 and 7, highlighting the importance of the United States’ friendship, strategic partnership, crucial alliance and cooperation with Turkey.

As the fifth U.S. president to visit Turkey, President Obama will meet with President Abdullah Gul as well as Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and will speak at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in the Turkish capital of Ankara. He will then proceed to Istanbul, where, among other engagements, he will attend the Alliance of Civilizations Summit reception and meet with Turkish students in a roundtable discussion. The roundtable forum will be an opportunity for President Obama to reach out to the youth in Turkey and in the region from Istanbul, a city that bridges Asia and Europe, the East and the West, and that embodies unity in cultural diversity.

President Obama’s visit represents yet another major step in the course of a time-tested, ever-deepening and expanding relationship between the U.S. and Turkey. The two countries’ special relationship, drawing from a mutually beneficial history of friendship, is currently based on a shared strategic approach to the contemporary challenges. Indeed, the U.S. and Turkish governments are currently working together in a vast number of areas both regionally and globally, to name a few: transatlantic security, Afghanistan and South Asia, Iraq, the Middle East, the Caucasus, the Balkans, establishing energy security, countering terrorism, assisting non-proliferation, and overcoming the global economic downturn.

The White House has announced that the visit is intended to reinforce Turkey’s importance as an ally. As Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said in a March 28 press briefing, President Obama “wanted to make very clear on this first trip that Turkey is a vital ally, a vital member of NATO, and a vital bilateral partner to the United States in a range of issues, not only as it relates to NATO but as it relates to many other concerns.” McDonough cited Turkey’s leadership role in facilitating the Israeli and Syrian talks, as well as Turkey’s efforts to serve as a geopolitical bridge between Asia and Europe. He also added that the President looks forward to addressing each of these issues with Turkish leaders.

Not surprisingly, President Obama’s visit to Turkey, his second bilateral foreign visit following his inauguration as the 44th U.S. President in January, comes at a time when U.S.-Turkey relations are on a rising trajectory. The visit follows and effectively culminates earlier phone conversations between President Obama and President Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s recent visit to Turkey.

On a final note, the leaders of both countries intend not only to ensure a strong relationship between their governments but also between the Turkish and American peoples. To this end, both governments are announcing the establishment of a “Young Turkey/Young America Initiative”, which will enable emerging young leaders in Turkey and the United States to develop initiatives that will positively affect people’s lives and invest in future ties between the leadership of both countries.

Embassy of the Republic of Turkey

2525 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20008

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April 4, 2009