WHITNEY CURTIS | senior staff writer
WITH AP SOURCES
President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Turkey sometime in early April in order to further U.S. efforts on pulling troops from Iraq and in re-strategizing U.S. placement and efforts the Afghanistan war.
In 2003, Turkey advised the U.S. not to invade Iraq as well as refused U.S. ground forces the right to use Turkish soil in launching their attacks on its neighbor. Since the U.S. launched the attack, going against the advice of the mostly Muslim country, relations between the U.S. and Turkey have been strained. A visit from Obama may increase warmer feelings toward the U.S. and set the stage for an improved relationship between the two nations.
Turkey’s cooperation now could also be vital to a successful withdrawal of troops in Iraq and an eventual complete pullout of the nation entirely.
After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with leaders of the Turkish nation in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, Saturday, she announced Obama’s plans to visit the nation at the end of his European trip, scheduled for the first week in April.
The visit is ”a reflection of the value we place on our friendship with Turkey,’’ Clinton said.
Both nations’ leaders are discussing ways in which Turkey can assist U.S. withdrawal efforts and exit strategies. Turkish leaders are ready to serve as an exit route for American soldiers while a U.S. air base at Incirlik, Turkey is already being used to move equipment and troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We have to discuss what will pass, what kind of equipment,’’ Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said. “We are ready to cooperate.’’
The war in Afghanistan has declined over the past two years due to extremists and the Taliban’s continued increase in strength and higher numbers of U.S. and allied casualties, but Obama has recently approved of sending an additional 17, 000 troops to Afghanistan and is calling for a more extensive international approach to the war.
Although Turkey wishes the U.S. would focus more on improving Afghan security forces and reconciliation efforts with the Islamic insurgency rather than sending more troops to the country, Incirlik could take on a greater role in transferring troops and cargo to and from Afghanistan.
Regardless, many believe that Obama’s visit with Turkish leaders, in about a month’s time, may be the start of what Obama called a “unique opportunity to reboot America’s image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular,” in a December newspaper interview.
Obama is expected to reach out to the Muslim community in connection with his soon-to-be-completed Afghanistan policy review, but rumors of Turkey being the site of Obama’s promised speech in a Muslim country have been denied.
A visit with Turkey is expected to bring about major plans so the two democratic countries can work together to “seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” as the president said in his Inauguration Day address.
