Turchia Rassegna Stampa - Rassegna Stampa

“Turkey, I think, wants to play a mediating role. They believe that they have particular links and contacts with Iran that we don't have, and that it's important for them to be able to play that role,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Phil Gordon told a panel late last week at the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank in Washington.

“We welcome that type of role. If Turkey can talk to both sides, I think the Turks see themselves that way in the region,” he said, according to a transcript of the meeting. “They've long had good ties with Israel, but also the Arab world, and they can talk to both sides, and they've played a constructive role in that area.”

But Gordon also said Turkey should understand that Iran would pay a price, if it continued to refuse to reconcile with the West on the nuclear dispute.

“We have said (to the Turks), that's fine, and please do help, but Iran needs to understand the message of the international community that there are consequences for not responding to what we think are generous offers of engagement,” he said.

Gordon said the U.S.-Turkish differences over Iran were “tactical” ones.

UN sanctions

The United States and its European allies are seeking additional U.N. sanctions on Iran over the controversial nuclear program. Turkey not only opposes such additional sanctions, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also last month qualified Western accusations that Iran is seeking to obtain nuclear weapons as “gossip.”

Erdoğan and U.S. President Barack Obama, when they met at the White House last Monday, sought to minimize their differences on Iran, with Obama suggesting that Turkey could play a role in persuading Tehran to reconcile with the international community.

“I indicated to the prime minister how important it is to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capacity in a way that allows Iran to pursue peaceful nuclear energy but provides assurances that it will abide by international rules and norms, and I believe that Turkey can be an important player in trying to move Iran in that direction,” Obama said after his talks with the Turkish prime minister.

Gordon said Washington believed that Turkey did not want to see an Iran armed with nuclear weapons. “I don't think we have a core difference, because we are convinced that Turkey does not want to see Iran develop nuclear weapons, and we don't either,” he said. “And so we have an exactly common interest in reaching that goal. And the Turks make it clear to us that they don't want to see Iran develop nuclear weapons.”

IAEA vote criticism

But Gordon also criticized Turkey for not voting together with the Western bloc on the Iran issue at the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, early this month.

The resolution rebuked Iran for covertly building a second uranium enrichment plant, passed by a 25-3 vote, with six abstentions. Turkey abstained in that vote.

“We have told Turkey we were disappointed with that result. We wanted to see more international cohesion in making clear that the international community is disappointed and frustrated with Iran's unwillingness to respond to our offers,” Gordon said.

On the war in Afghanistan, Gordon minimized differences with Turkey, although Ankara has refused to send combat troops to fight the Taliban in the war-torn country's lawless south and east.

“Turkey is, again, taking over the command role in Kabul, which is something that Turkey did at the very beginning of the [NATO-led] International Security Assistance Force when we needed another lead nation to command. We are very grateful for that support from Turkey,” he said.

Gordon qualified the U.S.-Turkish relationship on Afghanistan as a “special cooperative” one.
(Hürriyet Daily News, ÜMİT ENGİNSOY)

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