Turkey Enthusiastic About U.S. ‘Greater Middle East’

The U.S. administration gave Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan the green light during his visit to Washington in January to promote the initiative in view of Turkey’s pivotal role in the plan and the region, journalist and writer Sibl Araslan wrote Monday, February16 , in the daily Vakit.

She said press photos of hijab-donned wives of Erdogan and his Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul with Laura Bush were intended to highlight the strong U.S.-Turkish relations and served as a publicity stunt to show American tolerance towards hijab.

IslamOnline.net’s correspondent says Bush kept Erdogan posted on the initiative, which envisages the Turkish secular system as a paradigm for the Mideast countries.

Omar Cilik, an advisor to the Turkish premier, defended Turkish support for the U.S. initiative, arguing that the absence of democracy in Mideast countries harm Turkey’s interests in the region.

The initiative demands Arab countries to introduce wide-scale political and economic reforms and improve their human rights records.

It is modeled on the "Helsinki process" of the post- 1975era, which focused on human rights in Eastern Europe – especially in the then Soviet bloc.

Vakit said that Israeli Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres discussed the initiative in camera with left-wing leaders during his visit to Turkey on Saturday, February14 .

Peres told the STV channel that Turkey was a model country in the Muslim world and should play a key role in the region.

He added that Turkey’s strong relations with Israel and the Arab world enables it to broker a peace deal between Israel and Syria.

Unmistakable Message

Ahmet Tas wrote in the daily Yeni Safak that the U.S. used its global war on terror in the wake of the9 / 11attacks and military juggernaut in Afghanistan and Iraq as a tool to press ahead with its nascent initiative.

"They want to send the unmistakable message that ‘we can force our project by force,’" he wrote.

He also noted that the "U.S. is interfering in the internal affairs of Iran".

Americans believe that the peoples of the Middle East would support the initiative to head off devastating wars and a repeat of the Iraqi tragedy, added the journalist.

Analyst Fahmi Kuru wrote in Safak that many Arabs are not aware of the U.S. scheme although it dominated the conference of Iraq’s neighbors on February14 -15.

But he believes that the American project is doomed to failure due to the U.S. stick-and-stick approach, which alienated the Arabs.

The initiative will be high on the agenda of the next NATO summit to be hosted by Istanbul in June.

Last November, U.S. President George W. Bush said the people of the Middle East should have responsible democratic leaders, announcing a new "forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East".

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney tackled the initiative last month in the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

"Our forward strategy for freedom commits us to support those who work and sacrifice for reform across the greater Middle East.

"We call upon our democratic friends and allies everywhere, and in Europe in particular, to join us in this effort," he said.

The plan had drawn flack from Arab countries with experts saying that it would give the U.S. a carte blanche to meddle into Arab countries’ internal affairs.