WHAT EDWARDS MEANS

For Turkey, the situation is quite complicated. As a matter of fact, Ankara doesn’t willingly support the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strikes whose ultimate aim is to expand American military and economic power in the Islamic world. However, on the other hand, neither does Ankara oppose the ‘star’ role Washington has set for Turkey in its Greater Middle East Initiative (GME), which is why certain domestic circles were extremely pleased with Bush’s speech at Galatasaray University at the closing of NATO’s recent Istanbul summit. Having seen Turkey’s critical importance in the wake of Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration is now lending its full support to Ankara on both its EU membership bid and relations with the International Monetary Fund. Bush somehow knows and likes our country.

Therefore, Ankara foreign policy circles believe that the devil we know is better than the one we don’t. Let’s recall that Kerry is one of the supporters of the so-called Armenian genocide bills. In addition, he is a member of US leftist circles, which are known for their harsh criticisms of Turkey. Unlike Bush, Kerry won’t be willing to pressure EU countries for Turkey’s EU membership.

However, Turkey shouldn’t let itself get worried. Let’s not forget the Clinton administration, once very close to the leftist and Greek lobbies in the US, and how Clinton’s term was one of the golden eras for Turkish-US relations. What I’d like to stress here is no matter what the US president thinks about our country, Turkey is a sine qua non for US foreign policy. There are fixed, inevitable parameters in Washington’s foreign policy which no leader can alter. Moreover, would a Kerry administration be able to ignore the nuclear power plant that Iran is currently building in Natanz? Kerry certainly doesn’t have any magic wand with which to change the world.

Kerry and his charismatic running mate John Edwards so far seem very clumsy in their campaigning, as Edwards is voicing a very leftist rhetoric which means little to the US nation. The specter of ‘class war’ which Edwards often raises in his speeches is not a popular theme for Americans. This duo must prove to their country that they are capable of correcting things inside and outside the homeland. Otherwise, Americans too might opt to stick with the devil they know.”