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  • AK Party Central Executive Committee Member
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  • Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee
  • Chairman of the Turkish-American Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group
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Suat KINIKLIOGLU
Turkish Grand National Assembly
Tel: +90 312 420 5840
Fax: +90 312 420 6961

Activities/Events

US should understand Turkey is changing, says deputy PDF Print E-mail
Written by Sundays Zaman - Sezai Kalayci   
Sunday, 23 September 2007

Kiniklioglu, a regular contributor to Today's Zaman, and columnist Andrew Finkel both delivered speeches at a Thursday evening iftar at the US Congress building, organized by the Rumi Forum, an organization working to foster interfaith dialogue. "Turkey has become a significant power in its region," Kiniklioglu stressed.

Expressing that Turkey embraces democratic values more and more each day, Kiniklioglu remarked that Turkish-American relations should get over the blow they suffered in 2003 when Parliament rejected a resolution allowing deployment of US troops from inside its territory. Kiniklioglu asked US authorities to grasp the new position of Turkey both within its region and the global order, and expressed his opinion that such a viewpoint would have a positive impact on bilateral relations.

Sharing his observation that some in Washington, D.C., were finding it difficult to grasp the drastic change Turkey has been going through, he said that public opinion in Turkey now could become a defining source in decisions made between the leaders of the two countries as it happened in 2003. "We expect the US to know that Turkey is a powerful state in its region and respect that," Kiniklioglu told the attendees.

Kiniklioglu also asked American diplomats to be more careful in considering regional balances, warning that unintended consequences could unfold in the Middle East. Referring to last year's crisis in Lebanon, he added: "Washington called London, Paris and Berlin in regard to the problem. We would have expected our American friends to call Ankara. Such an approach would prevent repetition of the difficulties the US has faced in Iraq."

He pointed to Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) terrorism as the most important problem in the relations between the two countries along with the difficulty some US officials have in understanding the changes in Turkey.

US should realize Cold War over

Andrew Finkel stressed that the Cold War is over -- something he believes should be understood by US officials.

Reiterating Kiniklioglu's earlier point that Turkey is no longer a satellite nation shielding the West against the threat of communism, Finkel also expressed that US officials' concerns that the AK Party has a secret Islamist agenda were unfounded, saying that the party's commitment to the European Union process was proof of this.

Asserting that the US is hesitating to impose sanctions against the PKK because of its good relations with the administration of northern Iraq, Finkel said this is vexing for the Turkish side. Finkel also shared his opinion that the US is using the PKK against Iran.

Armenia against border opening

In response to a question from an Armenian journalist attending the iftar dinner, Kiniklioglu said the border between Armenia and Turkey being closed is not blocking Armenia, adding that he believed Armenia would not be willing to open the border as this would normalize relations between the two countries and put an end to the Kocharian regime.
 
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