Tuesday morning last week. A beautiful day in Washington, D.C., is about to begin. I am staying at the Hay-Adams Hotel, right across from the White House.

I decide to walk in the morning. Not that I am in good shape or anything close to it, but I like to exercise. Across the street, between the Hay-Adams and the White House, is Lafayette Park. Originally named President's Park, it was renamed in 1824 in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Frenchman who was instrumental in assisting the Americans in the American Revolutionary War.

It is 8 in the morning. Washingtonians are going to work, running, walking, chatting and smiling. Some with their coffee cups in their hands, others listening to their iPods and disconnected from the rest of the world. I am making the rounds in the park. An old woman is sitting in a protest tent right across the White House. She has a sign in her hand. “You paid Israel to kill this child,” says the sign, with a picture of a child I think is the boy killed years ago in front of the eyes of his father while caught in the midst of a gun exchange between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians.

Tourists are taking pictures of her. She is happy for the attention. School kids from Pennsylvania stare at the numerous signs she has on her tent. Filipino tourists visiting DC are curious, too -- in a very Eastern fashion they take zillions of pictures, preferably with the White House in the frame.

Everything is so peaceful. It is a beautiful June morning in Washington. The squirrels are hopping from one tree to the other. Google tells me Lafayette Park has the "densest squirrel population known to science.” Indeed, Tuesday morning at Lafayette Park is very calm and yet so detached from the rest of the world. It is so easy to confide in the serenity and peace that Lafayette Park is offering this morning, and so convenient. But my conscience says otherwise.

I have completed six rounds and am now sweating. The young men and women going to work are now more rapid in their movements. The National Park officers are busy cleaning the park and making sure the landscape remains all right. The White House is busy with oil spills; the president is scheduled to address the nation on television.

The same White House on Sunday described a commission set up by Israel as “an important step forward.” Of course, this is far from convincing, but our American friends urge us to wait and see what it will deliver. We still feel that the Israeli commission will not be able to complete a “prompt, impartial, credible, and transparent investigation.”

The US is a great country. Since World War II it has been the most important political force in international relations. It has a vast resource of capable people, ideas and wealth. Yet Washington's position on the deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara is likely to erode US influence in the region even further. This lack of space for maneuver is not really due to the Obama administration but rather to how Washington is constituted.

We Turks feel that the Middle East is open for change. The status quo is no longer sustainable. The humanitarian situation in Gaza needs to be addressed and I am happy to see that there appear to be moves in that direction. Failing to address the humanitarian situation in Gaza and begin a meaningful peace process is likely to disturb the peace in the region -- as well as that of Lafayette Park.