The sudden announcement that US President Barack Obama is to visit Turkey within the next month, so Associate Professor Koray Çalışkan, is an indication that the US is trying to avoid another Vietnam by reducing the size its occupation of Iraq. Countries neighbouring Iraq are to be involved in bearing the costs.

During her visit to Turkey on 7 March, US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton told Prime Minister Erdoğan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Babacan that Obama would be visiting within a month. According to Voice of America, Clinton said that Obama was going to confer with Turkey on how to withdraw US soldiers from Iraq in the safest and most effective manner.

Turkey would be exploited

This, according to Çalışkan from Bosphorus University, does not mean an end to the US occupation, but rather an attempt at downsizing it. “There are bases in Northern Iraq, and they will keep a base in the south, where the Sunnis are dominant.”

“What they want to do is to take control without guns getting lost everywhere. Turkey represents the cheapest and closest option for moving them. They intend to leave some of the weapons at the Turkish base of Incirlik. We don’t know how many heavy weapons, how much nuclear material, or how many cluster bombs this would involve; and they would not give us an inventory.”

Çalışkan called on Turkey not to become an outpost for the USA; he believes that the USA is trying to subcontract Turkey. He warns that if Turkey cannot even control the violence in its own country, it should not get involved in what would amount to civil war.

US should pay compensation for deaths and damage

The academic also pointed out that the weapons that would pass through this country have been used to kill hundreds of thousands of people. Blaming the US administration for the deaths, he called on billion dollar investments by the USA in Iraq in order to rebuild the country.

No "new" policies for Middle East

When Hillary Clinton visited, she praised the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) even more than George W. Bush did. Obama will do the same, showing that his image of an “extraordinary president with a new vision” is a myth created throughout his campaign. Çalışkan believes that nothing much will change in US Middle East policy. The only thing that has changed for Turkey is that the Obama administration will avoid using the term “moderate Islam”, thus also gaining favour with the Kemalists.

Çalışkan notes that the crisis-ridden USA has no money for an occupation. In order to increase their influence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the US will put pressure on NATO, including Turkey. The AKP will not resist.

As for Israeli-Palestine relations, the academic points to one of the architects of the Obama campaign, Rahm Emanuel. “The Israeli press was able to write, ‘Finally a real Israeli in the White House.’ The suffering of the Palestinians is a result of Israel’s imperialist policies, the Zionism represented by the right and the Workers’ Party in Israel. As long as Emanuel is part of the team in the White House, Obama will not act; there is no indication anyway that he is planning to do anything.” (TK/AG)