High Level Visits to Turkey Go Unreported

By Courtney Doggart
MIA 2009

All the news that's fit to print doesn't seem to include recent and planned visits to Turkey by top U.S. administration and military officials.  That's a bit odd, don't you think?  The laundry list of visits includes General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the 2nd highest ranking military office in the U.S. Armed Forces); Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense; Vice President Dick Cheney; US Attorney General Michael Mukasey; and Frank Urbancic, responsible for managing and overseeing all aspects of counterterrorism for  the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism.

Though the only visits that have taken place as of yet are those between General Cartwright and Turkish General Ergin Saygun, the fact that Cartwright has made two such visits to Ankara in the past four months and that Saygun has come to Washington once indicates that something must be going on.  While one might attribute it to the U.S. intelligence sharing  with Turkey so that the Turkish military can bomb PKK camps in Northern Iraq, one should wonder whether the posse's planned visits means something more--either for Iraq or Iran.

Cheney's planned visit in March would be his first since 2002, when he was exploring the possibility of using Turkey for a northern access route to Iraq. Though it may seem that Bush's presidency is already over, let us remember that Bush and Cheney still have more than 11 months left in their administration. While the presidency is still up for grabs, what is clear is that the Bush-Cheney administration will have drastically reduced influence beginning in 2009, meaning that their clock is ticking and if there's something to get done, it's going to be done now. Perhaps the New York Times and other U.S. papers should pay less attention to the possible president-to-be and more time on the president-that-is. Read more here and here.  And just for kicks, read about Cheney's last visit to Turkey in 2002 here.

Comments

[Richard T.]

A bit of a strange post. Speculation without evidence. "While one might attribute it to the U.S. intelligence sharing with Turkey so that the Turkish military can bomb PKK camps in Northern Iraq, one should wonder whether the posse's planned visits means something more--either for Iraq or Iran." If one should wonder that, perhaps the poster should do her homework and provide more substance than six-year old trip reports and fireside chatter. A link between high-level visits to Turkey and US government policy towards Iran would be interesting. Care to share?

[Courtney]

Yes, Richard, the post is speculative. But it's not based on "fireside chatter." The point of the post was to draw readers' attention to what is not being reported in the U.S. media and what the possible implications are-- a series of high-level visits between Turkish and U.S. military forces might mean increased cooperation over the Kurdish areas in Northern Iraq or perhaps talk about Iran. Clearly, these visits have a purpose. Personally, I think it's worth speculating about.

[Richard T.]

It's sort of a dog that didn't bark thing. There were high level meetings in Turkey, and you invite readers to speculate, with no discernable evidence, that the subject of the talks was Iran. Your evidence would also support the conjecture that the subject was global warming, the price of beans, or margarita recipes. Given the fact that Cartwright and Urbancic were key interlocutors, reasonable readers could conclude that the PKK was the subject of the talks. You provide no reason to suspect otherwise.

[Courtney]

Yes, Richard. Point taken. However, I would like to point out that you overlooked my mention that PKK could be a reason for the talks. Additionally, I think it safe to speculate that they were not there to share margarita recipes. As for global warming... one might expect a different cast of characters for that. I think the leap to Iran is a lot smaller than that to margaritas or global warming.

Given
1) U.S. intelligence-sharing with Turkey over the PKK
2) Turkey's geographic location--sharing a border with Iran and
3) Cheney's track record of visiting Turkey when he wanted something--

I think it reasonable to speculate as to what those talks might be about.

[William R. Barker]

Well, one thing I hope we can all agree on is that COOPERATION rather than conflict with Turkey is in not only our national interest but the world's.

BILL