U.S. Assistant Secretary Philip Gordon Discusses U.S. Turkey Relations

November 12, 2009

Assistant Secretary Philip Gordon was in Ankara on November 12th and met with leading columnists and television hosts at a roundtable.  In this excerpt, Dr. Gordon gives his views on whether Turkey is “turning on its axis” and provides updates on U.S. policy with Iran.

Question:   I wonder if you are in the same opinion with the thoughts that Turkey is in a “change of axis”  nowadays.

A/S Phil Gordon: No, I think talking about a change of axis is a very significant exaggeration of what is going on in Turkey.  Turkey has long had very strong and close relations with the West.  We consider it to be a European country with significant ties and interests in Europe but also one that has always had a very active outreach to the Middle East and beyond.  It is perfectly understandable and normal for Turkey to want close relations and to be highly engaged with its neighbors.  It has borders with a lot of countries in the Middle East, Iran, Iraq, Syria and stakes in the greater Middle East and we are neither surprised by nor disturbed by an active Turkish agenda in the Middle East.  It doesn’t mean we always agree and we have our differences.  You mentioned Iran.  As you know, the United States is very concerned about the Iranian nuclear program or suspected nuclear weapons program, and we are reaching out to Iran and open to engagement with Iran, and we think we, together with our international partners, have put on the table a very realistic set of proposals about how Iran can reassure the international community that it’s not pursuing nuclear weapons.  We have widespread international support for that.  We work well with Turkey on that issue and one of the things I was here to talk about is how we move forward because we don’t think now is the time for business as usual with Iran and we want to make sure that everybody agrees on both tracks of our policy. Engagement and offers of cooperation but also an understanding that Iran needs to reassure the International Community on its nuclear issue or there should be consequences.

Question:  (Sound is garbled, referring to Western media) . . .   Some comments focus on Turkey’s axis and that the shifting of Turkey’s axis from East to West is worrying Western circles.   Do you agree with those comments?

A/S Gordon: Well, I think I addressed that before.  I don’t see any turning of Turkey’s axis.  I think that Turkey was and remains a country with very close ties to the West and certainly to us.  We are not surprised or worried by, as I said, Turkey’s engagement and interest in the East.  It is true that a lot of people in the West pay attention to what Turkey does and are asking question when they hear comments that seem out of touch with broad Western views of certain situations.  I am not saying that are not questions that are being asked, but I think that we are very confident that Turkey remains a close partner of ours and a great friend and partner of Western Europe.

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See also: 

• Current U.S. - European Relations - by Dr. Philip H. Gordon (November 6, 2009)
• U.S. Perspectives on Central and Eastern Europe – by Philip H. Gordon (November 4, 2009)