January 24, 2004
AN INVALUABLE ALLY:
Turkey to mediate between Israel, Syria (Jerusalem Post, 1/24/04)
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the announcement at the World Economic Forum at Davos. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul is expected to begin shuttle diplomacy in the coming few days.During Syrian President Bashar Assad's recent visit to Damascus, Turkey passed on Israel's position that to demonstrate his seriousness he needs to close the terrorist organizations' offices in Damascus and end his country's support of Hizbullah.
But officials also said that although Israel favors direct contact with the Syrians, and also uses the good offices of the US to pass on messages to Damascus, Turkish involvement would also be helpful.
At this time last year many who live only in the moment wanted America to impetuously turn its back on the Turks, who were only defending their own interests in regard to the coming Kurdistan. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 24, 2004 1:15 PM
At the risk of being monomaniacal, this is a brilliant Bush administration maneuver. If some other country can negotiate an Israeli/Arab agreement, we will have much more freedom of action in the middle east.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 24, 2004 5:57 PMAgreed-- what happened last year has turned out to be good for everyone involved. Turkey had to show that they aren't America's poodles, which gives them the freedom to do things like this, and the US has been able to manage the Kurds without the Turkish domestic politics mucking things up.
It's a case where ~unilateralism~ was good.