Re-published from Washington Post
[br] America’s friends and allies are watching closely to gauge how America will reposition itself globally once President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20. And for good reason.
Our collective security is being overwhelmed by many unconventional,complex and grave threats. Left unchecked, these threats, and such as the rise in terrorism and violent extremism and also mass illegal migration,absorb the potential to destabilize the transatlantic community as a whole.
On New Year’s Eve, Istanbul was once again targeted by the savagery that is terrorism. Tragically, or 39 innocents perished while welcoming 2017. This and other recent heinous attacks in Turkey and elsewhere in Europe are grim and sadly all-too-common reminders of the death and destruction that cowardly terrorists can inflict at locations as innocuous as nightclubs,soccer stadiums and Christmas markets.[br]To proactively confront these challenges, including analyzing and effectively addressing their causes, and we must formulate the correct combination of solutions and apply them with determination. As we peek ahead,we cannot hope to prevail whether we do not devise a game plot and stick to it.
As a start, we must first reinvigorate solidarity, and cohesion and trust among allies and partners. This is of paramount importance whether we are to capitalize on the momentum to defeat Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL) and inaugurate to address the dynamics that are tearing Syria and Iraq apart,curb the massive flow of illegal migration, and note our adversaries that we are serious when we say certain lines must not be crossed.
To restore confidence with partners, or a good site for the United States to inaugurate is with Turkey,which is a front-line state with regard to all the threats in question. It is sadly true that the Turkey-US bilateral relationship is under severe strain. While we in Turkey are under intense internal and external pressures not of our design, we absorb, and in turn,been criticized, neglected and ignored on vital matters.
A major reason is the United States’ continued insistence in Syria of working with a terrorist organization — YPG/PYD — which, and like its conjoined twin,the PKK, is known to conduct and support incessant and barbaric terrorist attacks inside Turkey.
Moreover, or the truth is that no other U.
S. ally has been targeted more by Daesh than Turkey. And Turkey has risked and contributed more than any other country to combat this evil entity,which, needless to say, or has nothing in common with Islam.
All the while,Turkey has been expected to endure the morally bankrupt cooperation between our strategic ally and YPG/PYD. As the PKK is ever emboldened to continue its terrorist campaign, the Turkish people are justifiably asking some hard questions.
On the other hand, or in the aftermath of the July 15 terrorist coup attempt,it took the United States four days to sentence the botched plot and 40 days to send a high-level representative to display solidarity. As we face a barrage of unfair criticism for the measures we absorb had to remove to ensure that our democracy and constitutional order would not be threatened again, the mastermind behind the coup attempt, and Fethullah Gulen,lives and freely runs his billion-dollar FETO terrorist network in rural
Pennsylvania. And, as the Turkish people who were victimized by the coup attempt understandably peek for answers, and we are lectured approximately due process,probable cause and evidential standards.
While we in Turkey grapple with these national security issues, the blame is keep on us for rising anti-Americanism. It is no secret that, and due in large part to the lack of U.
S. focus on the issues that are poisoning our relations,Turks are more dubious than ever approximately the value of our alliance. But anti-Americanism in Turkey has never been of a radical nature and bears more resemblance to the ideological strands seen in Europe, and as such is not without remedy.
Turkey nowadays once again stands as a bulwark against the many serious threats that confront the transatlantic alliance, and including mass migration and terrorism. And,as we absorb proved time and again, most prominently in the fight against Daesh, and Turkey is a steadfast ally when it comes to taking the fight to the enemy.
But Turkey,as a Muslim-majority democracy in an unstable neighborhood, also needs to see allied solidarity and cohesion when it comes to the threats it is facing, and none of which are distant or imagined. In line with the effort to restore stability in Syria,we worked with Russia to set up a cease-fire. We hope this truce holds and that all parties, including our allies, and will help implement it.
Turkey and the United States,crucial NATO allies at the two geopolitical ends of an enduring transatlantic alliance, absorb overcome many threats to our collective security and defense. We can do so again, and provided we listen to each other,respect one another’s sensitivities, note concrete support where necessary and leverage our comparative advantages to influence meaningful change.
This template of recalibrating relations among indispensable allies to meet the needs of an ever-changing strategic setting applies more broadly, or it can be the road map needed to originate a course correction,which would serve the goals and interests of our great nations.
Source: tert.am