TurkishPress: "Messages for conspiracy theorists"

The relations, which were hurt slightly by the ill-timed visit of Hamas' Khaled Meshaal in February, are now getting better. This is the opinion of Marshall Fund Ankara representative Suat Kiniklioglu, Milliyet columnist Hasan Cemal and various government figures.

One can say that Turkey has maintained and even increased its importance for the US for various reasons. This situation requires a revision of relations and definition of areas of common interest.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's request for a meeting with US President George W Bush can start such a new definition. The shared vision which came up after the recent visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will also contribute to this search.

One of the issues behind better Turkish-US relations is oil and gas lines. The fact that Turkey is an alternative to Russia in transporting resources from the Caspian and Central Asia is one of the important issues for both Europe and the US. A US State Department official explained the issue as the need to prevent Russia's Gazprom from gaining a monopoly as either supplier or purchaser.

He believes that such a development would increase Russian influence and even pressure on Caspian and Central Asian countries. There is a competition and even a power struggle between Russia and the West on energy transportation lines. Therefore Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan's dependence on Russia should be broken. In this respect the transportation of Azerbaijan's natural gas from Turkey to Greece and Italy seems very important. He added that the value of these lines will be clearer if natural gas and oil from Kazakhstan also flows from Turkey to the market. 'We are for diversity and preventing the monopolization of Gazprom,' he explained. Another official from the US National Security Council said that a scenario for the US has four stages. First the Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline will start operations and be successful. Then, the Kazakhs will agree to transport their natural gas through the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline and the US will establish a market for these resources. And Kazakhstan, which doesn't want to be dependent on Moscow, would see this opportunity and decide to transport its natural resources through Turkey.

It is natural that developments in Turkey are considered while its role in transporting energy grows. A note for those who believe that someone in the US is working against the Justice and Development Party (AKP): The US doesn't see any political movement which could form an alternative to the AKP. Nobody wants a coup. Some are suspicious about the AKP's commitment to secularism and its foreign policy. There are even those who support these scenarios. However they don't have as much problem with the AKP as it may seem. At least until Turkey comes to a threshold of some choices.

By Soli Ozel

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