|
Dear Members and Friends,
Turkish-American Business Forum hosted a Discussion
with the prominent political analyst Dr. Soner Cagaptay on May 26
th, 2009 at Arent Fox, LLP. A diverse group of attendees had the opportunity to network
and ask questions to Dr. Cagaptay directly.
Following the registration and an hour of networking
during the dinner, the discussion started at 7:15pm. Dr. Cagaptay discussed the American view on
Turkey in light of recent developments and shared his reflections on the American approach to
issues relating to Turkey.
Dr. Soner Cagaptay discussed Turkey’s importance for
the United States in military and energy related issues. He stated that the main importance of
Turkey is for its location rather than anything else. He briefly explained it with his own
experience which he believes acts as a very significant example on the situation. Through his
experiences, Dr. Cagaptay realized that, many of the Americans do not know where Turkey is, but all
of them know where Incirlik Air Base is; and he even needed to use the base when explaining where
Turkey is. This brief example showed what an important asset Incirlik is for Turkey, and perhaps
how Incirlik is more important than Turkey. Dr. Cagaptay also put extreme emphasis on the fact that
although Turkey is a very strong ally for the United States not only but mostly for its important
location, it is also not indispensable.
Dr. Cagaptay continued his speech by emphasizing the
perceptions on Turkey that have been changed in Washington D.C., since the Davos incident and Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s objection to the appointment of Mr. Rasmussen as the
general-secretary of NATO. Dr. Cagaptay argued that Turkey is now seen as the “ambassador of the
Muslim world to the West”, rather than being “the West tribune to the Muslim countries”. According
to Dr. Cagaptay, this change was “shocking” for many policy makers in D.C. Dr. Cagaptay also
highlighted this rejection for its being not because of the military issues, but because of the
cartoon crisis.
Dr. Soner Cagaptay pointed out that President Barack
Obama included Turkey to his first European visit rather than to a broader Middle Eastern trip, in
an effort to emphasize Turkey’s relations with the West and prevent Turkey from “drift away from
the West”. He also predicted that the U.S. policy will be a continuing policy with a change of
style and revolution in the U.S. social public, but not in the foreign policy. Dr. Cagaptay also
highlighted President Obama’s call to Turkey’s accession to the European Union. He expressed his
concerns about the effectiveness of President’s call in light of French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s
strong opposition to Turkey’s EU Membership.
He closed his remarks with the outside conception of
Turkey that was changed from being Turk, to being Muslim after the September 11 attack. He strongly
recommended a reassessment of “Turkey’s self sense of importance.”
We would like to sincerely thank our speaker Dr. Soner
Cagaptay for sharing his knowledge with us. We also would like to thank our venue sponsor Arent,
Fox LLP, and all the attendees for their involvement, invaluable support to the Turkish-American
Business Forum and the positive feedback we have been receiving on our discussion. We look forward
to seeing you again at our future events. If you would like to be a part of the planning, or become
a contributing sponsor, to our upcoming events, please feel free to contact us at
info@forum.org
or 212.599.1192.
Turkish-American Business Forum
|
