"It may be long before the law of love will be recognised in international affairs. The machineries of government stand between and hide the hearts of one people from those of another."
M.K. Gandhi
...Faced with the day after, the Turkish capital is now thoroughly and, perhaps, reluctantly evaluating ways of retaliation. Thoroughly and reluctantly because retaliation through halting cooperation with the United States in strategic and economic areas is a double-edged sword that may equally harm Turkey, analysts agree. High tension in relations with the United States may prove to be an undesired situation for the Turkish government, which has worked carefully and successfully to achieve economic stability throughout the nearly five years that it has been in power.
As the White House had underlined, Turkey is an important logistical player in the Iraq war. The bulk of supplies for troops in Iraq pass through Turkey’s İncirlik airbase, and Turkey provides thousands of truck drivers and other workers for US operations in Iraq. Supplies also flow from the base to troops in Afghanistan.
A closure of İncirlik and halting cooperation with the United States on Iraq could be two ways of hurting US interests in a critical region like the Middle East. There are other steps that Turkish officials have refrained from publicly mentioning, such as cutting Turkey’s ongoing support for operations of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan or further tightening restrictions on ties with Armenia. There are tens of thousands of Armenians working in Turkey who do not meet the proper legal requirements, such as obtaining work or residence permits. And although there are no formal ties with Armenia, charter flights are in service between the two countries and Turkish goods find their way into the Armenian market.
Emine Kart
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