Obama looking for help from Turkey’s Erdogan in White House meeting amid policy disagreements

more images

more images

more images

more images

Obama looking for help from Erdogan amid tensions

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Barack Obama is looking for help in Afghanistan from Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan even as tensions simmer between the NATO allies on Iran and the Middle East.

Before leaving to the U.S. on Sunday, however, Erdogan said Turkey has already contributed the “necessary number” of troops.

Turkey took over the rotating command of the NATO peacekeeping operation in Kabul last month and doubled its number of troops to around 1,750.

Erdogan said Turkish military and police are ready to train their Afghan counterparts, and will press ahead with health, education and infrastructure projects there.

Turkey’s participation in the Afghan mission carries enormous symbolic importance because it is the only Muslim country in the force working with U.S. troops to beat back resurgent Taliban and deny al-Qaida a sanctuary.

While both countries agree on the need to stabilize Afghanistan, Turkey has resisted repeated U.S. requests to send troops on NATO combat operations.

The leaders meet Monday at a time of rising Turkish influence in the Middle East and Central Europe. The United States would like Turkey to use its sway as a regional power and Muslim majority ally to help solve some of its trickiest foreign policy problems. But the two sides disagree on many of the important issues.

Turkey has sought to become a mediator for the United States with Iran and Arab countries, but it is unclear whether the Obama administration is eager for Ankara to play that role. The two sides disagree on sanctions against Iran and the administration is uneasy about recent Turkish criticism of and disputes with Israel.

Greater friction is looming as the Obama administration intensifies pressure on Iran to end its nuclear ambitions. A U.S. push for sanctions at the United Nations Security Council, where Turkey currently sits as a nonpermanent member, will force Ankara to choose between a NATO ally and an important neighbor.

The two allies also will need to navigate the perennial issue of an annual U.S. statement on the World War I-era massacre of up to 1.5. million Armenians by Ottoman Turks. Breaking a campaign pledge, Obama has refrained from referring to the killings as genocide, a term widely viewed by genocide scholars as an accurate description. The Obama administration has said it is wary that the sensitive issue could upset talks that could lead to reconciliation and a reopening of the border between Armenia and Turkey. It remains unclear how the administration will handle the issue in the future, especially if talks between Turkey and Armenia falter.

Tensions have eased over cooperation in Northern Iraq. Turkish complaints about a lack of U.S. help in rooting out Kurdish militants launching attacks on Turkey from Iraq loomed over Erdogan’s White House visit with former President George W. Bush in 2007. Turkey has said since that cooperation has improved. Meanwhile, Turkey has boosted trade in the region and improved ties with members of the Kurdish minorities living on both sides of its border with Iraq.