The People I Meet When I Travel: The Turkish Envoy to Iraq

I met the Turkish envoy to Iraq on a flight to Ankara from Istanbul, in May. We were sitting next to each other, and when I noticed him reading an English newspaper, I struck up a conversation. I don't know what I said to get it started, and I never remember, so whenever I find myself in a situation to start talking with someone, I usually don't know what to say. I lucked out, anyhow, cause once he got his turn to speak, it turned into a mini-lecture, and I was saved all the effort of actually having to talk, or think about how fast an object free-falls.

He was on his way back to the capital from Baghdad, where he said the security situation was "improving". He and his staff never felt at risk, but it had taken time to get used to gun shots and explosions... which were a daily occurrence.

I didn't learn anything that research wouldn't turn up, but he had this matter-of-fact manner for describing the role of Turkey, vis-à-vis US foreign policy towards Iraq. He used terms like "mediator" and "intermediary" and "alternative voice", and discussed very honestly how Turkey's policy cues and talking points come largely from Washington. Perhaps, if he'd known the term, "step-and-fetch" would have been among them.

"Your State Department," he said, "needs Turkish diplomats to assert much of their agenda, because Iraqi's are growing tired of the American presence. It is an occupation, after all, and it helps if we can step in to make it look and feel less like that."

Iraq needs a lot of help, and Turkey has been doing a great deal of that, under the direction of the United States. He indicated that this kind of diplomacy was, obviously, very helpful for furthering Turkey's relations with their southern neighbor.

I assume there are additional, unspoken advantages, for both Turkey and the United States. I don't know what they are. I speculate, however, that one reason the House of Representatives abandoned its efforts to recognize the 'Armenian Question', as it's called in Turkey, as a genocide, has to do with our present interests in the region.

If the gentleman's demeanor was any indication, the Turkish government can do some serious bargaining with the US on a number of fronts. He seemed to feel pretty good about that.