The visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul to Washington for talks with President George Bush would seem to indicate a major effort to heal some of the rifts that have enveloped the US-Turkish relationship. However, while the actual rifts may be somewhat overplayed due to misunderstandings and media hype, there is serious business that both sides want to clarify in their relationship, especially having to do with the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), and it seems that what has come out of these meetings might be contradictory. Two years and counting into the Iraq War, a recent upsurge of activities by the PKK has changed the calculus of the situation and the need for cooperation between parties. The question is: who needs whom more? From some press reports, it seems the Washington trip, reaffirmed the countries’ bilateral relation and how they seek to help one another, whereas others seem to indicate more commitments have been made.

Turkey , the United States’ closest Muslim ally, has a duality of presence (e.g., location, culture, history, and influence, etc) between the Western world and the Middle East, and it has long sought to define its relations with the US and, indeed, its place in the modern world. Turkey is a member of NATO and is home to important strategic NATO bases. During the Cold War, Turkey?s strategic locale on the Black Sea and near the Middle East made it an important ally. The foundations of the modern Turkish state have also strived for modernization and a secularized regime. Unlike other Muslim countries, Turkey has important commercial and strategic interests with Israel. The country also seeks to join the European Union, a move their US ally has encouraged Europe to allow. However, there has been reluctance within Europe to accept Turkey, which was viewed as not European enough. Turkey has certainly received a fair share of criticism for its human rights record and has had to deal with terrorism, namely in the form of the PKK and the unrest of its Kurdish minority. However, with recent improvements in its human rights record, the European Union has agreed to set a date to begin discussion on potential EU membership. A long road lies ahead for Turkey, and there is a feeling that certain EU countries would vote against Turkish membership. Despite colder relations between the United States and numerous European powers since the Iraq War, the US?s mantra is that it is better for Europe to embrace Turkey rather than shun it, as the country could look to its other neighbors for its future.