Monday, August 16, 2010

US issues ultimatum to Turkey

From FT.com, 15 August 2010, by Daniel Dombey in Washington:

President Barack Obama has personally warned Turkey’s prime minister that unless Ankara shifts its position on Israel and Iran it stands little chance of obtaining the US weapons it wants to buy.

Mr Obama’s warning to Recep Tayyip Erdogan is particularly significant as Ankara wants to buy American drone aircraft – such as the missile-bearing Reaper – to attack the Kurdish separatist PKK after the US military pulls out of Iraq at the end of 2011.

...Washington was deeply frustrated when Turkey voted against United Nations sanctions on Iran in June. ...Mr Obama told Mr Erdogan that the Turks had failed to act as an ally in the UN vote. He also called on Ankara to cool its rhetoric about an Israeli raid that killed nine Turks on a flotilla bearing aid for Gaza.

...They need to show that they take seriously American national security interests,” said [a senior] administration official...

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