Obama Praises Modern Turkey’s Founder Ataturk

By Edwin Chen and Hans Nichols

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama, seeking to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to its alliance with Turkey, took part in a wreath-laying ceremony in Ankara today to honor the founder of the modern Turkish state.

“I am honored to pay tribute to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk,” Obama wrote in a visitors’ book at Ataturk’s tomb, praising him for putting Turkey on “the path to democracy.” The Turkish leader’s “legacy continues to inspire generations around the world,” Obama wrote.

Obama arrived in Ankara last night on the first stop of a two-day trip to Turkey, his first as president to a Muslim country. The president’s visit is meant to “strengthen and demonstrate” an important relationship for the U.S., Robert Gibbs, Obama’s spokesman, told reporters.

Obama is conferring with President Abdullah Gul before holding talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then addressing the Turkish parliament. He is scheduled to visit Istanbul tomorrow.

Obama championed Turkish membership of the European Union yesterday in Prague, one day after he helped win over Turkish objections to Denmark’s Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the next head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

‘Key’ to Designs

“Turkey is key to Washington’s design to improve relations with the Muslim world,” said Josh Landis, co-director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

During his presidential campaign, Obama vowed to undertake a vigorous “public diplomacy program” that would distinguish his approach to foreign relations from that of former President George W. Bush. Obama has described the Bush doctrine as “a small group of political officials at the State Department explaining a misguided war.”

Obama said in an August 2007 speech that he would create and deploy an “America’s Voice Corps” of young ambassadors who would reach out to Muslims, and that within his first 100 days in office he would speak at “a major Islamic forum.” Obama said he is seeking to “redefine” America’s struggle against Islamic fundamental extremists.

“I will make clear that we are not at war with Islam, that we will stand with those who are willing to stand up for their future, and that we need their effort to defeat the prophets of hate and violence,” he said.

Iraq War Refusal

The president’s visit to Ankara and Istanbul is noteworthy also because Turkey, the only mainly Muslim member of NATO, angered the Bush administration by refusing to allow the U.S. to use its soil as a staging ground for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Bilateral tensions escalated further after the Turkish government reached an energy accord with Iran over American objections and criticized Israel’s December incursion into Gaza.

In Erdogan, Obama will be conferring with a counterpart who believes his ties in the Middle East make him an asset to a U.S. president’s quest to improve America’s standing in the Muslim world. And Obama turned to Gul at a NATO summit on April 4 to help broker a deal allowing Rasmussen to be named as the alliance’s next chief.

Obama brought Rasmussen and Gul together for an hour-long talk, after which Turkey agreed to drop its objections in exchange for a promise from Rasmussen to “ensure the best relations possible between NATO and the Muslim world” -- and shut down a Kurdish TV channel if Turkish claims of links to terrorism are proven.

‘Anchor’ Turkey

The president told EU leaders in Prague yesterday that “moving forward towards Turkish membership” would help forge a relationship with Muslims “based on mutual respect and mutual interest,” and ensure that “we continue to anchor Turkey firmly in Europe,” the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

The U.S. “doesn’t want Turkey isolated from the West, which is why Obama is insisting on the country’s European Union membership,” Metin Heper, a political scientist at Bilkent University in Ankara, said in an interview. “The U.S. and the EU both depend on Turkey when it comes to their relations with Middle Eastern countries.”

In Istanbul, Obama is scheduled to visit some of Turkey’s most famous museums and mosques and meet with students. Also on his calendar is a roundtable, similar to one he held in Strasbourg, France, on April 3.

To contact the reporters on this story: Edwin Chen in Ankara at echen32@bloomberg.net; Hans Nichols in Ankara at hnichols2@bloomberg.net.