White House denies Turkey arms ultimatum

The White House denied Monday that the U.S. has threatened Turkey with potentially withholding future arms sales because of its tougher stance towards Israel and vote against U.N. Iran sanctions. 

The White House “emphatically denied” an assertion in a Financial Times report that the president had told Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that future arms sales would be contingent on softening his anti-Israel talk, White House pool reporter Jonathan Weisman of The Wall Street Journal writes. 

Earlier today, the Financial Times cited an Obama administration official who said the President had warned Erdogan in a meeting in June that Ankara’s rhetoric on Israel would make it harder to get arms sales to Ankara through Congress. Obama also told Erdogan that Turkey had failed to act as an ally in voting against the UN Iran sanctions resolution in June, the paper reported.

“The President and Erdogan did speak about 10 days ago, and they talked about Iran and the flotilla and other issues related to that,” White House spokesman Bill Burton told the press aboard Air Force One Monday. “We obviously have an ongoing dialogue with them. But no such [arms] ultimatum was issued.”

“There’s no ultimatum,” Burton added.

Turkish diplomatic sources also say there has not been any U.S. arms ultimatum, although they concede Ankara’s standing in Congress has been hurt as a result of Turkish-Israeli diplomatic tensions in the wake of Gaza flotilla violence in May. That tension has eased somewhat in recent weeks.  Turkey and Israel agreed earlier this month to the formation of a U.N. panel to oversee investigations of the Gaza flotilla violence.

By many accounts, Obama did take a tough tone with Erdogan at a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 in Canada in late June. But Turkish officials say the meeting was positive as it helped dispel any lingering sense of U.S. ambiguity about Turkey’s role in negotiating a possible Iran nuclear fuel swap deal.

U.S. diplomatic sources also say Turkey has played a far more constructive role in recent weeks regarding the possible Iran fuel swap, consulting the U.S. frequently on developments in negotiations. 

Of note is the key role Turkey played at a July 25 meeting in Turkey of the Turkish, Iranian and Brazilian foreign ministers, at which Iran was persuaded to formally respond to the International Atomic Energy Agency about a possible fuel swap deal, and to agree to meet with the E.U.’s High Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton after Ramadan. The U.S. was extremely satisfied with Turkey’s role in the July negotiations, diplomatic sources say.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a policy discussion on Turkey at the State Department last week. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu is scheduled to visit Washington on Monday for consultations on the continuing U.S. drawdown in Iraq, the Iran nuclear issue, Turkish-Israeli relations and the Middle East peace process, Turkey’s Hurriyet newspaper reported. The Pentagon notified Congress of intended arms sales earlier this month

 By Laura Roze.
Politico