The Erdogan government's first major step outside of the U.S. alliance was during the Bush Administration, when it wouldn't let Washington use Turkey as a launching ground for U.S. troops entering Iraq in 2003.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Turkey can be a bridge to regimes and actions the United States can't reach. Turkey can talk to people the United States can't talk to.
And the separatist terrorist organization, PKK, had easy access to Turkey to, inside Turkey.
As the United States shapes and carries out its policies toward Muslim countries, it should do so with Turkey at its side.
That is one of the reasons why we advocate for good relations between the two countries. Turkey understands the needs of the region.
Talk about national interests: When we went in with Operation Iraqi Freedom, some of our allies, Turkey, for example, would not let us through. How much trouble did that cause us, because we were not able to go into Iraq through Turkey?
Regardless of our ambitions to become part of the E.U., we have to keep in mind that Turkey is also a very strong voice that can represent the needs of our region in wider terms in global platforms.
Turkey wants to see Bashar al-Assad go and wants to kind of expand its sphere of influence into Turkey so its Ottoman glory or Ottoman past are once again project into the Syrian provinces. That's kind of what Turkey's vision is.
I've spoken several times with Prime Minister Erdogan about relations between Turkey and Israel. I'm pleased that, following President Obama's visit to Israel, talks between Israel and Turkey are again taking place and hope that relations between them will further improve in the interest of both countries.
Turkey knows the importance of its ties with Israel; it knows it's in the same moderate camp with Israel, the moderate Palestinians and other Muslim countries, and the threat to Turkey is not from us.
Turkey has worked alongside its allies from the beginning.