President Barack Obama has personally warned Turkeys 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 Obamas 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.

One senior administration official said: The president has said to Erdogan that some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised on the Hill [Congress] …about whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally. That means that some of the requests Turkey has made of us, for example in providing some of the weaponry that it would like to fight the PKK, will be harder for us to move through Congress.

Washington was deeply frustrated when Turkey voted against United Nations sanctions on Iran in June.

When the leaders met later that month at the G20 summit in Toronto, 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.

While the two men have subsequently sought to co-operate over Iraqs efforts to patch together a coalition government, the US makes clear its warning still stands.

They need to show that they take seriously American national security interests, said the administration official, adding that Washington was looking at Turkish conduct and would then assess if there were sufficient efforts that we can go forward with their request.

US law requires the administration to notify Congress 15 days ahead of big arms sales to Nato allies such as Turkey. Although technically such sales can proceed unless Congress passes legislation to stop them resistance on Capitol Hill can push administrations to abandon politically unpopular sales.

Turkey has sought drones for several years. But its drive has taken on greater urgency both because of the continuing US withdrawal from Iraq and the tensions with Israel, which has provided Ankara with pilotless Heron aircraft.

Turkish officials characterise the military relationship with the US as very good but declined to comment on specific procurement requests. The administration has not notified Congress of any big arms sale to Turkey to date this year.

http://www.trdefence.com/?p=1247

White House denies giving Turkey ultimatum over Israel, Iran

The White House on Monday denied press reports that President Barack Obama warned Turkey it could lose its chance to obtain US-made weapons over its position on Israel and Iran.

Britain’s Financial Times newspaper quoted a senior official as saying that Obama told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan that “some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised on the Hill” referring to the US Congress.

These questions centered on “whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally,” said the official.

But while he confirmed the two leaders spoke several days ago, White House spokesman Bill Burton denied that any “ultimatum” had been issued to Ankara.

“I really don’t know where they would have divined that from,” he said.

“The president and Erdogan did speak about 10 days ago and they talked about Iran and the flotilla and other issues related to that,” Burton said.

“We obviously have an ongoing dialogue with them, but no such ultimatum was issued.”

Erdogan wants to buy American drone aircraft to combat separatist Kurdish rebels after the US military withdraws from Iraq at the end of 2011, the Financial Times reported.

The rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has bases in the mountains in the north of Iraq, near the Turkish border.

The United States voiced disappointment after Turkey voted against fresh UN sanctions on Iran, which the United Nations Security Council adopted in June.

Ankara argued that Tehran should be given a chance to carry out a nuclear fuel swap deal, brokered by Turkey and Brazil.

The paper quoted the unnamed official as saying congressional concerns over Turkey mean “that some of the requests Turkey has made of us, for example in providing some of the weaponry that it would like to fight the PKK, will be harder for us to move through Congress.”

Relations between Turkey and Israel were thrown into crisis after an Israeli raid targeting Gaza-bound aid ships on May 31 that left nine Turks dead.

Obama called on Turkey to cool its rhetoric about the raid when he met Erdogan at the G20 summit in Toronto in June, said the FT.

http://www.trdefence.com/?p=1250

Is the FT owned by murdoch.

The west has learnt over the last decade, that by restricting the sale of high tech weapons to Turkey and putting conditions on the sale, has back fired on them. Turning 1 of the worlds top 10 weapons buyers. From being a client state where the west could influence our strategic issues, into a competitor that will take a huge bite of the international weapons sales market within the next decade

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