US congressman: "Obama will need Turkey's cooperation for Iraq withdrawal"

If presumed Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is elected president, his first priority will be safely withdrawing US troops from Iraq, and he will need Turkey's support in this critical task, said US Congressman Robert Wexler early this week. Speaking to a group of Turkish Americans, Wexler said that the Bush administration's go-it-alone policy in the conduct of the Iraq war had harmed Turkish-US relations, but that this would change under an Obama administration. Wexler, a founding member of the Turkish friendship group in the US House of Representatives, also predicted that Turkish-American relations would show great improvement under an Obama administration. "Rather than taking unilateral decisions, Obama will show respect for the UN and NATO," the congressman. "His term would be a good time for US-Turkish relations." He also said that Turks living in the US have the potential to create a lobby as well-organized and influential as the US Jewish lobby. "Everyone talks about the strong Jewish lobby in the US," he said. "I believe that one day Turkish-Americans could be as strong as the Jewish lobby."