Tag: Bush

Even though sentiments are mixed in the US, around the whole world people have reacted enthusiastically about Obama‘s election. People around the world have had more than enough of Bush’ policies and were hoping for a change. Change being the keyword of Obama’s campaign and McCain being associated with Bush, caused the most people to be more favourable towards Barack Obama. The website If the world could vote? shows that all over the globe, more people were rooting for Obama than for McCain.

Obama is young, ‘black’, a Democrat and instills hope, whereas McCain was seen as very similar to Bush, partly due to employing similar tactics to the ones of former Republican campaigns.

One country that seemed significantly pro-McCain on aforementioned If the world could vote? is Macedonia. Why? The Republic of Macedonia borders Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Serbia and Kosovo. Not the easiest region for a country. Greece refuses to recognize ‘Macedonia’ as their name, one of the reasons being a similarly named province in northern Greece, and Macedonia is thus referred to in the UN as The Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia (FYRM). It’s a very complex issue. McCain has been very outspoken about recognizing Macedonia by its constitutional name, whereas Obama has been more careful about it.

Randy Scheunemann, a McCain adviser said the following about NATO membership bids:

On Albania, Croatia and Macedonia, Senator McCain has been strongly outspoken in support for including them. They are ready. In the case of Macedonia, they’ve been a membership action plan for eight or nine cycles.

With respect to the Greek concerns, the United States recognizes Macedonia under its constitutional name.

And he certainly hopes that there’s not going to be this throwback to the 19th century style of Balkan politics, and the Greeks throw a red card on the membership of Macedonia.

Since this is a very big issue in Macedonia, as territorial, cultural and national integrity always are in the Balkans, it’s no wonder people in Macedonia were hoping for McCain to win.

As for Turkey, people might be happy to see a change in government. Bush’ unpopular policies have led to an increase in anti-Americanism around the world. In June, a Pew poll found that out of 47 countries, Turkish people had the least favourable view of the United States (source: The New York Observer). In that sense, Obama will be a welcome change.

It is hoped that the new President will aid Turkish efforts against the PKK and the Kurdish insurgency in the Iraqi border area, support the EU’s membership bid and put pressure on European politicians, and support Turkey in its process of becoming a modern, democratic country. It’s not expected that Obama will aid Turkey’s military efforts or put significant pressure on the EU to get them to admit Turkey.

Moreover, just one day before the elections, Obama renewed his commitment to recognize the Armenian genocide, a very sensitive issue in Turkey. McCain “never pledged to label the Armenian killings as genocide and is seen by the U.S. Armenian community as a politician against or indifferent to Armenian matters” (Turkish Daily News).

Turkey’s foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said “the formal recognition by the United States of genocide would seriously damage U.S.-Turkish ties and hurt Turkey’s efforts for reconciliation with Armenia” after meeting Phil Gordon last week, a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama.

Turkey is an important ally (NATO member) and trade partner to both the US and EU, as it has a stabilizing presence in the Middle East, often mediating in Arabic-Israeli talks.

Looks like Obama will have a lot on his hands when he takes office in January.

Increase your understanding! Here’s some useful links:

• Obama renews commitment to ‘Armenian genocide’ recognition (Turkish Daily News – 3 Nov 2008)
• McCain, Obama and Clinton on Macedonia (The Macedonian Tendency – 9 Jun 2008)
• Obama victory sparks cheers around the globe (Cleveland.com – 5 Nov 2008)
• Turkey Ponders Obama As Cure for Anti-Americanism (The New York Observer – 1 Jan 2008)
• If The World Could Vote? Results
• The next US President and Turkey (Turkish Daily News – 10 May 2008)
• The Armenian Genocide (Wikipedia)
• Turkish-Kurdish Conflict (Wikipedia)
• Macedonia Naming Dispute (Wikipedia)

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