Obama's dilemma: How hard to push Turkey?

Tan said Turkey shares the United States’ concern about the prospect that Iran could get a nuclear weapon. But he said Turkey’s vote against the Iran sanctions resolution will allow Turkey to remain an intermediary with Iran and therefore enable the U.S. and the international community “to keep the door open to” Iran’s returning to the negotiating table.

The U.S. “has indicated publicly and privately that we are very unhappy” with Turkey’s “no” vote on the U.N. Security Council Iran resolution, “but [we] want to move forward on crucial elements of relations,” a U.S. official told POLITICO Monday on condition of anonymity…

“My bet is, at the end of the day, … the administration argues that Turkey is still on the Security Council [and] we still need them,” Edelman continued. “The Turks believe that they are being encouraged [by the Obama administration] to continue negotiations” with the Iranians.

Edelman suggested that the Obama administration might clarify — not publicly but in private — a few points with Turkey, namely: “They need us for a lot of things, too,” he said. “Make clear to them privately that there will be a cost, and some things they want from us might not be forthcoming. There are degrees of how much we have to support them on Cyprus, how much to support their candidacy for the [European Union]. We are helping them with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] and giving them lots of intelligence. Exactly how much effort we have to put into that is all a question of degree.”