US worry about Turkish PM's dependability: WikiLeaks

Fav Tag: Wikileaks BERLIN: Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks to German news magazine Der Spiegel show US diplomats have doubts about Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's dependability as a partner.

American diplomats distrust Erdogan and his unrealistic views on the world, wrote Der Spiegel. He gets his information almost exclusively from newspapers with links to the Islamists, and allegedly has little time for the analyses of his ministries, the diplomats believe.

The prime minister, one of the United States' most important NATO partners, has surrounded himself with "an iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors," writes a diplomat.

Despite his bragging, he is afraid of losing power, according to the dispatches viewed by Der Spiegel. One source is quoted as telling the Americans: "Tayyip believes in God but doesn't trust Him".

Erdogan's advisors, and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, are portrayed as having little understanding of politics beyond Turkey.

A high-ranking government adviser, quoted by US diplomats, describes Davutoglu as "exceptionally dangerous" and warns that he would use his Islamist influence on Erdogan.

A cable signed by the US ambassador in January 2010 says the foreign minister wants to reassert on the Balkans the influence the Ottoman empire used to exert on the region.

But the foreign minister overestimates himself and Turkey, wrote the US diplomats. Turkey, sums up a cable translated into German by the magazine, "has the ambitions of Rolls Royce but the means of Rover".