Things have been difficult for U.S. ally Turkey lately. The rebuff from the EU over accession has sent ripples of shock and consternation through the secular military and the increasingly Islamic political class. Tensions between them are high and there have been rumors of a coup. The stress may be getting to the prime minister, who lost his diplomatic cool at the Davos Forum. What can the U.S. do to support this longtime ally? In this video Spencer Boyer says the U.S. needs to reach out to Turkey early in the Obama Administration:

There are a few things that the United States can do to reach out to Turkey right away. I think one of the easiest ways would be for the United States to make Turkey one of the first stops on President Obama's oversees tour after Inauguration. And I think that it would be very important for that visit to Turkey to be within the context of a European trip versus a Middle Eastern trip to show that the United States looks at Turkey as an indispensable element of the West, and that eventual EU accession for Turkey is extremely important to us. The other thing we can do is to continue to cooperate vigorously in helping Turkey battle the PKK and to help bring together Iraq, the northern regions of Iraq in particular, and Turkey, and help them cooperate more on economic, diplomatic, and military matters.

As a key NATO ally at the crossroads of the West and East, Turkey should benefit from the new engagement that President Obama has offered.