STRAINS WITH AMERICA

The United States is not well liked around the world these days, mainly because it is seen as a bully that doesn't listen to its friends. Administration officials say that's the price of strong leadership. But they also hope to repair some of the damage in the second term. Can they? That was one of the big topics in the hallways and backrooms of the World Economic Forum in Davos last week. NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth spoke to two key figures who have a strained relationship with Washington: Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the International Atomic Energy Agency's director-general Mohamed ElBaradei, who is up for a third term despite U.S. objections. Excerpts:

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN

NEWSWEEK: What is your advice to the U.S. on Iraq?

It is not possible to qualify the developments in Iraq as positive. The infrastructure of the elections is not the infrastructure of a healthy election. For example, the voter list was not prepared in a fair manner. Only those who had food cards had a chance to vote. What is the situation of those who could not get a food card? The United Nations must be involved in a much more active way.

Could you comment on the fact that some Turks regard the U.S. as the "greatest threat" to Turkey?

Turkey has fulfilled all its obligations to the U.S. regarding humanitarian assistance both in Afghanistan and in Iraq. The fact that the U.S. has not been as sensitive as we would have hoped against the [Kurdish terrorist organization] PKK, which is responsible for 40,000 lost lives in Turkey, has created some negative emotions on the part of the Turkish nation. Also, almost 100 of our citizens have lost their lives in Iraq--most of them were truckdrivers of companies that provided logistical support to U.S. troops, and humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq, like pharmaceuticals. These people provided these services without protection. As the Turkish people saw their own countrymen lose their lives without adequate protection--that had an effect. Eighty-two percent of the people who responded to [a recent opinion poll] said the U.S. was a threat to world peace. The attitude of the European nations is not different. In the U.S.-led Coalition, most of the EU countries are not represented. And every day, the countries that are in the force think of pulling their forces back. In the United Kingdom, 75 percent of the people oppose the war.