Obama Portrays Another Side of U.S.

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President Obama Makes First Overseas Trip

President Obama's first trip across the Atlantic has included visits to six countries. Obama, originally scheduled to return to Washington after two final days in Turkey, took a surprise detour to Baghdad to visit American troops serving in Iraq.

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From the moment in London last week when he handed Queen Elizabeth II an iPod, to rousing appeals to youth in Strasbourg, France, and Prague, to Tuesday's session in Istanbul, Obama used his trip to signal a generational change in the White House and the power of youth to affect global decision making.

Echoing a theme and strategy from his presidential campaign, Obama urged young people to harness their collective power on issues as varied as climate change, nuclear proliferation and the fight against Islamic extremism. In Strasbourg, he told them that "this generation cannot stand still."

"Each time we find ourselves at a crossroads, paralyzed by worn debates and stale thinking, the old ways of doing things, a new generation rises up and shows the way forward," the president said, adding a favorite campaign mantra: "This is our generation. This is our time."

Obama told the students in Istanbul that he believes in setting ambitious goals, including establishing a constructive relationship with Iran, ridding the world of nuclear weapons and forging a peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He also said he would like to change the way the United States is viewed in parts of the world.

"America, like every other nation, has made mistakes and has its flaws," he said. "But for more than two centuries, we have strived at great cost and sacrifice to form a more perfect union."

Obama, who is relatively inexperienced in foreign policy, met over the past week with the leaders of Russia and China and others from across Europe, Asia and Africa on such topics as the global financial crisis and nuclear weapons stockpiles.

Mehmet Ali Birand, a prominent journalist and broadcaster who has covered several previous U.S. presidential visits, said Obama was impressive in Turkey.

"He said things that were not very light music to our ears, but we could swallow it," Birand said, referring especially to Obama's refusal to disavow his earlier statements that the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire before and during World War I was genocide.

"He was very clear on what he expected from the Turks," Birand said. "He is not a guy who just came in and gave us some angles."

At each stop, Obama sought to enlist young people to shake up old political orders and assumptions.

"Young people, they can get rid of some of the old baggage and the old suspicions," he said in a wide-ranging exchange with students here. He cited his talks with Medvedev as an example of new thinking, saying he and the Russian president had come of age in the twilight of the Cold War and viewed each other differently than leaders of earlier generations.

Watching the 47-year-old president touring Istanbul's ancient sites, Mehmet Karaman, a 20-year-old student, said: "Obama is a new chance for the world."

"He's young, and after seeing what the older generation has done, he knows it's better to reach out and listen to young people," said Karaman, who joined excited crowds in the streets as Obama visited Istanbul's historic old town.

Emre Erdogan, head of the Turkish research firm Infakto, said Obama's message is resonating with Turkish youth.

"Turkish young people are not optimistic about their lives," he said. "They are looking for a sense of confidence and security in their lives. Obama gives them hope."

Staff writer Scott Wilson in Washington contributed to this report.