President Barack Obama may be facing many challenges at home and abroad. However, another emerging one may further complicate his life. NATO ally Turkey is mired in a crisis of its own making that potentially threatens its alliance ties, tax the US government’s patience and even spill over into the increasingly chaotic rest of the Middle East. Washington should perhaps get ready for an increasingly erratic and unpredictable Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who until May of last year was a valued White House speaker on many subjects, especially on Syria and the aftermath of the Arab Spring. On a trip to Brussels this week — the first in five years — Erdogan also saw how much he has alienated his European audience.
Two weeks after he was feted at a May White House dinner, Erdogan was confronted by massive street demonstrations that were violently suppressed by the police. What was remarkable, however, was not the police’s use of excessive force, but rather the discourse that emanated from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan, his ministers and media. They blamed the demonstrations on foreign plots, interest lobbies, Americans, Jews, the foreign press and a variety of other menacing institutions, including Lufthansa.
