US-Turkey ties under Biden: confrontation or conciliation?
The Biden era in Washington is looming as a tough test for Ankara, whose moves will largely determine how the scarred US-Turkish relationship develops.
The upcoming Joe Biden administration is bound to profoundly alter the current nature of Turkish-US ties, which have been largely reduced to a peculiar relationship between US President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, both of whom have had an overly personalized approach to foreign policy.
Under the Biden White House, US foreign policy is set to return to a more institutional ground, unlike Trump’s unprecedented style, which was often isolationist, populist and dismissive of international bodies. Judging by Biden’s interviews, statements and writings over the past year, one could conclude that US foreign policy under his leadership will rest on four main principles: strengthening democracy globally, enhancing security cooperation with allies, promoting a globalization protective of the middle classes and prioritizing global free trade in tandem with environmental protection.
The principles emphasized by Biden amount to a reform agenda, both at home and internationally, on the three pillars of the liberal international order — free trade, political democracy and collective security.
Turkey appears to be the subject of heated discussions within Biden’s foreign policy team as it prepares for transition, with two diverging approaches standing out.
