Turkey's US envoy 'not naive' to differences, sees room for cooperation with Washington
In an interview with Al-Monitor's Andrew Parasiliti, Hasan Murat Mercan talked the S-400s, tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean and what a US recognition of the Armenian genocide would mean for the relationship.
One month into the job, Turkish Ambassador to the United States Hasan Murat Mercan acknowledges the fraught relationship between the two NATO allies but says he’ll look for areas of common ground.
“I know the differences between the two countries. I’m not naive enough to ignore them or to say that there are no differences,” Mercan told Al-Monitor’s Andrew Parasiliti.
“But I prefer to focus on issues which we can create value together without undermining the importance of differences,” said Mercan.
Mercan cited Afghanistan and Syria as possible venues for cooperation, and pointed to President Joe Biden’s pledge to reinvest in transatlantic alliances as grounds for optimism.
