Analysis
New visits, full momentum: Can Turkey and US go beyond transactionalism?
US-Turkey ties are heading in a positive direction, but it’s too soon to be optimistic, according to one expert.
The consecutive visits to the United States by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin are signaling a mending of fences between Ankara and Washington.
Fidan and Kalin discussed bilateral ties, Syria, Iraq and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine with their American counterparts as well as with the White House, the State Department and Congress.
The crucial question these diverse briefs prompt is: Are Turkish-US relations taking a more institutionalized turn, shifting away from the transactional give-and-take nature of recent years.
Kemal Kirisci, a leading expert on Turkish politics and Turkish-US relations and the former director of the Turkey Project at the Brookings Institution, thinks it is too soon to tell.
