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Turkey's scapegoating of McGurk rooted in revisionism

National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk has worked closely with the Turks for many years on a range of knotty issues, and the growls from Ankara suggest that Turkey continues to pin US policies that it doesn’t like on "rogue" individuals.
<<enter caption here>> on May 19, 2017 in Arlington, Virginia.

With the inauguration of Joe Biden as US president, Turkey’s designated nemesis, Brett McGurk, has formally taken over his new position as the National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. “The McGurk thorn in Turkish-American relations,” fumed English-language government mouthpiece Daily Sabah in a Jan. 18 op-ed. The headline summed up the mood in Ankara, where McGurk is widely expected to use his power to undermine Turkey at every opportunity.

“McGurk was the chief architect of the United States’ relationship with the Syrian offshoot of the [Kurdistan Workers Party] PKK terrorist organization, the [People’s Protection Units] YPG. The appointment has dealt a heavy blow and could impact the mending of ties between Ankara and Washington. McGurk’s appointment has sullied the picture,” complained the op-ed’s author, Batu Coskun. Will it really?

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