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Is Turkey losing Washington?

Erdogan’s revisionist foreign policy looks squeezed between the Eastern Mediterranean anvil and the Syrian hammer.

France Greece
French ambassador to Greece Patrick Maisonnave (C) reviews troops onboard the French amphibious assault ship, Dixmude after its arrival to the port of Piraeus on Jan. 27, 2020 for an international exercise in the Mediterranean Sea. — LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP via Getty Images

Despite the longstanding alliance and close military partnership between Turkey and the United States, the relationship has always been troublesome. For some time now, pundits and Turkey experts have tended to speculate on “who lost Turkey.” Although most of the observations have looked for an American culprit, it is now time to discuss for Ankara “who lost the United States?” as Turkey is on the verge of losing its key ally.

From the Eastern Mediterranean to Syria — the most important and crucial file in front of Ankara — Washington has increasingly sided with the rivals of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Recent developments have also indicated that Erdogan’s delicate game of pitting Russia and the US against each other also backfired in Washington.

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