New page for US, Turkey reads like fantasy
Hope for a reset in Turkish-American ties under the Biden administration will remain unrealistic until Ankara addresses its democratic issues and human rights record.
Already damaged relations between Ankara and Washington have soured further over the Turkish government's handling of widespread protests against Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s pick to head one of the country’s top universities.
After reading her recent Washington Post op-ed, I called my colleague and good friend Asli Aydintasbas to tell her how relieved I was to discover that the Erdogan team has a sense of humor. In her Jan. 28 article, Aydintasbas illustrated how Erdogan’s government is preparing for the era of President Joe Biden, as explained by “several of Erdogan’s top aides and former advisers.”
“We are the only country pushing back against Russian expansionism in Syria and elsewhere,” one Erdogan adviser told Aydintasbas. “The president has developed a rapport with [President Vladimir] Putin and is the only Western leader who can have a frank conversation with him. The Biden administration should see this as an asset.”
It's funny to imagine this adviser might think that this explanation will convince the American administration about Ankara’s real motivations to improve relations with Moscow. Ankara’s chances to impress Washington through such comments seem fairly low and the recent conversation between US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and the Turkish president’s spokesperson offers further evidence of the massive disconnect.
