Erdogan’s Relations With US Are Spiraling Down While Relations With Russia Are Spiraling up

Good day, this is International Review and I'm Evgeniy Primakov.

Ankara was the final destination of the President's Middle East tour. In Ankara, President Putin held negotiations with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. We have good relations with Turkey again. Though, one can hardly call them simple. Turkey is trying to keep pace with the new events in the Middle East. Everyone in Turkey finally understood that one cannot solve Syria's problems without Russia. However, they had a different view earlier.

 

Not too long ago Erdoğan stigmatized Bashar Al-Assad. He said: "Assad must quit. We'll get these things sorted later." He supported various, let's say, exotic militant groups and organizations. He threatened Russian Aerospace Forces. Well, let's leave it at that. But we shouldn't forget about it too. It's over. Peace, love, and happiness. Turkey still criticizes Damascus. But today Turkey, together with Russia and Iran, is also a sponsor and mediator of the conflict settlement. Relations with NATO are slowly getting worse. Relations with the US are getting worse much faster.

Relations between Turkey and the US started to get worse after the takeover attempt in Summer 2016. Ankara accuses Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen of organizing a military coup. He has lived in the US since 1999. Washington ignores all the extradition claims. This fact and the US cooperation with the Kurds irritate Ankara.

Turkey revealed locations of 10 US military bases in the Kurdish-controlled territories. This caused a stern response from the US Central Command. In response, an American pastor was arrested in İzmir. The authorities charged him with having links to Gülen. This issue was brought up even at the personal meeting between Erdoğan and Trump. But the pastor is still under arrest.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the arrest of the US consulate staffer Metin Topuz in Istanbul. Metin had been working in Turkey for more than 30 years. After this, both parties stopped to issue visas to each other.

Not too long ago an arrest warrant was issued for a CIA operative. An unprecedented thing. Negotiations on the supply of S-400 (SA-21 Growler) anti-aircraft weapon systems to Turkey have become another reason for the exchange of claims between the US and Turkey.