The ball is now in Biden’s court after Erdogan’s tête-à-tête with Putin

09:335/10/2021, Tuesday
U: 5/10/2021, Tuesday
Hasan Öztürk

For a week now, the Sochi summit has been a hotly debated topic in Turkey. Those wanting to score political points have no tangible insights other than criticizing the fact that the interview was held one-on-one and behind closed doors.Or regurgitated the same old anti-Russia arguments.However, those who addressed the issue in terms of international relations and regional policies say that the results of the Sochi summit will be felt on the ground in the coming days. Some even go as far as to sa

For a week now, the Sochi summit has been a hotly debated topic in Turkey. Those wanting to score political points have no tangible insights other than criticizing the fact that the interview was held one-on-one and behind closed doors.

Or regurgitated the same old anti-Russia arguments.

However, those who addressed the issue in terms of international relations and regional policies say that the results of the Sochi summit will be felt on the ground in the coming days. Some even go as far as to say that said responses have already made themselves known.

It's true! When it comes to Syria, it is clear that Russia and Turkey developed a new initiative following the Erdogan-Putin meeting.

Taking into account President Erdogan's statements on his way back from Sochi, which were chock-full of clues regarding the relationship between Russia and Syria, it wouldn’t take an expert to say that a new era will be ushered in in Idlib in the near future.

On September 29, 2021, we ascertained very well those most perturbed by the summit between the two leaders. The discomfort abroad was already palpable.

Now, Erdogan has strengthened his hand in Sochi before he heads to Rome; we can already tell that he will attend the G-20 summit with the wind at his back.

Biden's failure to get in touch with Erdogan, who attended the United Nations meeting in New York and inaugurated the Turkish House, strained Turkish-American relations.

We also witnessed the maneuvers those close to America were orchestrating in Turkey up to the moment Erdogan's plane departed from Esenboğa to Sochi.

Even breaking news reports claiming that "Biden and Erdogan will meet at the G-20 summit in Rome on October 30/31", which hit the airwaves on Tuesday evening, September 28, were aimed at dampening the atmosphere in Sochi.

Yet, go to Sochi he did. During the meeting, tensions that plagued Turkish-American relations of late were not exploited by Putin. Turkey and Russia discussed several issues and devised a new roadmap.

At the end of the day, we did everything we could to improve or normalize relations between the U.S. and Turkey.

Most recently, even concerning the operation of Kabul Airport, it was actually one of the steps we took to normalize relations with the United States.

As soon as Biden won the elections, we changed our ambassador to Washington. We even declared that we were ready to work together in Syria. Moreover, we emphasized our NATO partnership.

Yet despite all our goodwill, the Biden administration maintained its "negative" attitude towards Turkey.

Remember, the U.S. Secretary of State even used the term "so-called ally" when referring to Turkey as soon as he took office.

By the way, we’re not even mentioning Biden's statements made on the campaign trail when he said, "The opposition would destroy Erdogan in Turkey with our help."

Anyhow!

We can say that their minds are made up. In other words, the American administration is dead-set on toppling Erdogan. Of course, if they’re powerful enough to actually carry it out.

That's why the Americans have either ignored or squandered any "show of goodwill" by Turkey and Erdogan.

But after Sochi, Erdogan has made his move, and now the ball is in America’s court.

Erdogan brought up the issue to the F-35s on the plane, saying, “We paid 1.4 billion dollars for those planes. We don't earn that kind of money easily. Either give us our planes or our money.” 

He also mentioned Brett McGurk’s name twice, saying, "He is literally running terrorist organizations in Syria. He is working hand-in-hand with terror organizations." 

As far as we can tell, before the Biden-Erdogan meeting in Rome, the American side was given homework on two subjects.

If they’re going to demonstrate goodwill despite choosing not to up until now, here are two opportunities:

Take a positive step on the F-35s issue or withdraw your man McGurk, whom you dispatched to Syria.

We will be following this closely for a month.

Let's see what the Americans will do about these two issues?

Commercial ties developed by Russia and Turkey, from the economy to the defense industry, will, of course, not end the competition between the two countries. Especially in crisis areas, such as Crimea and Syria, Ankara and Russia will continue to have both joint and differing stances on various hot-button issues.

However, we know that even the Turkish Grand National Assembly, which launched its new legislative year on October 1, was attacked by NATO planes in the past.

In other words, Turkey, as a NATO member, has been targeted by "friendly fire" belonging to NATO countries, especially over the past 10 years.

NATO and America are behind all the attacks that were used as ploys, from the MIT crisis in 2012 to the coup and invasion attempt in 2016.

This being the case, when discussing why Turkey and Russia have gotten so close, who would benefit from overlooking or forgetting this fact? I’m leaving this open-ended question right here for you to ponder over!

Meanwhile, the heavy price Turkey had to pay because of the order established by the West and America, which is reverently called the "free world” or the "democratic world," has been completely forgotten.

Need I say more?

#Erdogan
#Putin
#Sochi
#Joe Biden
#Syria
#Afghanistan