What’s the 4-1-1 on Turkish-American ties?

Newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden, who came to office on Jan. 20, is about to complete 100 days at the White House.

If you were to ask what has stood out most over these days, many would say, "How long will Biden's mental faculties allow him to further serve as president?"

In fact, for a while now there have been reports claiming he suffers from dementia.

There were several incidents that took place during his candidacy and over the past 100 days that back up this claim.

One can easily surmise from the reports and footage being circulated that the whole team, including his Vice President, who is said to be ready to replace him, were always on alert just in case President Biden made a blunder or forgot something again.

Biden’s election rival Donald Trump did not shy away from taking cheap shots at him, using the term “Sleepy Joe” throughout the presidential campaign period.

Anyway, let’s come to the part that more closely concerns us.

Back on Jan. 21, a day after Joe Biden moved to the White House, I spoke to a Turkish minister in Ankara who has been closely monitoring Turkish-American ties regarding the possible scenarios ahead.

While we were grappling with so many questions that day and in an atmosphere of uncertainty, my interlocutor confidently stated that it would be a "controlled process."

This same official, who spoke off the record, made a comprehensive analysis to back up this claim.

Thus, I made a point of not forgetting what I heard and began to wait.

After it became clear that Joe Biden won in November, the question then turned to: What kind of form will Turkish/American relations take during the upcoming period? For a long time, there has been a big question mark surrounding this topic.

However, today we have more “data” on this issue.

Although a meeting between Biden and Erdogan has not yet taken place a hundred days after the former’s inauguration, the contacts that have been made at the institutional level have all been aimed at thawing ties in a “controlled manner” and keeping them “predictable.”

There are increasing signs that the U.S. will not resort to a new round of sanctions with regards to the S-400 issue.

I recently came across an interesting statement that captures the prevalent mood.

“Turkey managed to weather the S-400 storm. From now on, the U.S. will have to accept this situation. Like it or not, Turkey is a strategic partner that is difficult to give up. We all know that the game is now over: Ankara will not return the S-400 missiles to Moscow. “

I added this quote here, not because Italy's former foreign minister said it, but because it seems to accurately describe the situation.

Over the past few days, Turkey has reiterated its unwavering stance with regards to the S-400s, with Foreign Minister Cavusoglu saying, in a face-to-face meeting with his U.S. counterpart, that the issue is “now closed” as far as Turkey is concerned.

Last week, Reuters published an analysis on Turkish-American ties that contained some interesting points.

The analysis, which was diversified with opinions from both Western diplomats and Erdogan’s aids, states:

“When Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan last received Joe Biden on official business, in August 2016, Erdogan had just sent tanks into Syria.”

Let’s press ahead.

In the same analysis, one of Erdogan’s aids had the following to say:

“Ankara is tired of scenarios where the United States or Russia ‘sets the rules, while Turkey pays the price.’”

As you can guess, this official is referring to Syria here.

And what they said is extremely on point.

Can anyone claim otherwise?