What to expect when Biden meets Erdogan

What to expect when Biden meets Erdogan Turkish leader foresees 'new era' of US relations but there are still plenty of differences, concerns and interests to keep the two sides apart By MK BHADRAKUMAR JUNE 10, 2021 Print Then-US Vice President Joe Biden (L) speaks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Beylerbeyi Palace in Istanbul. Photo: AFP / Bulent Kilic Expectations are soaring in Ankara over the forthcoming meeting between US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Brussels next Monday. Erdogan said recently, “I believe that our meeting with Biden at the NATO summit will be the harbinger of a new era.” Without doubt, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s remarks at a White House briefing on Monday on Biden’s first presidential tour abroad carried positive vibes – that Biden is looking forward to reviewing the “full breadth” of Ankara-Washington ties and discuss Eastern Mediterranean, Syria, Afghanistan and other regional issues as part of an “expansive agenda” next week, while acknowledging that the two leaders will also look at the “significant differences” between the two NATO allies. Most important, Sullivan transmitted a “presidential message” to Erdogan personally: “President Biden knows Erdogan very well. The two men have spent a good amount of time together and they’re both, I think, looking forward to the opportunity to really have a businesslike opportunity to review the full breadth of the relationship.” The conventional wisdom among analysts is that the US and Turkey are hopelessly entangled in a messy relationship. But then, the two countries also have a long history of sequestering their alliance from deep differences. At the present moment, what lends enchantment to the Turkish-American alliance is that Washington has consistently regarded Turkey as a “swing” state that can tilt the West’s relations with Russia. Add to that now a further dimension, with an eye on Turkey’s unique geography, as regards the United States’ prioritization of China’s exclusion from the Western world. There’s no gainsaying that the upcoming meeting in Brussels will be a high-stakes affair. With a touch of exaggeration, perhaps, one can even say that Biden’s meetings with Erdogan (June 14) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (June 16) are joined at the hips. In almost all the “talking points” that Sullivan singled out – Eastern Mediterranean, Syria and Afghanistan – Russia is a sleeping partner. Neither friends nor foes: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Photo: Sergey Guneev / Sputnik And more so, if we recognize that an “expansive agenda” cannot but include the entire swath of the region where Europe and Eurasia overlap, which is turning into a theater of contestation between the US (NATO) and Russia – from Central Asia to the Caspian and Caucasus; and, from the Black Sea northward across Ukraine. To be sure, the Biden administration is preparing well for the upcoming meeting with Erdogan. To borrow an expression that Sullivan used to graphically thumb-sketch Vladimir Putin, Erdogan too is a “a singular kind of personalized leader, and having the opportunity to come together in a summit will allow us to manage this relationship and stand up and defend American values most effectively.” Much preparatory work has been undertaken. Two top US diplomats traveled to Ankara in recent weeks for consultations – Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and the US ambassador to the United Nations (who carries cabinet rank), Linda Thomas-Greenfield. The State Department announced that Sherman would “underscore the importance of the US-Turkey relationship as we work together with our NATO ally to confront mutual challenges, and discuss areas of concern.” The US Mission to the UN in New York said in an announcement last week that Thomas-Greenfield would discuss “opportunities to strengthen the US- Turkey relationship, work with our NATO ally to address global challenges [and] improve cooperation on Syria.” A senior US diplomat at the New York mission called this “a moment of intense engagement” with senior Turkish officials ahead of the Biden-Erdogan meeting. The US diplomat added that Turkey is “a critical NATO ally, and we have a strategic relationship that spans an enormous breadth of issues and concerns, including global and regional security issues, obviously, economic issues related to democracy and human rights.” The Turkish side too began preparing for the Biden-Erdogan meeting through past several weeks since Biden pronounced on April 24 the taboo “Armenian genocide” – after the 1915 wartime massacres under Ottoman Rule. A picture released by the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute purportedly shows Armenians hung by Ottoman forces in Constantinople in June 1915. Photo: AFP / Aremnian Genocide Museum Institute / Stringer It was a red line for Turkey, and Ankara should have reacted harshly – ranging from a closure of the Incirlik airbase to the US or even stoping the operations of the ABM radar base in Malatya-Kurecik in eastern Turkey, a strategic asset of the Western alliance system encircling Russia. But Biden’s profound experience in international diplomacy was on display when he put a call through to Erdogan prior to making the announcement on the Armenian genocide and offered to meet in Brussels in June. Interestingly, prior to that phone conversation, Sullivan made a call (April 23) with Erdogan’s top aide Ibrahim Kalın where they reached a “consensus” on the exact wording that Biden would use in his announcement the next day whereby the blame for the Armenian genocide would be placed at the doorsteps of the dying Ottoman Empire and ensure Ankara wouldn’t be wrestling with compensation lawsuits in American courts by the heirs of Armenians who fled to the US in 1915 or after. Sullivan’s tactful diplomacy and Biden’s gracious gesture had a magical effect on Erdogan. By the way, a third call also came from Washington to Ankara to follow up on Biden’s conversation with Erdogan: This time around, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. Indeed, three top-level calls from Washington to Ankara within two hours on April 23! They ensured that Biden’s announcement on April 24 all but became a non-event. Suffice to say, Biden’s highly inflammatory announcement has since become a damp squib. The highly excitable Turks have since moved on. Turkish soldiers conduct a counterterrorism operation at Gollerbasi Base Area on Mount Ikiyaka in the Yuksekova district of Hakkari, Turkey, May 23, 2020. Photo: AFP via Anadolu Agency / Ozkan Bilgin The episode testifies to the inherent strength and resilience of Turkish-American alliance. This is the touchstone to apply to reassess Turkey’s current “Islamist” ruling elite. The point is, amid the cacophony over “neo-Ottomanism,” Turkey’s apparent obsession with “strategic autonomy” or Erdogan’s mercurial personality traits, the Turkish elite cannot afford a rupture in the umbilical chord that ties them to the Western world. Turkey’s Islamist elite are as much the inheritors of Kemal Ataturk’s legacy that their country’s destiny lies with the West. The Americans – Biden, in particular – would know that home truth. Therefore, the leitmotif of the Biden-Erdogan summit is going to be the tango at a personal level between two presidents whose genius for dealmaking is legion. Having said that, the differences, concerns and interests that keep Washington and Ankara apart are not to be underestimated. That needs a separate analysis (a second part to this article will follow). But make no mistake, a process of reconciliation is due to commence. This article was produced in partnership by Indian Punchline and Globetrotter, which provided it to Asia Times. M K Bhadrakumar is a former Indian diplomat. 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