By Denis Korkodinov
During the last meeting of Recep Erdoğan and Donald Trump, many experts were unanimous that the White House administration would be critical of Ankara. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has publicly stated that he considers his Turkish counterpart his idol. This indicates that relations between the two countries have not really spoiled for the last time.
Washington, it would seem, was determined to punish Turkey. There were sufficient reasons for this: the purchase of Russian C-400 air defense systems and the military operation against the Syrian Kurds. However, the US president is not at all inclined to quarrel with Recep Erdoğan, especially on the eve of the American election, when Donald Trump is forced to count every vote, including at the international level, in order to win.
After all, the Turkish leader is a lot like Donald Trump. Critics of Recep Erdoğan, argue that he is extremely controversial in domestic politics, very emotional, but consistent when it comes to external threats. These qualities are inherent in the head of the White House, which was the basis for their rapprochement. For this reason, even if Washington is strongly against the Turkish president, the latter has someone to turn to for help – this is Donald Trump.
Modern reality has developed in such a way that Ankara has lost significant interest in the United States, in connection with which Recep Erdoğan, began rapprochement with Russia and China. This annoys the White House, which is set to impose sanctions against Turkey. However, apparently, Donald Trump is still counting on Turkish support, including in Syria. For this reason, the US anti-Turkish campaign has stalled.
Based on the fact that the psychological type of the American and Turkish leaders correspond to each other and they have common interests in the Syrian theater of military operations, relations between Washington and Ankara are unlikely to deteriorate in the near future. At the very least, Donald Trump’s reverence towards Recep Erdoğan, means that the parties do not plan to curse with each other.
Donald Trump, in addition to political interests, has a personal interest in not endangering his relations with Turkey. In particular, the profit made by the American leader from the Trump Tower rental in Istanbul may ensure that the head of the White House will be sympathetic to his Turkish counterpart for a long time to come. And, given that most of the shadow deals between Washington and Ankara are carried out through relatives of the presidents of the United States and Turkey, Jared Kushner and Berat Albayrak, relations between the two countries may be determined also from family interests.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights)