Concurrent with the Turkish attempts during the past months, to improve its tense relations with the West, specifically the United States, the latter imposed sanctions on the Turkish Defense Industries Administration and a number of high-level officials.
This raised questions and question marks about the position of the US President “Joe Biden” administration on the issue of Turkish relations. America, especially since the two countries are participating in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
It is noteworthy that the Turkish President, “Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” confirmed last February that Turkey and United States share common interests that far outweigh their differences of opinion, expressing the strong desire of Ankara to improve levels of cooperation with Washington and US administration.
The US Treasury Department data indicate that the sanctions imposed on Turkey target the Turkish Defense Industries Authority and its head, Ismail Demir, and 3 other Turkish figures associated with Demir.
It also points out that the sanctions include a ban on all US export licenses and permits to the Turkish Defense Industries Administration, in addition to an asset freeze and visa restrictions on Demir and Turkish officers.
S-400 and knot of saw
Department of State data link the sanctions to the issue of the Russian S-400 air defense missile deal, and Turkey refused to retract it, pointing out that all the figures affected by the sanctions are linked to that file.
It is noteworthy that the US President’s administration confirmed during the past weeks that the return of relations with Turkey is closely linked to the cancellation of the Russian arms deal. Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish Foreign Minister commented that the deal has ended and cannot be reversed.
Amr Abd al-Ati a researcher on Middle East affairs, considers that this missile deal will remain a knot in Turkish-American relations. the Turkish government is currently facing two options, either cancel the deal and lose years of alliance With the Russians, or to continue the deal and lose opportunity to improve relations with the West, which could help it a lot in its economic crisis.
“The Turkish government wanted through the Russian missile deal to get out of the US cloak and use the relationship with Russia as a pressure card on the Americans, except that the leadership changes in Washington confused all accounts and put the government of AKP in trouble, so it is not able to Completing the deal one hundred percent, and it is not able to withdraw from it, therefore it can be considered that relations between Ankara and Washington, will remain Swinging in place for a long time, ” Abd al-Ati explains.
He also indicates that in the current circumstances, Turkey will be the loser from that situation, because it is the party that suffers from economic and political crises.
In addition, Abd al-Ati points out that the United States has a large number of allies in the region, such as the Gulf states and Egypt, and they are represent a stable and strategic ally of the United States far from Turkey, especially as they have more strict and clear positions on the issues of the Iranian file and fight against terrorism.
He notes that “Biden” may have a feeling that he is not in need of relations with Turkey, to the extent that he goes beyond the issue of Russian missiles, especially since the United States sees these missiles as a threat to NATO.
For his part, Nasser Khasawneh, the political analyst, considers that the American administration has not completely closed the door in the face of the Turkish government and Erdogan, but sends a message through sanctions that it will not waive this condition or the security of NATO. In addition, the American administration will not accept that the issue of missiles will continue to be suspended without a clear retreat from Turkey from that deal, stressing that there are no relations between the two parties as the deal continues.
“Turkey” lost between East and West
The policies of the government of AKP during the last decade have contributed to the loss of its compass between East and West, as Kawa Mustafa political analyst, points out.
Mustafa indicates that this policy set the military and political section of Turkish interests in the east with Russia and China, while it keep its economic interests With the West in the United States and Europe, despite its adoption of policies contradictory to the orientations of those countries.
“This combination of interests cannot be implemented by any party from the world, especially as it depends on a combination of interests between warring parties, and the Turkish government has sunk itself too much in relations with Russia specifically in the Syrian file, which gave Moscow pressure papers on Ankara,” Mustafa adds. Indicating that the decision to separate from interests with Russia will cost Turkey a lot on the military level and influence in Syria.
In addition, Mustafa considers that the only solution to the dilemma of Turkish relations and foreign policy is possible in only one case, which is a change in the ruling regime and the introduction of a new administration for the country. Which will give Turkey more power to rearrange its relations with the countries of the world and arrange its priorities within the list of interests, whether with the West, Or the Arab region, according to him.
He also notes that the government of AKP has made a big rift in relations with many countries of the world, including Egypt, Gulf, European Union and United States, and it can no longer bridge the rift with all of those parties.
