The biweekly Cabinet meetings, chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, have grown more important in recent months. Judging by the spike in television ratings, the entire country follows his post-Cabinet press conferences very closely. The reason for that heightened interest is not political, but the announcement of new COVID-19 restrictions. In other words, the masses want to learn, firsthand, whether the government has decided to ease or tighten restrictions.

The same thing happened this week. Everyone was glued to their TVs on Monday evening, watching the Turkish president talk about the nation’s fight against the coronavirus. At the very end, Erdoğan shared an up-to-date map showing new cases across Turkey and urged all citizens to be more careful. Although the press conference was primarily about the pandemic, the president also said a few words about foreign policy – which is the focus of today’s column.

On March 29, Erdoğan made the following remark in front of cameras: "Those (countries) that attempted to lecture us on politics and democracy have been compelled to engage us on equal terms, thanks to our decisive stance."

My takeaway was that Turkey was ready to enter into talks with heavyweights, whom it has competed with in the Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere – that diplomacy, rather than a tug-of-war, will be the name of the game. That’s why Erdoğan’s words about "experiencing and witnessing auspicious developments, together, in the future" immediately caught my attention. I dug deeper and found out what has been happening behind closed doors.

Maritime aspect

According to sources, positive developments are primarily expected to take place in Turkey-European Union relations. A crisis had been underway between Turkey on one side, and Greece and the Greek Cypriots on the other over the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ankara felt isolated, as Greece and the Greek Cypriots concluded agreements and formed alliances with nearby countries. According to certain unofficial maps, endorsed by Athens, that began to circulate, Turkey was intended to be left with an unreasonably small maritime jurisdiction.

The Turks responded to those illegal attempts by sending their drillships and seismic research vessels to the Mediterranean. They also signed a treaty with Libya to challenge the Greek-Greek Cypriot strategy.

In the end, they stopped counting on Khalifa Haftar, a Libyan warlord, to topple the country’s government and had no interest in further confrontation with Turkey. Thus the European Union was asked to negotiate terms, as Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration took a step back.

The bloc currently defends the Greek-Greek Cypriot position in the Mediterranean as their proxy. Brussels, however, performs that task by engaging Ankara and using diplomacy – instead of threatening sanctions, as Athens would have preferred.

At last week’s summit, EU leaders agreed to strengthen the organization’s relations with Turkey, gradually and proportionately, and to work more closely together on economic development, inter-societal contacts and the free movement of people.

On April 6, Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president, will visit Turkey to meet with Erdoğan.

Ankara-Washington topics

My sources also expect improvement in Turkey-United States relations and say that a positive trend in bilateral relations remains likely. There has been an ongoing effort between the two countries to resolve their disagreements over Washington’s support for the terrorist organization PKK’s Syrian branch, the YPG, and Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 air defense system from Russia – in response to which Turkey was removed from the F-35 fighter jet project and subjected to U.S. sanctions.

In the absence of timely and proper contact, a new problem could have been added to the long list of disputes. A recent allegation that U.S. President Joe Biden was going to describe the 1915 events as a genocide on April 24 emerged as an important issue between Turkey and the United States.

According to messages from Washington, however, the White House won’t take such action. Avoiding new disagreements was extremely important at a time, when the two NATO allies are attempting to find a middle ground. It is welcome news that the mission has been accomplished.

Afghan peace process

Yet another issue on the agenda is Afghanistan, which is closely related to Turkey’s bilateral relationship with the United States. It is a matter of public record that Washington wants to broker talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban to end the conflict.

The Biden administration recently requested Turkey, one of the few countries that can speak with both sides, to host those talks. Turkey agreed, receiving a warm message of gratitude from the United States.

The United Nations and Qatar, too, are expected to attend those meetings. Afghanistan’s government expects a cease-fire, whereas the Taliban demands foreign forces to leave and the release of prisoners.

When exactly will the Afghanistan talks take place in Istanbul? According to sources, there is no timeline yet, since multiple parties have to agree on a date. Preparations, however, are reportedly still underway.