Relations between the United States and Türkiye have been lukewarm in recent years, particularly regarding what Ankara sees as Washington's reluctance to cooperate against terrorism. Amid the disagreements between the NATO allies, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has planned a visit to the U.S. and is set to arrive in the country late Tuesday for a three-day tour.
He will attend a "strategic mechanism" meeting between Turkish and U.S. officials and is scheduled to hold a separate meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The two countries will aim to smooth out a series of disagreements between them, though expectations that outstanding issues can be resolved are quite low.
"All aspects of bilateral relations will be discussed and an exchange of views on regional issues will take place during the meeting," the ministry said.
A press release by the Foreign Ministry noted that Çavuşoğlu will hold a bilateral meeting with U.N. General Assembly President Csaba Korosi in New York, meet think-tank members, the Turkish-American community in Washington D.C. and Houston, inaugurate the new Consulate-General during his U.S. visit.
"Before the visit of H.E. Minister Çavuşoğlu, consultations will be held between delegations headed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Ambassador Sedat Önal and U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs H.E. Victoria Nuland on 17 January 2023 in Washington D.C.," the ministry said.
Positioned at the crossroads between East and West, Türkiye remains strategically important for Washington, especially in a region where it has few allies and much opposition. Ankara's key role in diplomatic issues, like brokering a crucial agreement between U.S. ally Ukraine and archfoe Russia last year that allowed millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to be transported to world markets to avert a global food crisis, heightens Türkiye's importance for the U.S.
Yet, the Biden administration increasingly frustrates Türkiye for its opposition to Ankara's purchase of Russian-made S-400 missiles and the U.S.' lingering support for the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian wing, the YPG, based in northern Syria, which enjoys Washington's support under the pretext of fighting against other terrorist groups.
The acquisition of the S-400 air defense system in 2017 led to sanctions and Türkiye being removed from the development program for the next-generation F-35 fighter plane. After losing out on the F-35, Ankara is currently trying to restock its F-16 fleet. But the deal faces opposition in Congress.
Çavuşoğlu sounded confident this week that the deal for the purchase of 40 F-16 jets as well as technology for the update of its existing fleet would overcome congressional hurdles. "We have reached an agreement with the (Biden) administration, and it is important that the administration has emphasized that the agreement is not only important for Türkiye but for NATO as well,” Çavuşoğlu told reporters. "If the administration stands firm ... then there will be no problem.”
U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel responded Friday to media reports that the Biden administration is also seeking congressional approval for shipping F-35s to Greece, another NATO member and a neighbor of Türkiye, which often warns Athens not to rely on Western support and threaten Türkiye over a series of disputes, namely territorial waters between them and the two countries' rights over them.
"Türkiye and Greece both are vital, vital NATO allies and we have a history of supporting their security apparatuses. But I’m just not going to get ahead of the process here,” Patel said.
In Syria, the United States is the main supporter of the PKK/YPG since 2014, though Washington recognizes the PKK as a terrorist group. Washington supplied everything from military equipment to security advisers to the group, which is based right across the Turkish border in the southeast.
A PKK bombing in Istanbul's busy Istiklal Street last year that killed six people, revived Türkiye's criticism of this support when the perpetrator was found to be dispatched by PKK/YPG from Syria. Indeed, support for terrorism upsets Türkiye in its multidimensional relations, especially in the NATO alliance. Ankara strictly opposes ratification of membership bids by Sweden and Finland to NATO, on the grounds of their tolerance of supporters of PKK and other terrorist groups. Sweden, in particular, draws Ankara's ire for harboring members of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) – whose wanted leader Fetullah Gülen lives in Pennsylvania.
Türkiye's efforts to maintain balanced ties with Russia and attempt to establish diplomatic ties with the Assad regime under the mediation of Russia are also at the center of the disagreement between the two countries. Following a meeting of Syrian and Turkish defense ministers in Moscow last month, the U.S. State Department reiterated its opposition to countries normalizing relations with Damascus.
On Thursday, the department’s main spokesperson, Ned Price, said at a regular media briefing that "we have not seen that this regime in Damascus has done anything that would merit normalization or merit improved relations.”
"Anyone engaging with the regime should ask how that engagement is benefiting the Syrian people – again, people that have borne the vicious brunt of what their own government has inflicted upon them," Price added.
Washington also "warned" Türkiye against a cross-border operation in northern Syria controlled by the PKK/YPG despite Ankara's repeated comments that the terrorist group poses a direct threat to its population, whether through attacks like in Istiklal Street or through cross-border firing by terrorists into southeastern Türkiye, which inflict casualties on the local population.
Çavuşoğlu's visit also comes at a time of a new hearing in the Halkbank case by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday. Federal prosecutors in New York in 2019 brought charges against Turkish public lender Halkbank, accusing it of participating in a scheme to launder about $20 billion of Iranian oil and natural gas proceeds in violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran.
Halkbank has been at the center of a major dispute between Ankara and Washington. U.S. prosecutors accused the bank of helping Iran evade U.S. sanctions in a case that has strained U.S.-Türkiye relations. The Turkish bank denied any wrongdoing. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called the U.S. government's decision to charge the bank an "ugly, unlawful" step and has pushed for the case to be dropped.
Halkbank appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, calling the prosecution "unprecedented" and saying that a lower court's ruling "green lights future indictments of any sovereign state."
