When he was secretary of state, John Kerry had threatened Erdoğan to expel Turkey from NATO (although there is no such procedure) due to the massive purges in the press and military following the coup attempt in 2016.
While, despite the public opinion has always aired hypothetical sympathies of the Trump administration towards Ankara, it is forgotten that the now former American president has repeatedly threatened Turkey to "devastate its economy" due to his support for jihadism .
Furthermore, due to Ankara's purchase of Russian S-400 long-range surface-to-air missiles, the Trump administration, albeit under pressure from Congress, has excluded Turkish industry from the F-35 program. At the same time, sanctioning the Turkish Ministry of Defense agency responsible for arms contracts, banning any export license for components of American origin.
This has enormously complicated the Turkish industrial export business, as well as the maintenance of military equipment acquired from the United States. President Erdoğan interpreted it as an "open attack on the sovereignty" of his country.
At the same time, the US sided with Greece and the Republic of Cyprus in the dispute between these two countries and Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean. Washington thus strengthened its military cooperation with Athens and partially lifted the arms embargo imposed on Nicosia since the end of the 80s: an announcement that Ankara received very badly.
In the recent video conference of the Alliance foreign ministers, the hard line of the Trump administration towards Erdoğan was remarked by Pompeo to his Turkish counterpart about the failure of the “fait accompli” policy carried out by Ankara.
However, the Turkish president has high hopes in the new Biden administration, especially with regard to the return to the F-35 program.
“The F-35s were not delivered (Ankara had an order for 100 cars, NdA) even though we paid a considerable amount. This is a grave mistake on the part of the United States as an allied nation. I hope that, with Mr. Biden's entry into the White House, we will be able to dialogue in order to achieve satisfactory results for both ", President Erdoğan declared on January 15 in Istanbul.
Will Antony Blinken, the new Secretary of State, be friendlier to Pompeo's Turkey?
Photo: US Air Force / presidency of the republic of Turkey
