The US Undersecretary of State John Bass visited Ankara this week, in preparation for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s upcoming trip to Washington.
Erdoğan is scheduled to visit the US on 9 May. The trip was planned earlier this year, reportedly in return for Turkey finally giving the green light to Sweden’s NATO membership in January. Erdoğan had used Sweden’s membership as political leverage for over 20 months.
Turkey used the threat of a veto to force the extradition of a Kurdish politician to face terrorism charges in Turkey. Kurdish asylum seeker Mahmut Tat, who migrated to Sweden in 2015 after being sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison in Turkey, had his asylum request rejected by Swedish authorities in 2020. In December 2022, Tat was extradited to Turkey by Swedish authorities.
The announcement of the visit to Washington was timed to boost the prestige of Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of the Turkish municipal elections. However, the White House still hasn’t made an official announcement confirming the visit.
Erdoğan last visited the US to meet Donald Trump in 2019. Biden and Erdoğan’s relationship has been more frosty, with Biden warning Erdoğan about “precipitous actions” in his foreign policy. Turkey has been pushing for a meeting with US President Biden since his election in 2020 to no avail, until now.
Turkey recently sealed a deal to buy F16 fighter jets from the US, which went ahead despite several foreign policy clashes with Washington. These disagreements include continued US coordination with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Turkey’s desire for more US support in its attacks on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraqi Kurdistan and elsewhere.
The US has been strongly criticised for its sale of F16s to Turkey. Meghan Bodette, director of the Kurdish Peace Institute, pointed out that journalists should use the May meeting between Erdoğan and Biden to highlight US arms sales to Turkey. “If there are press opportunities when Erdogan meets Biden in May, journalists must bring up examples of Turkey’s use of American F-16s in violation of international law AND US provision of those weapons despite awareness of those violations, which contradicts U.S. domestic law,” she said on X.
This is the primary purpose of the arms sold to Turkey by the U.S. and other allied governments. They have never used them in any meaningful defensive capacity. All they do is blow up other people’s houses and factories and power plants in other people’s countries. https://t.co/iM90UPxIl8
— Meghan Bodette (@_____mjb) April 19, 2024
The impending presidential trip to the US is widely believed to have determined the actions of the Turkish state within its borders. Commentators surmised that the upcoming Washington visit has delayed the verdict in the controversial Kobane case, a trial of 108 Kurdish politicians in Ankara. A guilty verdict would have attracted criticism of Erdoğan’s human rights record ahead of his visit to the US, many speculated.
Additionally, the Turkish state has not yet attempted to replace recently elected Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party municipal representatives with state-appointed trustees, as it has done in previous elections. The Washington visit has been muted to have temporarily affected the Turkish states’ approach to democratic processes as it works to avoid further criticism from its US ally.
Turkey’s human rights record is already under scrutiny in the US. The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission held a congressional hearing this week criticising the Turkish state’s foreign and domestic policies. “The US must push Turkey to settle the Kurdish question and go back to negotiations with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party], eliminating Erdoğan’s excuse to continue to marginalise his own Kurdish population,” Nadine Maenza, president of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Secretariat, said during the hearing.
During Bass’ visit to Ankara earlier this week, the US official met with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Deputy Foreign Minister Burak Akçapar. The Voice of America news agency reported that the Turkish officials brought up “Turkey’s expectations in the fight against PKK/YPG” as well as the “lifting of defence industry restrictions between all countries.” Bass reported that “deepening counterterrorism cooperation” between Turkey and the US had been discussed.
The 9 May talks are set to massively increase trade between the US and Turkey, from $30bn to $100bn. The US has attempted to garner Turkey’s support for its policies concerning the Israeli attack on Gaza. Erdoğan has positioned himself as an intermediary in both the negotiations over the Gaza ceasefire and the Israel-Iran conflict. The US is pushing for the president to wield his influence to support their regional policies.
The US also want an end to the supply of dual-use military equipment through Turkey to Russia, which circumvents US sanctions. Turkey is a member of NATO and, from the organisation’s perspective, should be supporting Ukraine, not Russia. The US is likely to pressure Erdoğan to support its policies on Ukraine. In turn, Erdoğan will likely pressure the US to support its escalating war against the PKK, and its attacks on North and East Syria.
