Word: erdogan
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That trend is sure to be the undertone during discussions between Obama and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, when the two leaders meet in Washington to discuss a high-stakes list of concerns topped by Afghanistan and Iran. "The U.S. side needs to impress diplomatically on Prime Minister Erdogan how much his anti-Western populist rhetoric damages Turkey's position with its key partners and pro-Turkey constituencies in Washington and Brussels," analyst Hugh Pope wrote in a recent paper for the Transatlantic Academy...
...Before leaving for the U.S, Erdogan said Turkey was already "doing what it can" in Afghanistan, suggesting the Turks will resist Obama's call to commit more troops. Turkey has 1,750 soldiers in the Hindu Kush on a strictly humanitarian, noncombat mission that includes building roads and schools and patrolling Kabul. Ankara is wary of fighting fellow Muslims in a region with which it also has historic ties. "A midway solution could be for Turkey to increase its troops but not engage in warfare in southern provinces like Kandahar and Helmand," says Cengiz Candar, a commentator for the Radikal...
...There are also differences over how to deal with Iran's nuclear program. Although Turkish diplomats insist that Ankara is opposed to any development of nuclear weapons in neighboring Iran, Erdogan has in recent months strengthened diplomatic and trade ties with Tehran, which is a key gas supplier to Turkey. The Turks abstained last month in a U.N. vote condemning Iran's nuclear activities, despite China and Russia's support for it. Erdogan has also criticized Western leaders for turning a blind eye to Israel, widely seen as the Middle East's only nuclear power - albeit an undeclared one. Turkey...
...long-closed border. That agreement is one of the U.S. Administration's chief foreign policy successes to date. Obama, who shied away from a campaign pledge to recognize the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman soldiers as genocide in favor of supporting a bilateral peace process, will press Erdogan to ratify the deal in parliament as soon as possible. (Read "Friends No More? Why Turkey and Israel Have Fallen...
...down to the streets. Visitors from Israel to Turkey - formerly the second most popular travel destination for Israelis after the U.S. - have fallen 47% since January, compared with the same period last year. The Turkish government has also been less than careful in fanning the flames of anti-Semitism. Erdogan recently exhorted university students to take a page from "the Jews," whom, he said, "invent things and then sit back and make money off those inventions." Innocuously meant, perhaps, but dangerous nonetheless, particularly as Turkey is home to a Jewish minority...