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Turkey’s Russia stance irritates Biden – NYT — Analysis

The news outlet describes Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a ‘headache’ for Washington

Turkey is still being “a source of substantial irritation”The New York Times reported on the US administration of Joe Biden. According to the outlet, Ankara’s stance on the Ukraine crisis is part of a wider range of issues.

Ankara’s involvement in the UN-brokered deal on Ukrainian grain exports between Moscow and Kiev a few days ago was welcomed by Washington, but didn’t mean that all problems in US-Turkish relations have been sorted out, the outlet warned in Saturday’s article. It has described Turkish President Recep Tyyip Erdogan as “a savior”. “headache” “a source of substantial irritation”Washington

The Times quoted Chris Pappas, a US House Representative (D-New Hampshire), as claiming that “Turkey has played both sides of the fence in Ukraine. They have not been the reliable ally that we should be able to count on.”

“I think the Biden administration needs to take a stronger stance,” Pappas insisted. 

NATO member Ankara has condemned Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine and supplied the Kiev forces with its Bayraktar drones, but at the same time refused to join the international sanctions against Russia and continued dealing with the country.

Erdogan’s photo with Putin branded ‘challenge’ to NATO

The Turkish President visited Tehran on Tuesday for talks with Russian and Iranian counterparts Ebrahim Rashi and Vladimir Putin. “the images of two prime American rivals with Mr. Erdogan, the leader of a NATO country, clashed with the Western narrative of a deeply isolated Iran and Russia.”

Another point of contention between the US and Turkey is Ankara’s renewed warning this week that’s is going to block the accession of Finland and Sweden to membership of the American-led NATO bloc if the two Nordic nations fail to fulfill their promise of extraditing members of the Kurdish groups that Turkey considers to be terrorists. Erdogan used his veto power to block the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. “would deeply embarrass the alliance and the Biden administration as they work to counter Russia,”This warning was included in the article.

According to it, the Turkish leader could be particularly inclined to reject Stockholm and Helsinki’s bids as Congress appears unlikely to grant Biden his promise to sell F-16 fighter aircrafts to Ankara.

Turkey is interested in those planes after the previous administration of Donald Trump blocked the country from obtaining F-35s in response to the country’s decision to arm itself with Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems.

Turkey berates NATO applicant over ‘terrorist propaganda’

Ankara also has grievances about Washington, including the US’ refusal to turn over FethullahGulen (exiled cleric) who is charged with orchestrating a failed military coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. Also, Ankara was upset by the US support of Kurdish fighters fighting in Syria. While the Kurds assisted the US in defeating Islamic State, previously ISIS/ISIL, the Turkish authorities see them as a serious security threat.

The US has been seriously concerned by Turkey’s plans to invade the Kurdish areas in northern Syria as IS could well take advantage of this move, the NYT pointed out, citing a statement by Dana Stroul, a deputy assistant secretary of defense.

Erdogan is “on our team, but then he does things that are so clearly not good for our team. And I just don’t see that changing,”Elizabeth Shackelford was a former foreign service officer.

According to officials from the Biden administration who spoke with The Outlet, however, they would not be “self-defeating”Washington must write Turkey’s leader off completely “his nation’s position at the crossroads of East and West is strategically important and allows him to be an interlocutor with even more troublesome neighbors.”

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