US-Turkey relations could be different under Joe Biden Administration

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “As we repeatedly discussed during your tenure as vice president, Turkey-US relations have a strategic quality with deep roots. I congratulate you on your election victory and offer my most sincere wishes for the peace and welfare of the people of the United States of America”. His congratulatory message to US President-elect Joe Biden came 3 days after similar messages were delivered via Twitter posts from leaders of Ireland, Germany, Spain, Canada, and other allies. Point to be noted that Turkey was listed among 5 other countries Brazil, China, North Korea, Russia, and Slovenia that had remained noticeably quiet. The silence was largely explained by Ankara’s disappointment given Erdogan’s closer relations with and easier access to Donald Trump.

Reports have indicated that the reasons behind the break from silence were due to a stronger need to calm the Turkish economy before it headed into a storm as opposed to putting on a quiet display of loyalty for an ousted leader. Most here have been speculating over how Biden might react to pending sanctions by Washington, known as CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) over Turkey’s purchase of a Russian anti-aircraft missile system. Critics argued that the move not only undermined the security of NATO by allowing Russian technology into the pact’s defense system but also opposed US interests. It is noteworthy that the US Congress in response withheld major new arms sales to Turkey while Trump officials used every possible technical argument to delay the choice of sanctions.

It includes nuclear options such as excluding Turkey from the US banking system, medium measures including export license limitations, or light ones such as transaction limitations imposed on certain people. There are currently 2 bills including the Defense Authorization and Appropriations Bills that fund all the government agencies. These bills were moving through the US Congress with legislation that clarified the terms of an automatic sanction trigger. A US congressional official said, “The White House has been the one to make sure that the Republicans in the Senate listened to them about Turkey. I think now that Trump is leaving, almost all of Congress is very frustrated with Erdogan, no one’s going stick their neck out to try to save Turkey”.