ISTANBUL — Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is due to meet Wednesday in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken — the latest step in the process of repairing ties between the two NATO allies. The Turkish diplomat will have tough questions to answer when it comes to Turkey’s efforts to veto bids by Finland and Sweden to join the Atlantic alliance.
Once a close ally of Washington, Ankara has seen relations strained over Turkey’s poor human rights record and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s close ties with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Turkey’s strong backing of Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion has offered an opportunity to reset U.S.-Turkish relations, and analysts predict Cavusoglu’s visit to Washington will help that process.
But Asli Aydintasbas, a senior fellow at the European Council, warned Erdogan’s threat to veto Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership bids is casting a shadow over the visit.
“It certainly complicates the visit but also makes it more important,” Aydintasbas said. “The Biden administration started out with a policy of social distancing, retrenchment from the Middle East, and also no longer treating Turkey as the big geopolitical prize in a large chess game. And Turkey is showing it’s not going to let that happen.
“And, of course, the Ukraine war has clearly enhanced once again Turkey’s geostrategic location and importance.”
On Monday, Erdogan accused Finland and Sweden of supporting terrorist organizations fighting Turkey, referring to Kurdish groups. He said Stockholm and Helsinki shouldn’t bother to send diplomatic delegations to change his mind.
