{"id":29010,"date":"2017-05-18T21:56:19","date_gmt":"2017-05-18T21:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/?p=29010"},"modified":"2017-05-18T22:37:11","modified_gmt":"2017-05-18T22:37:11","slug":"arrogance-or-ignorance-turkeys-diplomacy-needs-fine-tuning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/arrogance-or-ignorance-turkeys-diplomacy-needs-fine-tuning\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrogance or ignorance? Turkey\u2019s diplomacy needs fine tuning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once again, the diplomatic assertiveness that has characterized Turkey\u2019s foreign relations in recent years, was in full view of the world this week.<\/p>\n

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. He was there to repair the strained bilateral relationship and try to change President Trump\u2019s mind about the US military moves in Syria that Turkey said it found totally unacceptable.<\/p>\n

Opinions vary as to what exactly came out of their face-to-face meetings, first in the Oval Office, then with their delegations over a working lunch.<\/p>\n

Both leaders have talked of a \u2018new era\u2019 in US-Turkey relations and declared their commitment to work together in future.<\/p>\n

Whatever the outcome, the visit was an important one. It happened at a time when both sides are straining to remain courteous despite their disagreements while tensions all around them are running exceptionally high.<\/p>\n

Yet, the meeting itself barely made the headlines because it got drowned out by what happened soon after it finished.<\/p>\n

After meeting with President Trump, President Erdogan went to the Turkish Ambassador\u2019s residence in Washington to attend an event co-hosted by the Turkish think tank\u00a0SETA and the US organization the Atlantic Council.<\/p>\n

The violent brawl<\/a> between Mr. Erdogan\u2019s security personnel and protesters demonstrating outside the embassy, has become the latest in a series of scandals witnessed during the Turkish President\u2019s visits abroad.<\/p>\n

Calling the violence a “brutal attack on peaceful protesters\u201d,\u00a0 Metropolitan Police Chief Peter Newsham\u00a0 said it was not something that they would tolerate in Washington DC.<\/p>\n

The Turkish Embassy blamed<\/a> the altercation on \u201cgroups affiliated with the PKK\u201d, gathering without permit, in the immediate vicinity of the Ambassador\u2019s residence, while the president of Turkey was visiting the residence\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Anatolian News Agency has reported that the incident was caused by an \u201cinadequate\u201d response by American police.<\/p>\n

The Republican Senator John McCain was one of the most indignant among American politicians. \u201cThis is the United States of America. We do not do this here. There is no excuse for this kind of thuggish behavior,\u201d he said, calling for the Turkish ambassador to be expelled.<\/p>\n

Soon after, Turkish ambassador Serdar Kilic was summoned to the US State Department.<\/p>\n

For a country like Turkey, with a long and proud diplomatic tradition, such shortcomings of propriety and professionalism must be seen by others as truly baffling.<\/p>\n

For many in Turkey, it is not only exasperating but also deeply humiliating.<\/p>\n

Violating democratic norms and \u00a0constitutional boundaries may have become the usual practice in Turkey.<\/p>\n

Turkey\u2019s leaders, most probably, see the President of the United States as a kindred spirit. Mr. Trump\u2019s own impatience with those who disagree with him and his tendency to be insulated from criticism must sound comfortingly familiar to his Turkish guests.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump\u2019s lack of interest in democracy and human rights concerns in Turkey may even emboldened them.<\/p>\n

Yet, to assume that they can carry on behaving like they do back at home, right in the heart of the host country\u2019s capital, is willful ignorance, if not incomprehensible arrogance.<\/p>\n

Especially at a time when yet another controversy<\/a> spinning around the former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whose lobbying activities for Turkey, as well as his dodgy dealings with Russia, are dragging the Trump administration into deeper and deeper trouble.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once again, the diplomatic assertiveness that has characterized Turkey\u2019s foreign relations in recent years, was in full view of the world this week. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was hosted by President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. He was there to repair the strained bilateral relationship and try to change President Trump\u2019s mind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29013,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29010\/revisions\/29013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}