“Majority of U.S. senators urge Biden to press Turkey on rights”. On Wednesday, February 10, 2021, this was the headline of a lot of international press, including Reuters, Jeruzalem Post, Al Arabiya, etc.
Fifty-four of the 100 senators in the US signed the letter, which accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of marginalizing domestic opposition, silencing critical media, jailing journalists and purging independent judges.
Herewith the full article in Reuters: Majority of U.S. senators urge Biden to press Turkey on rights
With Joe Biden as president, a change of course in the relations between Washington and Ankara is apparently ongoing. The Kurdish Institute also refers to an interesting article published on Al-Monitor, in which the journalist analyzes “the quickly worsening bilateral ties between Ankara and Washington”. The impact of this on NATO remains to be seen.
Article and analysis Al-Monitor: New page for US, Turkey reads like fantasy
In the very same article, we read an opinion of Sinan Ulgen, chairman of the Istanbul-based EDAM think tank, in which he stated: “Washington imperiled its relations with the Turkish state through its decision to fight against the Islamic State in partnership with the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Party. A sine qua non for a reset in our relationship is, therefore, a reappraisal of US support for the Syrian PYD.”
It is alarming to read that Turkey continues to label the Syrian democratic party PYD as a terrorist organization, in the knowledge that the Turkish regime is fully cooperating with the jihadists of Islamic State.