Why Do the US Try to Win the Love of Turkey

• 08.30.2016, 19:58
• Liana Hovhannisyan
•  America,  "Insight" Analytical Center ,  World

Last week the visit of the US Vice-President Joe Biden took place in Turkey. This was the first high-level visit of the US to Turkey after the coup attempt.

The international, as well as the American media was presenting this visit as a step by the US to settle down the recent disagreements (this refers to the disagreements concerning Gulen, the criticism of the US to the human rights situation in Turkey, the reaction of the US after the coup attempt, etc.).

This is proved also by the fact the during his visit the Vice-President of the US at least in his public speeches did not refer to the human rights violations in Turkey, which has become even worse during the recent period. It is important to mention that this fact did not remain unnoticed by the Western media. It made comparisons with the rhetoric of Biden during his January visit to Turkey and the last one.

To understand what the goal of the US is, when it tries to "win the love" of the "offended" Turkey, it is important to analyze the recent geopolitical developments, in particular, in Syria, as well as the position of the US on the Russian-Turkish normalization.

During the last visit to Turkey Biden expressed quite a different position on the Syrian crisis. He declared that the US will stop its direct support to the Kurds, if they do not carry out Turkey’s demands and do not go to the eastern bank of the Euphrates. In its turn the White House expressed its direct help to Turkey concerning its intervention into Syria, as the Turkish authorities declare, in the framework of fight against the ISIS and the Kurdish militants.

The United States did not show an open opposition to the Russian-Turkish reconciliation, as well as to their joint action in Syria. Referring to Erdogan's visit to the Russian Federation, as well as to the joint Russian-Turkish actions in Syria, the speaker of the US State Department noted that they would welcome any step that is directed against a threat to all – the ISIS.

On the basis of such a position by the US are its interests. Involvement of Turkey’s and Russia's resources in the fight against IS corresponds to the logic of the politics in the Middle East adopted by the current US regime, the essence of which is to fight against the radical forces operating there with using its own resources as less as possible. In this sense, it is not by chance that the United States in the fight against the IS still does not use their own ground troops and only limited air strikes.

Regarding the US current attempts to please Turkey, it is based on already long-term interests of America. In the long term, the US will try not to weaken its role in the region, not to lose its existing leverage, including NATO ally - Turkey. This, perhaps, explains the current US attempts to win the love of Turkey and help in the fight against the IS and the Kurds.

Therefore, summarizing the above, we can say that, by pleasing Turkey, the United States, in regard with its regional interests, once again turns a blind eye to human rights violations carried out by the Turkish authorities - both inside the country and outside its borders.