Turkey sees opening for ‘increased’ strategic engagement with Trump admin: Official

In this file photo taken on December 4, 2019, US President Donald Trump (L) and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) leave the stage after the family photo to head to the plenary session at the NATO summit at the Grove hotel in Watford, northeast of London. (Photo by PETER NICHOLLS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

BEIRUT — Turkey sees potential for enhanced “bilateral relations” and “increased engagement” with the new Trump administration, the Turkish ambassador to the US said.

“Greater convergence and complementarity between Turkey and the United States can make a real difference in addressing” ongoing conflicts such as the war in Ukraine and in Gaza, Sedat Önal said Friday at an event in Washington, DC, put on by the Atlantic Council thinktank.

Önal noted the US and Ankara already have a diplomatic framework through what’s known as the “strategic mechanism,” but he said officials are hoping to enhance their relationship further. In particular, Önal said Ankara is “looking forward” to working with US officials to remove sanctions so that the two nations can “bolster defense cooperation.”

“Defense and security cooperation has always been one important dimension of our bilateral relationship, especially under current circumstances, enhanced coordination and solidarity have become all the more important,” he said, adding that Turkish and American officials are “planning new high-level engagements in the near future as two NATO allies.”

Though Önal did not get into specific areas of interest in defense, Ankara was sanctioned by the US during Trump’s first term in 2020 after it chose to acquire the Russian S-400 air defense system, a move that also prompted Washington to kick Turkey out of the international F-35 program. Another deal for Turkey to procure F-16 jets was also halted for some time, but then unfrozen by the Biden administration.

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When it comes to the war in Ukraine, Önal said Turkey was ready “to bring added value to all efforts to finding a diplomatic solution to this crisis, and first and foremost, putting an end to this war — first with a ceasefire, then diplomatic negotiations.”

The ambassador also highlighted that “Turkey began to play role on Gaza achievement of a sustainable ceasefire and putting an end to the tragic humanitarian toll and destruction remain a priority,” as he reiterated Turkey’s support to a two state solution between Israel and Palestine.

Moving to Syria, Önal stressed the importance to lift sanctions on Damascus, “otherwise the new government cannot deliver public services and security to its people, and the Syrian people would have been punished for the crimes committed by the Assad regime.”

Önal concluded his comments emphasizing that Turkish relations “with America hold a great promise if we continue to exert genuine efforts and to pay attention to each other’s sensitivities and existential security concerns and engage in an open hearted dialog at all levels.”

Likewise Alper Coşkun, a former diplomat and senior fellow within the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said at the same event that there are several areas in which the two capitals can work together.

“There is a wide portfolio of potential areas of cooperation. But of course, the devil will be in the details,” he said. “It will be key, at least in Ankara’s perspective, and obviously in Washington’s perspective, that the two sides respect each other’s national interests, existential threats.”