Top White House official expresses S-400 concern in first official contact with Erdoğan’s Palace

On Tuesday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke by phone with Ibrahim Kalın, Spokesperson and Chief Advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. This was the first interaction between the countries since Joe Biden was elected as U.S. President in early November.

The White House brief on the call has a mostly positive tone while also seeing the need to mention disagreements between Turkey and the United States in their first contact. Sullivan underscored the Biden Administration’s desire to build constructive U.S.-Turkey ties, expanding areas of cooperation, and managing disagreements effectively.

There are a number of disagreements between the countries, starting with Turkey’s decision to deploy Russian air defence systems on its soil, which was fiercely opposed by NATO and Washington.

Ankara took delivery of the first S-400 system from Russia in July 2019, rejecting concerns that the missiles undermined the operation security of NATO. The outgoing Trump administration imposed sanctions on Turkey in December due to the purchase.

The White House readout released by National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne appeared to have some differences with the readout released earlier by Ankara. Both the S-400 issue and Sullivan’s rule of law reference were missing in the Turkish readout. In the Turkish readout, it said Kalın and Sullivan discussed an array of issues, including the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, and Nagorno-Karabakh, Libya and Syria. White House did not mention any of these issues.

White House said Sullivan “conveyed the administration’s intention to strengthen transatlantic security through NATO, expressing concern that Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system undermines alliance cohesion and effectiveness.”

In Ankara’s readout, Turkey’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile systems, Washington’s support of Kurdish militia in northern Syria and the F-35 issues were all put together in the same paragraph. However, White House only mentioned a concern over the S-400 purchase.

The White House readout also “welcomed the resumption of exploratory talks between Turkey and Greece, and he expressed support for plans by United Nations Secretary General Guterres to resume talks on Cyprus.”

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price, in a tweet message last week, announced that the United States was supportive of new talks between Turkey and Greece over the disputes in the eastern Mediterrenean Sea. On Jan. 25, a Greek delegation led by Pavlos Apostolidis, a veteran diplomat who has led the delegation since 2010, met in Istanbul to renew talks over maritime disputes in their region that were suspended since 2016.

In the White House readout, there was no reference to specific issues with regards to the colossal democratic backsliding in Turkey, however, it said Sullivan “underscored the Biden administration’s broad commitment to supporting democratic institutions and the rule of law.” In The Turkish readout, there was no reference to these values and institutions.

Turkish police in several cities has been confronting protestors for their opposition to a government-appointed rector to the prestigious Boğaziçi University. Issues with press freedom, freedom of expression, right to due process and physical safety continue to come under further threat in Turkey, 11 international organisations advocating for press freedom, journalism and human rights have said in recent months.

Turkey remains among the world’s top jailers of journalists, and state authorities continue to instrumentalise a justice system that does not guarantee basic due process rights in court, critics say.

The readout ended on a positive note, saying that both officials “agreed to cooperate on global challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, and to consult closely on regional issues of mutual concern.”

In a phone call last Thursday with Bjoern Seibert, the head of cabinet of the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen, Sullivan placed Turkey in the same category as China. In that call, Sullivan promised his European counterpart that the U.S. administration would like to “work together on issues of mutual concern, including China and Turkey.”