“America is Turkey ‘s biggest national security problem,” the Turkish daily Sabah claims in a sensational article by Hasan Basri Yalçın.-
by PANAGIOTIS SAVVIDIS
With the recent fiasco with the death of 13 Turkish intelligence agents, soldiers and policemen, who had been kidnapped by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the columnist claims that the U.S. identifies with the Kurdish separatists.
He also interprets Washington’s national interests being opposite to those of Turkey.
“The PKK is now an organization in the arms of America. Which unfortunately is mostly used against Turkey,” he wrote.
“This policy, that began under Obama, did not back down under Trump. It is clear that under Biden it will accelerate,” Yalçın claimed.
“If you do not forget this truth, you will not have the wrong expectations,” he said, adding “If you think the tension in U.S.-Turkish relations is a crisis of confidence, you are wrong.”
“What you call a relationship of trust or a crisis of trust, happens between partners. Two countries looking in the same direction may feel insecure with each other,” the columnist continued.
“Then you can use various methods, such as transparency and dialogue, to increase trust,” he added.
Yalçın directly claims that the U.S. and Turkey see their national interests in the region differently, with Washington believing that Turkey has “gone out of control” and Ankara realising that the U.S. is “threatening its security”.
He writes specifically: “But if the two states look in completely different directions and their national interests are not reconciled, then it is not just an insecure relationship”
“On the contrary, when every step taken by America in the Middle East is intended to harm Turkey’s national security, and if America is the owner of FETO [Gülen movement] and the PKK, then we must call it that,” Yalçın wrote.
“America is Turkey’s biggest national security problem. You may want it not to be so. You may prefer to improve Turkish-American relations. I cannot say anything. You are right. But it is my right to say that at least now this will not happen,” he stressed.
“I do not say this out of anti-Americanism or anything else. If you look at them in the context of a cold analysis, you can see that the interests of the two countries have differed to a great extent,” the columnist continued.
“And you know that this cannot be solved with diplomatic makeup. But you can manage the situation so that it does not drag on at higher volumes,” he explained.
“The equation is simple. The United States believes that Turkey is out of control. Turkey knows that the US threatens its security. From here trust and normalization cannot come out,” Yalçın said.
“As long as Turkey and the U.S. do not feel threatened by a third player, the situation will continue,” he concluded.
