Trump should not fall for Turkey president
On a hot summer night last July, elements of the Turkish military attempted a coup. It failed, but at least 241 people were killed and about 1,400 injured during related clashes.
A few days later, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared a state of emergency, giving him sweeping powers to bypass parliament and ignore the courts.
In the name of snuffing out the coup plotters, Erdogan’s government has shuttered news outlets, jailed journalists and opposition party members, and purged government employees. The actions intensified a crackdown on free speech underway for some time.
In April, a landmark referendum changing the Constitution formalized Erdogan’s consolidation of power, undermining the role of courts and parliament as checks on the president.
On the heels of this lurch away from democratic norms and rule of law, after which President Trump called to offer his congratulations, Erdogan will make an official visit to the White House today.
The principal focus of the visit is expected to be disagreement over Syria policy, which the White House perpetuated by announcing last week that it would provide additional military aid to Syrian opposition forces dominated by a Syrian Kurdish armed group. Turkey sees this as unacceptable indirect support for the decades-long Kurdish insurgency in Turkey. Another thorny issue will certainly be the requested extradition of the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara accuses of orchestrating the coup.
But what’s likely to be absent from the conversation is telling.
We should expect no substantial discussion of the 150 journalists detained in Turkey on bogus charges, or the elected politicians from peaceful pro-Kurdish parties who remain behind bars. Also unlikely to be on the agenda: the fate of the 50,000 people swept up on overly broad terrorism charges, or even the more than 100,000 civil servants permanently dismissed.
President Trump’s recent meetings with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Chinese President Xi Jinping show there will be no hesitation to embrace Erdogan as a strong leader, possibly even a “fantastic guy.” But Erdogan shouldn’t expect a free pass in Washington. Congress does exercise vital checks and balances on U.S. presidential power, and its members are likely to puncture the notion that America will offer only uncritical support for Erdogan’s tactics.
Indeed, on May 3 a bipartisan group of 15 senators — led by Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. — reasserted the need to include human rights as a central component of U.S. foreign policy. And the Senate Armed Services Committee chair, John McCain, R-Ariz., noted in a May 8 New
York Times op-ed that the U.S. is a “country with a conscience (that has) long believed moral concerns must be an essential part of our foreign policy.”
Trump and Erdogan may find common ground as leaders with little interest in sharing power. They are likely to double down on a strengthened partnership in the name of combating terrorism even if they remain at odds on Syria. Even so, Trump should be aware that ignoring Erdogan’s human rights abuses will not make Turkey a more reliable ally.