Orlando Sentinel

Erdogan softens stance before Biden meeting

- By Carlotta Gall

ISTANBUL — For the past four years, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has crushed his opponents at home and cozied up to Moscow while showering his allies with sweetheart government contracts and deploying troops regionally wherever he saw fit.

But as Erdogan arrives in Brussels for a critical NATO meeting Monday, he is facing a decidedly more skeptical Biden administra­tion.

Thanks to the coronaviru­s pandemic and his mismanagem­ent of the economy, Erdogan is now facing severe domestic strains, with soaring inflation and unemployme­nt and a dangerousl­y weakened lira that could trigger a debt crisis.

So he has dialed back his approach, already softening his positions on several issues in the hope of receiving badly needed investment from the West. To reassure Western leaders, he has called off gas exploratio­n in the eastern Mediterran­ean, an activity that had infuriated NATO allies, and annoyed Moscow by supporting Ukraine against Russia’s threats and selling Turkish-made drones to Poland.

However, Turkey’s presence in NATO, its role as a way station for millions of refugees, and its military presence in Afghanista­n have given him leverage with the West.

President Joe Biden’s initial approach to Erdogan had been to maintain his distance, trying to avoid disagreeme­nts and handle matters at lower diplomatic levels.

Turkey wants to lift itself out of an economic crunch, deepened by the pandemic, which has destroyed its tourist industry. It is also anxious to avoid further U.S. sanctions, imposed after Erdogan bought the S-400 missile system from Russia.

 ?? KAYHAN OZER/PRESIDENTI­AL PRESS SERVICE 2016 ?? Amid tension, President Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to meet Monday in Brussels.
KAYHAN OZER/PRESIDENTI­AL PRESS SERVICE 2016 Amid tension, President Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to meet Monday in Brussels.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States