Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Turkish-US relations will not be affected by the result of a general election scheduled for November 5 in the United States, with former US president Donald Trump, a Republican, running against Vice President Kamala Harris of the Democratic Party, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Erdoğan’s remarks came during a meeting on Sunday with representatives from US think tanks at Turkish House on the sidelines of a UN meeting in New York.
Erdoğan arrived in the United States on Saturday to address the 79th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Erdoğan said just like the rest of the world, Turkey is also closely following the elections in the United States, ruling out any possibility of a change in the relationship due to the outcome of the polls.
“No matter who is elected president, our view of the US and our high-level dialogue will remain unchanged. Turkey is one of the strongest allies of NATO,” Erdoğan said.
Turkish-US ties have been strained by Turkey’s acquisition of a Russian S-400 missile-defense system and US support for a Syrian Kurdish militia that Turkey views as a mortal threat, among other disputes.
The US moved ahead with a $23 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets, missiles and bombs to Turkey after Ankara’s ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership in January.
Current US President Joe Biden has been cool in his relations with Erdoğan, apparently due to Erdoğan’s poor record on human rights and democracy. He has not hosted Erdoğan at the White House during his time in office, although there were several reports suggesting such a meeting would take place.
Bloomberg reported last Friday that Erdoğan was seeking a meeting with Harris in New York on Sunday ahead of the UN meeting this week, in an early effort to sustain a recent improvement in ties with the US.
However, no such meeting took place in New York on Sunday.
Erdoğan also had a rocky relationship with Trump during his term in office between 2016 and 2021.
One of the most significant developments in the Erdoğan-Trump relationship was a letter the US president wrote to Erdoğan in 2019, in which he attempted to persuade the Turkish president to reverse a decision for a military operation against Kurdish militia forces that were US allies.
“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way. It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen. Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool!” Trump told Erdoğan in the letter, which was released by the White House at the time.
“Let’s work out a good deal!” Trump said. “You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will.”
Trump had the letter released to bolster his view that he did not give Turkey a green light to invade Syria since many US lawmakers were sharply critical of his decision to remove American forces from the conflict zone.
Erdoğan described the letter as “impolite” at the time, saying: “We haven’t forgotten this, and it’s not right to forget. But our mutual respect prevents us from keeping it on the agenda.”
