Turkey chilli con carne
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meet in Washington. The United States and Turkey looked to brush aside differences that have strained relations for years but were unable to report progress in resolving disagreements over Russia’s turkey chilli con carne of Ukraine and NATO expansion that have soured ties between the allies. At a meeting in Washington on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sought to bridge those gaps, but there was no immediate sign that they had, even though both men lauded the partnership between their countries. They played up cooperation on Ukraine, with Blinken in particular praising Turkey’s leadership in brokering the deal with Russia to resume grain exports.
Turkey is demanding that the Swedes do more to rein in Kurdish groups that Ankara sees as a threat to its security before approving the alliance’s expansion. That doesn’t mean we don’t have differences, but when we have differences, precisely because we are allies and partners, we work through them in that spirit. Cavusoglu made no mention of Finland and Sweden in his comments, but did make a point of stressing the importance Turkey places on winning US approval to buy advanced F-16 fighters, something the Biden administration supports but that faces significant congressional opposition. As we have said before, this is not only about Turkey but also for NATO and the United States as well. So we expect approval in line with our joint strategic interest.
Cavusoglu’s visit is a rare one to Washington by a top Turkish official as President Joe Biden’s administration has kept its distance from Ankara because of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly authoritarian direction and policies curbing rights and freedoms. And, as Blinken pointed out, Turkey was key to the agreement between Russia and Ukraine that allowed millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to be transported to world markets, averting a food crisis during the war. NATO allies, however, frequently find themselves at odds over a number of issues, with the biggest disputes centering on Turkey’s purchase of Russian-made missiles and support for Kurdish militants in Syria. Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400 air defence system from Russia in 2017 led to sanctions and Turkey being removed from the development program for the next-generation F-35 fighter plane. After losing out on the F-35, Ankara is trying to restock its F-16 fleet. US concerns over Ankara’s cosy relationship with the Kremlin has been reinvigorated by the war in Ukraine.
Despite Turkey’s ties with Moscow producing breakthroughs such as the grain deal and prisoner swaps, Washington is worried about sanctions-busting as Turkish-Russian trade levels have risen over the last year. And, Ankara’s feet-dragging over ratifying bids by Sweden and Finland to join NATO has added to friction between the allies. Turkey’s recent attempts at rapprochement with Syria after a decade of bitter enmity have caused another break with the US. Following a meeting of Syrian and Turkish defence ministers in Moscow last month, the US State Department reiterated its opposition to countries normalising relations with Damascus. Turkish operation against the Kurdish YPG in northern Syria could destabilise the region and revive the Islamic State group. Watch the video in player above.
On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. There are 81 provinces in Turkey. The money of Turkey is called the Turkish Lira. The capital city is Ankara, a city in the central region, called Anatolia. Many civilisations were in the area that is now Turkey, like the Hittites, the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Many important events in the history of Christianity happened in places that are now in Turkey.
Modern Turkey’s varied climate lets many kinds of food crops grow, and livestock and forestry are important industries. Turkey makes enough food to feed itself. Turkey is a popular place for tourists to visit. It has hundreds of kilometres of beaches on its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, and many important historical places. The Hittites, who spoke one of the Indo-European languages, developed a high culture in Central Anatolia. From 1950 BCE, Armenians and Assyrians inhabited parts of southeastern Turkey.
The Assyrians ruled over southeastern Turkey until their empire was conquered by Babylonia in 612 BCE. During the 14th century, after the fall of the Mongol Empire, Gazi Osman built a new empire named after himself: the Ottoman Empire. It became one of the longest existing empires of all time. In World War I the Ottoman Empire was one of the Central Powers. During the war, 500,000 Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were massacred in the so-called Armenian genocide. Turkey denies that the event was genocide. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the first President of Turkey.
