​“The Grand Bargaining” officially started yesterday

TURKEY - In Brief 10 Feb 2021 by Atilla Yesilada

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We have been priming our audience for the “Day of Reckoning” between Biden Administration and Erdogan Regime. The presence of S-400s on Turkish soil, a NATO member, was unacceptable to NATO and US. Unless Ankara took a step back, Biden is likely to tighten existing CAATSA sanctions month by month.Turkey’s offer expressing flexibility in deploying S-400s is a good start to thorny negotiations, but there is no assurance of success, because Biden needs to coordinate with the Senate and EU when talking a deal with Erdogan. The “Grand Bargaining” between Turkey and US started yesterday (Tuesday), with Defense Minister ret. General Hulusi Akar proposing to limit the use of S-400s. According to a Bloomberg article linked here, Akar also pronounced the gesture Turkey expects of US: “The most sensitive issue in our relations with the U.S. is the country’s support to the YPG, the PKK’s arm in Syria,” Akar told Hurriyet. “We can find a solution for the S-400s in our negotiations with the U.S. but we expect them to see the facts about the YPG. If we cannot find a solution, we cannot go anywhere in relations with the U.S.” We understand, Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mesut Cavusoglu will call up his counterpart Anthony Blinken today to make the second official contact between erstwhile allies. A few days ago, Presidential Advisor Mr. Ibrahim Kalin talked to Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. In addition, 54 Senators wrote a bi-partisan letter to Biden tosanction Turkey for human rights abuses. This background is important, because Gen Akar’s sudden proposal is motivated by what Jake Sullivan might have told to Kalin, or Ankara finding out what 54 Senators were cook...