Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after just eight and a half months at the White House. In his first term, he promised to close down the Guantanamo Bay, which was filled with suspected terrorists during the Bush administration, some of whom have stayed there for years without trial or charges. He had also promised to evacuate all American troops from Afghanistan by the end of his term; but instead, he chose to increase U.S. bombings in Afghanistan by 40% and hit 1,400 targets in 2015. It is possible to say that Obama not only posed smiling to cameras and watched Assad regime perpetrating massacres against Syrians, he also betrayed his supporters and seeded more chaos to the world.
While Trump voices his intentions to skip having bad ties with Russia, the President-elect administration had reportedly been invited by Moscow to the Syria talks in Kazakh capital Astana. Unlike having ties only with the PKK’s Syria affiliates, Trump’s team is expected have other channels in Syria. Trump may extend an olive branch to Russia but those who are likely to work on American foreign policy seem to have a different stance.
Former Exxon-Mobil CEO and Trump’s pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he would push hard against Russia, and that in fact he did not support Crimean annexation. He called Russia a ‘danger’ to the U.S. and said he would keep sanctions in place. Tillerson’s weight could be the reason why both Trump’s team and the Kremlin declined to comment on whether the Astana invitation was true or not.
Tillerson is also looking forward to adopt Obama-like stance in Syria. He says Washington must focus on defeating ISIS before dealing with the Assad regime. He then gives a different signal and says the U.S. has to re-engage with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to get a seat at the Syria and Middle East table. "The first step we have to take is to re-engage with our traditional allies and friends in the region. We are back with our leadership and a plan. Russia, Turkey, and Iran are dictating the terms in Syria, absent our participation. We have to re-engage with President Erdoğan in Turkey; this is a long-standing NATO ally. Due to the absence of U.S. leadership, he got pretty nervous about the situation. He has turned to his next available ally; he has turned to Russia. To make it clear to him, this is not a sustainable ally. Your sustainable alliance is with the United States."
Although he called for mending ties with Turkey, he acknowledged his intention to support PKK affiliate, PYD, in Syria, with which Turkey is at war at home and in Syria. Such comments will further complicate the Turkish-American relations.
The unsolved equations will give several options to choose from. Trump and Tillerson will have to sit and decide if they are really up for mending ties with Turkey or continue to support those who attack their NATO ally at every possible circumstance. It is also clear that the so-called fight against ISIS is a non-valid excuse to turn a blind eye to Assad regime’s illegitimacy and crimes. Trump’s desire to be best buddies with Moscow will backfire at the Washington politics but at the same time the American president seems to think he could lead the U.S. to a more powerful position by sticking with Russia in Syria for now. However, such a temporary plan would cause more anti-Americanism and be a worse kick-off scenario for a newly elected president.
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Mehmet Solmaz is the Brussels correspondent for Turkey’s Sabah daily. He also frequently appears in international media to comment on regional politics and conflicts. You can follow him on Twitter @MhmtSlmz.
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