November 13, 2017 | Qutoed by Thomas Seibert - The Arab Weekly
As Turkey and US agree to disagree, Erdogan heads east
Turkey and the United States have failed to iron out differences in key areas of their relationship, including a visa dispute, during high-level talks that put a spotlight on tensions between Ankara and the West.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim met with US Vice-President Mike Pence in the White House on November 9 in the first face-to-face contact by senior officials of the two NATO partners since the United States angered Ankara a month earlier by suspending visa services for Turks in response to the arrest of an employee of the US Consulate in Istanbul by Turkish authorities.
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“The trip’s futility is hardly surprising for Turkey watchers,” Aykan Erdemir and Merve Tahiroglu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think-tank, wrote in an analysis. “The Turkish prime minister probably had no illusions of his ability to extract any concessions from his American counterparts but, as Erdogan’s loyal caretaker, Yildirim performed the role that his boss had demanded.”
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