As presumably one of the most difficult years in the history of Turkish-American relations was about to end, Washington made a bold move to lead the game in a possible S-400 crisis, which carries the potential to poison the relatively upbeat atmosphere mostly deriving from the personal relationship between two presidents. On Dec. 18, the State Department approved a possible sale of the Patriot air and missile defense system to Turkey for an estimated total of $3.5 billion.
On the same day a high-level delegation led by John Bolton, the United States national security advisor, will hold talks in Ankara on Jan. 8, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will embark on a massive Middle East tour that includes all six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, along with Jordan and Egypt.
This morning, there will probably be countless bowls of leftover boiled wheat pudding cups in many kitchens around the Kurtuluş and Pangaltı neighborhoods of Istanbul, in the kitchens of Armenian families and their neighbors.
Brexit discussions have turned into a farce in the U.K. If we consider the referendum itself as a tragedy, Prime Minister Theresa May’s handling of the Brexit process has turned it into a comedy. Currently, there is a whole new discussion on how Brexit should be carried out. Interestingly, the current discussions are all U.K.-centric. However Brexit is more important for Turkey than you may imagine, therefore how they see this process through with the U.K. is very important for the EU, too. Let me explain.