March 31, 2021
GirlWhy U.S.-Turkey Tensions Were Never About the S-400 Missile System
There are many
longstanding causes of the widening rift between Ankara and Washington and the
view from Turkey is one of frustration and anger.
by Ali Demirdas
The current crisis between the
United States and Turkey is
the result of America’s ever-growing frustration with Turkey which began
particularly in the early 2000s, when Turkey began to increasingly pursue an
independent foreign policy, which has not necessarily been in line with
Washington’s perceived interests. Simply put, the more Ankara resisted
America’s demands, the more Washington dialed up pressure. The S-400 crisis is only the latest manifestation of this
vicious cycle and is also a clear indication that Washington is on the verge of
completely losing its grip on Turkey as seen by the Turkish Minister of Foreign
Affairs, Mevlut Cavusoglu’s firm affirmation last week that, “It (the S-400 purchase) is a
done deal.”
The signs of Turkey’s growing
defiance to the United States began to mount as the Justice and Development
Party (AK Parti) single party government took office around the same time
America was preparing for the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Having already suffered
the political, economic, and social toll of the U.S.-led Gulf War of 1991,
Turkey, under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s single party government in March of 2003 , rejected Washington’s
request to use Turkish soil to open a northern front into Iraq to topple Saddam
Hussein. This infuriated the Bush Administration which then pushed for a
more military-focused foreign policy. Unfortunately, that policy would plant
the seeds of discord that have greatly shaped the bilateral relations to this
day. In his book, Decision Points, Bush said, “I was frustrated and
disappointed. On one of the most important requests we had ever made, Turkey,
our NATO ally had let America down.” Then-secretary of defense Donald
Rumsfeld blamed the success of the Sunni insurgency and the
subsequent American losses squarely on Turkey’s refusal to cooperate.
In July 2003, some 150 members of
the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade arrested 18 Turkish commandos
in the city of Sulaymaniyah for allegedly plotting the assassination of the
newly-elected Iraqi-Kurdish governor of Kirkuk. What made it even more
maddening for Turks is the commandos were arrested and hoods put over their
heads, a sign of disrespect. That incident, now called “the Hood Event,” perhaps marked the beginning of the
‘Pentagonization’, whereby the Pentagon, particularly the Central Command
(CENTCOM), (rather than the more level-headed State Department) began to define
policies towards Turkey, throwing the bilateral relations into an
uncontrollable downward spiral.
The eruption of the Syrian Civil
war in 2011 further deepened the ever-growing division between the two
“allies,” also highlighting Washington’s ineptitude dealing with the crisis.
The Obama Administration was so confused with respect to Syria that various
U.S. agencies began to support different opposition groups, each having different
agendas. Whereas, the Central Intelligence Agency began to train and equip the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a
Turkey-aligned Sunni opposition group, the Pentagon (CENTOM) did not hesitate
to take steps that would enrage Turkey by propping up the Kurdish People’s
Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey has repeatedly stated is a branch of the Kurdish
Workers Party (PKK), a group considered a terrorist organization by the United
States and Turkey. Ankara’s repeated appeals to Washington to drop its support for YPG yielded
nothing. To make things even worse for Turkey, the United States, at the height
of the civil war, decided to pull its Patriot air and missile defense systems from
Turkey’s Syrian border, leaving Turkey vulnerable. In addition, Washington
turned a deaf ear to Turkey’s subsequent pleas to purchase the Patriot. When
Ankara finally received an answer from Washington, it was seventeen months too late and even then, America would
not allow the transfer of th military technology transfer in order for
Turkey to control the missiles they wanted to buy.
Having felt abandoned by
Washington, Turkey felt that it had no choice but to turn to Russia for help,
which Putin gladly provided, seizing the opportunity to undermine the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). When Russia intervened in the Syrian Civil
War and opened up Syrian air space, Turkey was able to create a safe zone in
much of the area west of the Euphrates, fulfilling a demand by Ankara that
Washington had repeatedly stalled on. Furthermore, Putin offered something that
cemented Turkey’s near-complete departure from the U.S. orbit; the S-400 air
defense system. Despite Washington’s repeated pleas against the deal, the first
batch of S-400s landed in Turkey in July 2019. Ankara now learned that it
could implement policies that may run counter to Washington’s liking, and still
get away with them. With this in mind, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring
east of the Euphrates in October 2019, effectively dislodging the American
proxy, YPG, from its border and pushing them deeper into the Syrian Desert.
CENTCOM was so furious at this that the American soldiers held the strategic
city of Manbij to prevent the Turks from taking it and later handed it to the Russians.
Washington’s current frustration
with Turkey has deep roots that are decades old, but more importantly, it is a
clear indication of rapidly declining American power. Gone are the days such as
in 1991, when the United States could mount a unanimous global coalition and
could assemble an army of more than 500,000 American soldiers. Today, America is reduced to
having to rely on the YPG militia, which, in fact, it has had to share
with Russia and Iran. Washington’s threats of sanctions on Germany over the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has not seemed to
deter Berlin from completing the project with Russia. Furthermore, having seen
that Turkey emerged relatively unharmed from the Countering America’s
Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions, India
now feels emboldened to complete the acquisition of their own S-400s despite
Washington’s warnings. In early 2021, the first Indian military team received training on S-400s. On top of everything, at a
time when America’s deterrence in the Pacific is seriously questioned, the Chinese delegates were able to humiliate their U.S. counterparts on American soil, at
the summit in Anchorage, without worrying about the consequences of their
actions.
It is a mere misjudgment to
attribute the current U.S.-Turkish acrimony to the S-400s. Traditionally,
America’s perceived interests and Turkey’s security concerns in the Middle East
have collided. Washington’s inability to manage Turkey’s actions—and the
resulting frustration in—has increased Washington’s desire to adopt a punitive
approach, which has met with Ankara’s obstinance. Turkey’s ascendence in the Eastern Mediterranean, in Libya, in Syria, in Iraq and the Caucasus, corresponds with the steady decline of America and its world order. That is why it is a mistake for
the Biden Administration to attempt the much anticipated “taming” of Turkey since it will more than likely not be
able to deliver the results Washington wants. The only bullet left for Biden to
hurt Turkey appears to be the recognition, possibly on April 24, of the 1915
events with the Armenians as a genocide. Such a move is only going to serve to
increase the anti-American sentiment in Turkey and nothing else will be gained
from it.
As China is poised to
replace America as global hegemon, threatening its very economic and political
well-being, it is perhaps time for the policymakers in Washington to stop
wasting precious energy by alienating such allies as Turkey, by being obsessed
with a tour de force, and come to terms with the limits of American power.
Ali Demirdas, Ph.D.
in political science from the University of South Carolina, Fulbright scholar,
professor of international affairs at the College of Charleston(2011—2018). You
can follow him on Twitter @DrDemirdasEn
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