foreign policy makes it more difficult to do so. But President Joe Biden’s choice to emphasize democracy as the most important facet of U.S. Erdogan has always been very transactional and self-interested not the ideal ally, but you can work with him. It’s small wonder that Kilicdaroglu wasn’t able to pull off an upset and that observers have described the election as “mostly free, anything but fair.”Įrdogan’s victory will not be good for the Biden administration, though I’m less convinced it’s bad for the United States more generally. The government even put pressure on Twitter to censor the opposition in the runup to the election. Some other opposition leaders- most notably the former head of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, Selahattin Demirtas-have been in prison for years on trumped-up charges. All the major Turkish media outlets highlighted Erdogan and ignored Kilicdaroglu, who ended up making home videos at his kitchen table for the internet. But the obstacles he faced in running were in many ways worse. But I think Washington will need to manage with several more years of Erdogan in power.Įrdogan has always been very transactional and self-interested not the ideal ally, but you can work with him.ĮA: At least Kilicdaroglu was on the ballot, unlike some other candidates. His major opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, is promising the restoration of Turkish democracy and a normalization of Turkey’s international role. If so, that will be too bad for Turkish institutions and also, potentially, for the NATO alliance. But some of the voters for the now-eliminated candidates are likely to swing to Erdogan.

Erdogan won a plurality, but not a majority, of votes, so it will go to a runoff election. Shall we start with the Turkish election? Were we all wrong to hope that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would be given the boot by Turkish voters?

But I’m sure ambassador is a nice upgrade for Keri Russell from her previous role as a Russian illegal! We have a lot of things to chat about this week: elections in Turkey and Thailand and developments in Ukraine. ambassador to the United Kingdom basically runs the world!ĮA: Not yet. It is pretty good, but also pretty unrealistic. If they can make time, I guess I can, too. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have also watched the series and even quizzed U.S. Matt Kroenig: I have seen all eight episodes! I was worried that I was wasting my time, but then it was reported that U.S. Emma Ashford: Hey Matt, have you seen the new Netflix show The Diplomat? I hear it’s making the State Department look more exciting than it has in years.

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