The US elections and how it affects Turkey

I wish things were different, but the cliffhanger election race between Trump and Biden closely interests the entire world. There are a myriad of reasons for this. The primary ones are that the dollar is the reserve currency and that it is the main currency used in global trade. Additionally, commodities such as fuel and gold are also priced in the dollar. Furthermore, the weight the U.S. carries in the United Nations and NATO as well as the international mobility of its armed forces and intelligence agencies are important factors that need to be taken into account.

It is highly likely that the next U.S. president will be determined not by the elections but by judicial proceedings. Because both candidates are filing lawsuits and objecting to the vote counts in swing states. It seems that the final results will take some time to emerge, and frankly it doesn’t look like Trump has any intention of giving up his seat.

We’ll have to wait a little longer to see whether it’ll be Trump or Biden who lost the elections. However, the loser of the presidential election aside, the real losers of this election are American poll companies and the mainstream media. Because it was announced in the general surveys that Biden was up to 13 points ahead and even if Trump closed the gap, the difference was still expressed as 6-7 points. Whereas the mainstream media already declared Biden as the victor. But that’s not the way things have unfolded. The elections virtually ended in a neck-and-neck race.

I penned today’s column based on the suggestion that was made by Turkish lawmaker Devlet Bahçeli who said: An analysis of the U.S. presidential elections should be made within the frame of Turkey’s rights and interests.”

As you very well know, tensions between Ankara and Washington have been on knife’s edge. In addition to the subjects of the S-400 missile systems and F-35 fighter jets, the U.S.’s overt support for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the stance it’s adopted on the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), and its anti-Turkey policies on the East Mediterranean and Cyprus are serious matters of contention between the two states. To be even more blunt, on the matters that Turkey is especially sensitive towards, the U.S. prefers to mainly follow an anti-Turkey policy. Alliance and strategic partnership seem to have been left out in the cold. Even though small olive branches have been extended in thawing ties, we haven’t seen any positive results on these matters during the era of Trump, who has been branded as a president “close to Turkey.”

Of course, matters will diverge depending on the new president; however the main matters of dispute between the U.S. and Turkey seem to be not under the control of U.S. presidents but the established corporate powers. Of course, if we take a look at Biden’s previous discourses, it’s easy to ascertain that he doesn’t have much sympathy towards Turkey. Yes, but to what extent does this make a difference for us?

No matter who the president of the United States is, Turkey will not budge an inch in its fight against terror (FETÖ and the PKK), its rights in the East Mediterranean, the Cyprus cause, and its stance on the terror state attempting to be formed in northern Syria and northern Iraq. What’s more, Turkey has long ago proven that it cannot be contained within its own borders by being distanced from its potential sphere of maneuver. All these subjects are a part of Turkey’s “red line.” If Biden and Trump don’t want to further distance a country like Turkey from the U.S., they need to design a bilateral relationship plan by taking all this into consideration.