Washington returns to its budget between Türkiye and Greece

US President Joe Biden and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Reuters)

After nearly two years of arduous negotiations between Turkey and the United States over the former's request to purchase 40 American F-16 fighters and nearly 80 modernization kits, Washington finally decided that the time had come to complete the deal. Although the US administration’s submission of an official notification to Congress of the deal came within the framework of the bargaining process with Ankara regarding the latter’s ratification of Sweden’s membership in NATO, in exchange for Washington’s move to complete the fighter deal, the US motives for passing this deal actually go beyond Sweden’s file, even if it plays a role. Compromise between the two issues plays a crucial role in the end.

These motives began to appear after the Russian war on Ukraine, when Washington realized the need to reset its troubled relations with Ankara, and take advantage of its precious geopolitical value to the West in its new conflict with Russia.

Moreover, the pressure exerted by Washington and European countries on Ankara over the past years, and the attempt to punish it for its new geopolitical choices and its independent tendency in foreign policy, did not succeed in influencing its foreign policies, and its relations with Russia in particular.

The most important conclusions drawn from the period of great US-Turkish tensions over the past decade are that the American abandonment of balanced relations with Ankara and Athens only exacerbated the tensions between two allies of the United States.

In this sense, the West's openness to Turkey in the past three years was a decisive result of the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the weakness of the Western pressure strategy on Ankara.

Therefore, the current American move to complete the fighter jet deal with Turkey is linked to multiple dynamics in American policy towards Ankara. Chief among them is Washington's attempt to reshape its policy with both Türkiye and Greece. It was not surprising that the United States also worked to pass the deal to sell Greece F-35 fighters in parallel with the sale of F-16 fighters to Turkey.

Here it is also highlighted how the recent historic visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Athens motivated the United States to move forward with the completion of the sales processes to Ankara and Athens.

Insofar as the Turkish-Greek tensions over the past years constituted an opportunity for Washington to strengthen its defense cooperation with Greece in order to strengthen its presence in the eastern Mediterranean and put pressure on Ankara; Because of its geopolitical choices independent of the West and its rapprochement with Russia, it has, in turn, weakened Washington's ability to influence the dynamics of Turkish-Greek tensions. During that period, it seemed that the United States was abandoning its historical approach to balancing its relations with Ankara and Athens.

It can be said that the drift of Turkish-Greek tensions in 2020 to the brink of armed conflict reflected in a fundamental aspect Washington’s deviation from the balanced approach in its relations with Turkey and Greece. Therefore, the United States' synchronization of new fighter sales to Turkey and Greece should be viewed from the perspective of its attempt to return to a balanced approach.

This return to the balancing approach brings great geopolitical benefits to the United States, whether in terms of resetting its relations with an important ally like Turkey, or in terms of maximizing its ability to influence the dynamics of the new relations between Turkey and Greece, and making them sustainable for a long period, as well as enhancing harmony within the alliance. The North Atlantic, and maximizing the American role in the geopolitical competition with Russia in the Mediterranean.

However, the American military presence in Greece will remain a pressure factor on Turkish-American relations, but the American return to a balanced approach could help create a new environment in American interactions with Ankara and Athens.

The most important conclusions drawn from the period of great US-Turkish tensions over the past decade are that the American abandonment of balanced relations with Ankara and Athens only exacerbated the tensions between two allies of the United States. A return to a balancing approach not only creates new opportunities for the United States to consolidate the new status quo in Turkish-Greek relations, but could help it undermine Russia's ability to take advantage of Turkish-Western turmoil to deepen its partnership with Ankara.

If the Russian-Ukrainian war forced NATO to adapt to the new challenge with Russia by creating a new wave of expansion for the alliance, it is also important to work on restoring the fractured relations between the members of the alliance itself, whether at the level of Turkey and Greece, or at the level of Turkey and the United States. United.

Ultimately, both Turkey and Greece remain indispensable allies for the United States, even if Athens appears closer to Western orientations than Ankara. In light of the turbulent Middle Eastern environment resulting from the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, and the enormous challenges that the United States faces to maintain its position and influence in Middle Eastern politics, the importance of Turkey in American policies in the Middle East has become greater than ever before.

For European countries, the American return to the approach of balancing between Turkey and Greece also brings great geopolitical benefits. On the one hand, the American role will be pivotal from now on in maintaining the state of calm between Turkey and Greece, and preventing relations between the two countries from once again drifting into the cycle of tensions that have put pressure on Turkish-European relations in recent years. On the other hand, the development of the new relations between Turkey and Greece into cooperation in the field of energy is of great importance to Europe as part of its efforts to wean itself from Russian gas.

In the midst of the Turkish-Greek tensions at the end of the last decade, there was a belief that the United States began to view strengthening its relations with Greece as an alternative to its strategic partnership with Turkey. But Washington's efforts to return to a balanced approach in its relations with Turkey and Greece show the unreality of this belief and that the partnership with Turkey is still vital for Washington.