In two steps that will add fuel to the tense Turkish-American relations, US President Joe Biden acknowledged the so-called genocide of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire during the events of 1915, in addition to Washington's removal of Turkey from the program to produce the advanced fighter "F-35" (F-35) , Which infuriated and angered Ankara.
Immediately, the Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed that Biden's statement on Armenians would cause a deep wound and would undermine mutual trust and friendship with Washington.
In a separate issue, the Turkish state agency Anadolu Agency quoted a US Defense Department official (Pentagon) as saying, “Washington has officially informed Ankara of its removal from the multinational program for producing fighters for its purchase of Russian S-400 missiles.
In a phone call Friday between US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish presidency said that the two presidents agreed on the importance of joint work to expand cooperation between Turkey and the United States, and that they agreed to hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the upcoming NATO summit in Brussels.
The phone call - the first since Biden took office on January 20 - came a day before the US president announced what Washington calls "the genocide of Armenians" during World War One.
Erdogan and Biden contacted the day before the American President recognized the so-called (French) Armenian Genocide.
Turkey steps
In the context, a special source in the communication department of the Presidency of the Turkish Republic stated to Al-Jazeera Net that the US move will lead to adverse results and weaken the relations that have already been damaged by a group of differences.
The source revealed to Al-Jazeera Net about a number of steps prepared by Ankara to respond to the American steps, "including closing the Incirlik base, as well as opening a Turkish consulate in the city of Shusha, which Azerbaijan had restored from Armenia in the last war, in addition to boycotting American goods, and finally opening a compensation file in international courts for an American role. In the failed July 15 coup. "
The source also pointed out that "Biden's recognition of what he called genocide may impede reconciliation with Armenia, after the Nagorno Karabakh war."
For his part, the leader of the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party, Rasul Tosun, confirmed that the Pentagon had informed Ankara of its removal from the F-35 aircraft project, indicating that his country's response is to appoint lawyers to obtain the amount paid and to recover it from America.
Tosson told Al-Jazeera Net, "Removing Turkey from the project does not harm it, but rather benefits it and stimulates it to produce the latest defense products. There is a fact that whenever the exporting countries impose sanctions on Turkey, they rush to produce them, so it will work from its experience in defense industries to produce advanced fighter aircraft." .
On the Armenian issue, Tosson emphasized that Turkey "was not surprised by President Biden's uttering the word genocide, given that former US presidents did not utter this term, and Turkey got used to and tired of these fluid attitudes."
The former Turkish parliament member referred to strong Turkish reactions, indicating that Biden's position may lead to an irreversible loss in relations.
The case of the "Armenian extermination"
The massacres were previously officially recognized by the US Congress as genocide in December 2019 in a symbolic vote.
Recently, more than 100 members of Congress, led by Adam Schiff, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to Biden urging him to fulfill his pledge to recognize the genocide during his election campaign.
With this step Biden becomes the first American president to describe the massacres as genocide, and although there are no legal consequences for this classification, he anger Ankara, which insists that there is no genocide, and says that the two sides committed atrocities during the war.
A year ago, when Biden was still a presidential candidate, he commemorated the 1.5 million Armenian men, women and children who lost their lives in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.
Thirty countries recognize the "Armenian genocide", including France, Germany, Belgium, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Argentina, Uruguay, Russia, Slovakia and Austria.
Ankara demands the opening of its archives and the archives of Armenia and an investigation by specialists in the science of history, and confirms that there are Turkish victims as well.
The head of the Orsam Center for Middle East Studies, Ahmed Oisal, tells Al Jazeera Net that the term "genocide" will have repercussions that may go negatively for the United States, as Turkey will be forced to deepen its relations with Russia and China further.
Uisal, head of the center close to the Turkish government, added, "America is neglecting Turkey, but it will need it in the coming days and will regret it. The Russians are defying and China is on the rise, and there are radical transformations all over the world, and America needs Turkey more than Turkey needs America."
F-35s
Turkey says it has paid $ 1.4 billion for the purpose of obtaining 100 aircraft under the multilateral program, and threatened to resort to legal means to restore them, after Washington decided in July 2019 to stop delivering them due to Turkey's receipt of the Russian S-400 system.
Turkey concluded a deal with Russia in 2017 to buy the S-400 missile system, after its efforts to acquire the "Patriot" system from the United States faltered.
Turkey has sought to remain in the program to produce the F-35 fighter by any means, considering the efforts to remove it as illegal, as it sought to assign the international law firm "Arnold & Porter" to obtain legal and strategic advisory services in an effort to remain in the program.
Last December, former US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Turkey under the Anti-America’s Adversaries Act (KATSA), which included 4 officials in the Turkish defense industries, and denied Turkey access to more than $ 10 million in defense loans.
US President Joe Biden pledged, during his election campaign, to push Turkey to abandon the S-400 system or impose severe sanctions on it, denouncing its arms policies, but Turkey insisted on preserving the Russian system, stressing that it is seeking to contract a second batch of it.
For his part, Selcuk Bayraktar, technical director of the Turkish company Baykar Defense Industries and chief engineer of the Turkish marches program, considers that the American decision will be a great motivation for Turkish defense industries to accelerate work on the Turkish march fighter project, revealing that they aim to carry out the first flight of the prototype of the project The home-made unmanned combat aircraft in 2023.
Bayraktar believes that the local platform that they will develop will have lower costs of supply, operation, maintenance and continuity of the F-35 fighter jets, and that "any aviation system that will be purchased from outside Turkey will make them vulnerable to serious restrictions in terms of independent use."