Biden’s New Approach to Turkey: Topple Erdoğan
Why is the U.S. obsessed with interventionism?
Joe Biden sat down in a meeting room, in an interview with the New York Times, and said with a straight face that the United States is in a new position regarding the Turkish-Kurdish relations, and a new approach to the Turkish government has to be established.
Biden, who served for 8 full years in the Obama administration, may have been caught in a web of delusion that had convinced him of the United States’ Godsent right to resolve disputes in the world. He does believe that the US has the full right to interfere in other countries’ problems and disputes — arbitrarily at times — with no consequences.
Stating his opinion on Erdoğan, Biden referred to the obligation to “take the Turkish president down,” albeit in a democratic way — through elections. He talked about bolstering the Kurdish minority to help them topple Erdoğan and influence the parliament. In addition, he said that the Turkish president has to “pay a price.”
Despite the details of the dispute between the Kurds and Turkey, and despite Erdoğan’s involvement in either resolving or fueling it, Biden’s statement comes off as shitty. Three months until the election against Donald Trump, the footage in which Biden divulges these statements (which reportedly were not supposed to go public) reveals the American indifference and insolence and exposes the hideous double-standards of White House politicians.
Biden wants equality and justice for Kurds. I get that. I do want that too. But why go after Turkey with the issue of the Kurds? If Biden lacks a list (I’m sure he doesn’t) of minorities that are being oppressed, tortured, and even killed, I can gladly provide one for him. Sure, he did comment on China’s atrocities against the Uyghurs, but I’m not sure he ever threatened to take down Jinping, the Chinese president.
If you’re still unaware, an ethnic genocide is afoot in China. In Syria, Bashar al-Assad has done everything that is to be done by a bloodthirsty, amoral, and inhuman dictator. In Iraq, it was the United States who had killed women and children in the name of eradicating terrorism. In Yemen, a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is killing families and destroying the country.
So why does Biden focus on Turkey? The question is whether he’s even able to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs?
Biden-and the White House, now, then, and still — see Turkey as an archrival. Turkey, an up-and-comer in the international political landscape, and whose economy has rendered it mighty, independent, and forceful, is perceived as danger. Erdoğan is seen as a powerful leader without a care in the world about the hegemonic powers of the world.
America wants to control the world; the US government wants puppet regimes to control, manipulate, and subject to its own interests. A similar case could be Egypt, where now Abdulfattah al-Sisi operates as a crumbling, pathetic president anxious to satisfy his paymasters in Washington. Truly, Trump’s remarks on al-Sisi as his favorite dictator proved him to be “working.”
The United States considers herself a global hegemon in the political landscape, especially when it comes to the Near and Middle East. Turkey is a rising power, with economic and geopolitical potential that can rattle the Washington administration with its political alignments. And so, America will not allow a regime with a strongly opposing ideology to even exist, especially if it was Muslim.
Turkey will not allow US interventionism to disparage its rightfully elected president, who has established that Turkey is an independent state with powerful leadership.
And let’s take a moment to remind the US government of all the atrocities which it has done in the world since the United States was founded. Hell, since the beginning of the 21st century — that’s plenty. So Biden, please don’t lecture governments about morality and civil society.
Originally published at https://www.tarekgara.com on August 16, 2020.
