Israeli Lobby and Armenian Somersaults Affect Turkey-US Relations

Ankara’s failure to implement an agreement on a historic reconciliation with Armenia has left a bad impression on the US, said Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, in The New York Times.

Washington, along with Moscow and the EU member states, supported the Armenia-Turkey Protocols signed in Switzerland. Later, however, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan backpedaled under pressure from Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijani lobby in Turkey’s parliament to raise the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh.

If the aggravation of Turkey-Israel relations gave the Israeli lobby an opportunity to raise anti-Turkish sentiments in the US Congress and among the American public, said Trenin, then the Armenian somersault added to the intensification of the Armenian lobby. This combination, according to experts, doesn’t promise Ankara anything good. 

“Even the US administration, which traditionally cherished its relations with allies during the Cold War, understands that if for Turkey its own interests are more important than friendship with America, then Washington will be forced to reconsider its relations with key partners,” said Trenin.