The White House Downgrades Turkey
Michael Rubin / Sept. 21, 2015
One of the reasons why Recep Tayyip Erdoğan managed to change Turkey fundamentally and probably permanently during his tenure as prime minister is that as he implemented his reforms undermining opponents, and ultimately freedom, he suggested that he enjoyed U.S. and European Union support. U.S. diplomats continued their paeans to Turkey and its democracy, even as Erdoğan laid the legal foundation to send his opponents to prison. President Barack Obama went so far as to single out Erdoğan as one of his most trusted foreign friends.
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