Biden's America and Erdogan's Turkey Are Trapped in a Double Fantasy

Biden and Erdogan Are Trapped in a Double Fantasy Why Washington and Ankara don’t get each other at all—and need each other anyway. BY ASLI AYDINTAŞBAŞ, JEREMY SHAPIRO | JANUARY 6, 2021, 3:16 AM A year ago, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden sat with the New York Times editorial board and said “I am very concerned about [Turkey],” according to a video that caused controversy in Turkey over the summer a few months ago. Biden said the United States should take a different approach from the Trump administration and engage with a broad cross-section of Turkish society, promote the opposition and “speak out about what we think is wrong.” Biden seemed to think it was possible to bring Turkey back into the transatlantic community and even improve its worrisome human rights record. More:Biden's America and Erdogan's Turkey Are Trapped in a Double Fantasy