The United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo does not have a scheduled meeting with Turkish State officials. This was made known at a briefing by State Department officials on the US secretary of State’s visit.
„After France, Pompeo will visit Turkey, where he’ll have a brief visit and an opportunity to meet with His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I. He will also meet with the apostolic nuncio to Turkey, Archbishop Paul Russell, and tour the Rustem Pasha Mosque. Secretary Pompeo is going to use these opportunities to discuss religious issues and, as you know, promoting the unalienable human right of religious freedom and fighting religious persecution is a key priority for the administration and for Secretary Pompeo. He’ll also of course in all the stops have an opportunity to meet with our ambassadors and staff from our missions, embassies, and in Istanbul the consulate general”, - State Department officials announced at the briefing.
Political experts believe that the visit of the US Secretary of State is an interesting one, particularly if one considers the list of countries included in this tour.
As we know before arriving in Georgia, Pompeo will be visiting France and Turkey. Israel, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are lined up next after Georgia.
"EuropeTime" spoke to ZurabBatiashvili, an expert and researcher at the Rondeli Foundation about Mike Pompeo’s visit, and other issues centered on the Karabakh and the new reality in the region:
It is important to note the significance of Joe Biden’s emergence as President-elect of the United States. When Biden served as Vice President of the United States, he dealt directly with many issues, and even during his recent electioneering, Biden made statements that does not indicate a good development in Turkish-American relations. Now, if you consider the fact that an American high-ranking official is visiting any country, and there are no officials to meet him, you would understand that this signals a really unprecedented move from Turkey. One after the other, these movesraiseanticipationsof the possibility of further strains on the relations between the two countries.
Pompeo’s visit is scheduled at a time when conflicts within the Caucasus are extremely tense, as the second war in Karabakh just ended. These conflict are in fact, signs of Russia’s re-emergence on the scene.
Relocating US military components or even re-establishing them will be an appropriate response to the situation since it is not possible to tea up with NATO. Without these support, the situation will spell doom for Georgia and every action we take in pursuit of Europe might be in vain.
_The fact that two leaders are unable to meet, may shed some light on the attitude and relations between both countries. What are the fundamental issues upon which the non-alignment of the USvisions and Turkey’s interests rest and cannot be reconciled?
There are too many fundamental issues between Turkey and the US and the difference in their visions stem from these fundamental issues. These differences have been in place even before the fall of the Soviet Union, but Turkey did not pose a threat of the similitude of the Soviet Union. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Turkey started handling politics independently, slowly but distinctly, and this was even more noticeable during Erdogan’s reign. Now, when we talk about Turkey-America, we talk about the differences between them, and this begins with the Syrian conflict. Turkey supports the opposition, but the Americans support the pro-Kurdish forces, which Turkey views as a terrorist organization and a threat to itself. The same is with Syria and with Greece as well, where the EU and USA both support Greece. There are also similarities, when we take a look at the purchase of the Russian S-400, Turkey was officially kicked from the F-35 program, a modern fighter jet, which Turkey was intending to buy. Turkey has however developed means to manufacture it and this move has raised sanctions which have already matured in the US Senate. These sanctions stopped Trump from acting for a long time as he had a close and personal relationship with Erdogan. Biden is not going to stop these sanctions, especially since Biden has declared support for Greece and the Syrian Kurds. There are and there will be too many issues in which the visions of the US and Turkey will not coincide.
_You stated that the solution will be the re-location of military components to Georgia. A few days ago, General Hodges, in an interview with our publication, said that it would be good if the US increased infrastructure and rotational forces in Georgia. Is this some sort of message before Pompeo's visit, especially in light of the new reality in Karabakh?
Even in America, Georgia’s needs are clear and inevitable. When such reasoning begins, it means that the situation is maturing and they may have come to some decision. It may not be NATO, but it may result in the deployment of a US base in Georgia. The deployment of some military contingent, or some components, which are included in the security guarantees is bound to happen. If there is an American base here, it will be a huge factor for Russia.
_What impact can the new reality in Karabakh have on Georgia's transit potential?
The new reality will impact transit potential, but only slightly. The road that is being discussed between Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan does not even exist yet, because it first needs to be designed. The second issue is how Armenia and Russia are willing to agree. On one hand, we have Russia’s agreements, and on the other hand, we have Russia’s fulfillment of the agreement. If this is the way to connect not only Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan, but also Turkey and Azerbaijan, with Turkey, and with the rest of the Turkish world, I doubt Russia will agree to that. Russia has lots of ways to disrupt this process and there is a possibility that money and resources spent there will be wasted.
