Former US Vice President Biden, Turkish President Erdoğan in Istanbul in 2016
Photo: Sedat Suna / dpa
Donald Trump is said to have telephoned no other head of state as often during his presidency as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
With Joe Biden taking office, however, the hot line between the Turkish President and the White House has cooled down.
Erdoğan has reportedly been trying in vain to speak to the new US president since December.
In the meantime, a Turkish provider even accepts bets as to whether and when Biden will pick up the phone.
Erdoğan will probably not be able to laugh about that.
Turkey has increasingly isolated itself in terms of foreign policy in recent years, and the country now has hardly any allies.
The change of power in Washington now poses new problems for Ankara.
While the former US President Trump once praised Erdoğan's "great friendship" and let his Turkish counterpart pass almost all norm violations, one can now expect Biden to increase the pressure on Ankara.
Icon: enlarge
President Erdoğan: Since the US election in November, the Turkish president has been trying to talk to the new President Biden
Photo:
MUSTAFA KAMACI / AFP
The democratic politician is familiar with Turkey, has toured the country several times and already denounced the democratic deficits in the country in his function as Vice President of Barack Obama.
A good year ago Biden described the Turkish president in the New York Times as an “autocrat” and called for the support of the Turkish opposition to “defeat Erdoğan”.
There are also other representatives critical of Turkey in Biden's government.
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