Ankara's crackdown on the Kurds within its own borders and beyond, the Lebanese daily maintains, is the key issue that has poisoned relations between the US and one of its key allies in the Middle East.
"Erdogan caused Washington's discontent when he prevented Kurdish fighters from entering Kobane to help their comrades, who scored the first major victory against the terrorists," the newspaper noted. The US was forced to provide aerial assistance to the Kurds in the embattled Syrian border city.
Likewise, Washington was not happy with Erdogan's plan to create buffer zones in Syria. "Erdogan saw it as an opportunity to block any Kurdish activities aimed at creating autonomy," the An-Nahar newspaper explained.
The Kurdish issue is not the only challenge. Other points of contention, plaguing bilateral relations, involve the Syrian conflict and the ways to resolve it, as well as Turkey's dismal record when it comes to the freedom of the press.
Even before "Russia launched its military campaign in Syria it became evident that Erdogan was focused on the fight against the Kurds, not Daesh terrorists, who, if Moscow is to be trusted, sell oil to Ankara," the newspaper noted.
An-Nahar maintains that the Turkish Air Force shot down a Russian bomber over Syrian territory in response to Moscow bombing Daesh oil trucks that were headed to Turkey.
"No wonder that Erdogan has fallen out of Obama's favor," the newspaper concluded.
On Friday, Barack Obama voiced concern over the approach that Turkish authorities have taken towards the press, saying that Erdogan should pursue democracy, "rather than a strategy that involves repression of information and shutting down democratic debate."
The Turkish president added that comments with regard to the freedom of the press in the country are meant to "divide, shatter and if they could, swallow up Turkey."
