US-Turkish Relations Certain to Deteriorate in Coming Months – Kurdish Activist

US-Turkish relations are caught in a negative spiral after the failed military coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, creating major problems for Washington policymakers, Kurdish American Information Network director Kani Xulam told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – Erdogan has reacted to strained ties with Washington following the failure of the July 15 coup plot by strengthening economic relations with Russia. At a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, the Turkish leader agreed on measures to boost economic and other ties.

“Turkish-American relations are in a pickle,” Xulam said. “Turkish-US relations will… deteriorate so long as Erdogan is in power. Erdogan’s ambitions and US ideals are forcing both countries to look for friends elsewhere while maintaining the appearance of a good relationship.”

An emotionally out of whack cleric, Fethullah Gulen, sits at the epicenter of this most recent bilateral crisis, Xulam claimed.

“Erdogan is complaining to America that Gulen almost toppled him and he should be extradited to Turkey immediately,” Xulam stated. “This crisis… has a lot of smoke and very little heat.”

Erdogan wants to avoid any further clashes with the Turkish army, whose leadership he purged after the failed coup and so is focusing on Gulen and his supporters as internal enemies instead, Xulam maintained.

“Erdogan can’t take on the Turkish military and Gulenists at the same time, so he has decided to gang up on Gulen,” he added.

US efforts to restore good relations with Ankara would fail because of the new level of mistrust towards Washington, Xulam predicted.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Xulam observed, is trying to restore a dialogue of trust but the odds are against him succeeding.

“John Kerry will try, and his job will not be easy, to instill some sense into his interlocutors. He will come back with the biggest headache of his life,” Xulam suggested.

Erdogan pictured himself as the second founder of Turkey and, like the first, Kemal Ataturk, wanted to stay in office until the last days of his life, Xulam claimed.

“But sometimes the dreams of grandeur take over,” he added. “Then he [Erdogan] would like to have the Ottoman Empire back.”

Someone needs to tell Erdogan the bitter truth that the Ottomans were an imperialist power and that Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Jews and the Arabs could not wait to be rid of them, Xulam stated.

Xulam said Erdogan thought he could simultaneously maintain an open border with the Islamic State (IS) inside Syria while declaring a gratuitous war on the Kurds who remained the most effective ground forces against IS.

The new Russian-Turkish committee on Syria will hold its first meeting on Thursday, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier in the day.