Page 8 - TURKRptMay21

On April 23, a day before, Biden called Erdogan, who was waiting for his call since November.
The White House said in an official note that Biden gave an appointment to Erdogan to meet on the sidelines of the Nato summit in June in Brussels.
Then, it was “leaked” to media that Biden informed Erdogan on the genocide word in his statement to be released on April 24.
Still, no clues what the Biden administration is planning for Erdogan or Turkey’s region.
Biden “is simply aware that for the first time in many years, Erdogan needs the U.S. more than Washington needs him... using this window as a lever, hoping to correct some of Erdogan’s behavior,” according to Soner Cagaptay of a Washington think-tank.
We do not know what exactly are those behaviours to be corrected but Cagaptay’s arguments seem a little bit naive, particularly the “human rights” part if we take the “Putin” part as S-400 rockets: Biden is “hoping to correct some of Erdogan’s behavior, including his anti-democratic actions and close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin”.
“The crux of the issue now isn’t that Biden is mad at Erdogan, but rather that almost the entire U.S. government is,” according to Cagaptay.
Given that Biden has done a big move for “human rights” with recognizing the Armenian Genocide, he may have a free hand now to do some business with Erdogan.
The genocide recognition operation as a whole, which starts with not calling Erdogan since November and ends with a clean wording in the statement, was too professional, balanced, well-planned and well-performed, suggesting that the Biden administration is not a bunch of fools.
The Biden administration wants to bring Erdogan as low as possible but Erdogan would play them like a fiddle when he manages to get his claws into them over some “transactional” partnerships.
Meanwhile, the EU, led by Angela Merkel’s former defence minister, is again openly supporting the continuation of the Erdogan regime.
● September 26: Elections in Germany. There is a possibility that Germany, Europe and the rest of the world might be waving goodbye to the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU).
● Corona: Tourism season opening in April failed. Hopes are now pinned on June.
● On May 3: April official inflation release.
The official data series still suggests that headline CPI annual inflation shall to a degree rise in April, prior to a decline in May thanks to the base effect.
The May inflation reading will be released on June 3.
The finance industry updated its end-2021 inflation forecasts through
8 TURKEY Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com