Biden and Erdogan stage rapprochement at NATO summit

US President Joe Biden and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a bilateral meeting on Wednesday on the occasion of the annual NATO summit in Brussels. The meeting was the first contact between the two leaders since Biden took office, and served to gauge relations between Washington and Ankara after months of tension.

The meeting promised to be Biden's first litmus test before meeting Putin, but the atmosphere was one of maximum cordiality between the delegations, according to those present. Erdogan tried to calm the waters before the meeting by demanding that the press leave the friction behind and talk about "what we can do together".

The leaders met alone for 45 minutes, followed by a joint meeting between the US and Turkish delegations that lasted more than an hour. During the meeting, the two sides discussed the joint challenges facing the two countries at the regional level and the areas of disagreement that have hindered their bilateral relations. 

Both Biden and Erdogan were optimistic, but did not reveal any concrete progress on any issue.

"We will enhance our cooperation with Biden in line with these objectives in the coming period. In Turkey-US relations, we believe that there is no problem that cannot be solved; on the contrary, our areas of cooperation show a broader and richer perspective than problems," Erdogan said after the meeting.

For his part, President Biden assured that Washington and Ankara would make "real progress" in the future, and described the meeting with the Turkish president as "positive and productive". "We had detailed discussions about how to proceed on a range of issues. Our countries have big agendas and our teams will continue our discussions," he added.

The last face-to-face between Biden and Erdogan took place last 2016 in Turkey. The then vice president of the Obama administration travelled to Ankara to deny allegations that the US was implicated in the assassination attempt against the Turkish government. 

"President Biden knows Erdogan very well," US national security adviser Jake Sullivan acknowledged. "The two men have spent a good amount of time together, and they're both, I think, looking forward to ... really having a business opportunity to review the breadth of their relationship," the adviser revealed in this regard.

In any case, the history of cross accusations between the two leaders is extensive. In May, the Turkish president singled out the Democrat for having "blood on his hands" after backing Israel on arms, while Biden called the Turkish leader an "autocrat" during the presidential campaign and denounced his arbitrary detentions.

Moreover, US-Turkey relations have been rough since former President Trump's departure from office. The Democrat has adopted a more combative approach towards Erdogan, in large part because of his administration's proposed return to multilateralism.

The climax of tensions between Washington and Ankara materialised in April, when Biden became the first US president to recognise the mass killings of Armenians during the decline of the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Erdogan, for his part, avoided reacting so as not to jeopardise the already precarious state of his regime.

The Turkish president has toned down his anti-Western rhetoric, as Ankara is committed to a path of pacification. In recent months, Erdogan has deployed a strategy of rapprochement with his foreign policy rivals in order to strengthen his role at the helm of Turkey, which has been plagued by a pressing internal crisis as a result of the economic, social and political crisis.

For Ankara, the main sticking point is US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, considered by Turkey to be "terrorists", according to Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar. The court case against Turkey's state-owned Halkbank in New York, accused of violating sanctions against Iran, is another matter of concern for the Ottoman president.

Moreover, the US authorities' refusal to extradite US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, who is accused of leading the 2016 coup, is also one of Ankara's demands. 

For its part, Washington and its Western partners' complaints include Turkey's purchase of the Russian s-400 anti-missile system, a decision that led to the imposition of sanctions against Ankara and the withdrawal of the US F-35 fighter programme.  

However, the most contentious points in bilateral relations between Ankara and the other Western powers lie in Turkey's involvement in the conflicts in Syria and Libya, as well as the hydrocarbon dispute in the eastern Mediterranean with Greece.

Turkey has been embroiled in controversy within NATO, an organisation in which it plays a key role by maintaining the second largest army.

Prior to the meeting with Biden, the Turkish president held a series of talks with other leaders. These included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and, ultimately, French President Emmanuel Macron, a no less contentious appointment.

The aim was to discuss the issues that have strained relations between Ankara and Paris in recent months, especially after Erdogan's questioning of Macron's mental health in October. The two discussed the situation in Libya and Syria, according to the Elysée. Macron has been particularly harsh on Turkey for "reneging on its commitments" by increasing its military presence in Libya and bringing in armed fighters from Syria.

The first contact proved fruitful. "President Erdogan confirmed during our meeting his wish that foreign mercenaries, foreign militias, operating on Libyan soil leave as soon as possible," Macron announced at a press conference afterwards.

"We have agreed to work on this withdrawal. It does not depend only on the two of us. But I can tell you that President Erdogan confirmed during our meeting his wish that the foreign mercenaries, the foreign militias, operating on Libyan soil leave as soon as possible," the French president expanded at the end of a summit of NATO leaders in Brussels.