Istanbul | The head of the American diplomacy Mike Pompeo carries out Tuesday in Istanbul a visit centered on “religious freedom”, but no meeting is envisaged with the Turkish leaders, which he affirms however to want to “convince” to cease their actions “very aggressive “.
Mr. Pompeo began this visit, the program of which drew criticism from Ankara, with a meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church, at the seat of the Patriarchate, before a guided tour of the nearby mosque by Rüstem Pasha.
The secretary of state is to discuss “religious issues in Turkey and the region” and affirm the “firm position” of the United States on these subjects, which Mike Pompeo has made his main human rights priority.
“There are certainly things that we can discuss” in terms of religious freedom in Turkey, slipped to journalists an American official, criticizing in hollow the Turkish record.
Turkey sparked a wave of criticism in the Christian world in July by transforming the former Hagia Sophia, a World Heritage Site, into a mosque, revoking its museum status.
A small group of demonstrators, responding to the call of a nationalist association, protested near the patriarchate against the visit of Mr. Pompeo with cries of “Yankee, go home”, according to an AFP photographer on the spot.
Turkish diplomacy has already expressed its anger over Mr. Pompeo’s program by assuring that religious freedom was “protected” in Turkey. “It would be more appropriate for the United States to look at itself in a mirror and to address the racism, Islamophobia and hate crimes in their country,” protested Ankara.
Washington therefore risks opening a new front when the points of friction with the Turkish authorities are already legion.
Especially since the arrival of Mike Pompeo is at the origin of a diplomatic quack.
The Secretary of State wanted to go only to Istanbul, to see the Patriarch, and was only ready to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and / or his counterpart Mevlüt Cavusoglu on condition that they come to him, without having to move to the capital, Ankara. After intense negotiations, a meeting had seemed possible, to finally collapse.
It is difficult to know if the election in the United States of Joe Biden, whom Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated even though he was considered a “friend” of Donald Trump – who refuses to acknowledge his defeat – played a role. role in this imbroglio.
“Very possible” sanctions
The point is that Mike Pompeo will not be able to discuss with the Turkish authorities the many differences he himself enumerated on Monday after a meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“President Macron and I have spent a lot of time discussing Turkey’s recent actions and we have agreed that they are very aggressive,” he told French daily Le Figaro.
He cited Turkey’s “support” for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or “the fact that it had implanted Syrian forces in the region as well”. “We also mentioned its action in Libya, where they also inserted forces from third countries, or its action in the Eastern Mediterranean, and I could continue this list,” continued Mike Pompeo.
According to him, “Europe and the United States must work together to convince Mr. Erdogan that such actions are not in the interest of his people”.
These subjects add to the dispute over Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile system. Its purchase was to trigger sanctions from Washington, according to a US law, but Turkey has received a reprieve from Donald Trump, obviously anxious to maintain its good relationship with President Erdogan – which is the subject of increasingly sharp criticism. in the western camp.
However, the Turkish army has now taken action by testing the S-400. For the United States, this should represent a red line.
“The sanctions are completely considered,” it is a “very real” possibility, the State Department recently warned.
After Turkey, the Secretary of State must continue his tour in Georgia, Jerusalem and then in Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, hostile to Iran. According to the New York Times, Donald Trump polled senior US officials last week on the possibility of hitting an Iranian nuclear site, but they reportedly dissuaded him.