Turkey trims its sails

The wave of "recalibration" or "re-adjustment" currently sweeping the Middle East has by no means passed Turkey by but rather Ankara has recently taken a starring role in all this reconciliation. A stark demonstration of realpolitik has indeed now been underway since Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lost his close connection to the White House, with the exit of former US Pres Donald Trump. Since then, Erdogan has had to deal with the much more hostile President Joe Biden, reinforced by Biden's April 24 recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide. Turkey still denies that this took place--although Erdogan has acknowledged that "atrocities" were carried out. When Biden became the first US president in history to describe those horrors as a "genocide," it underscored for Ankara how few friends it currently has and its need to make nice with old adversaries.