[Salon] 'US ambassador needs to know his place’: Turkish president. ( 4/3/23.)

https://thecradle.co/article-view/23220/us-ambassador-needs-to-know-his-place-turkish-president

‘US ambassador needs to know his place’: Turkish president

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on 2 April said that upcoming elections should be a “lesson” to the US and that from now on, his “doors are closed” to US ambassador Jeffry Flake, who last week met with Erdogan’s main electoral rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

“Our doors are closed for him; he can no longer come in. Why? He needs to know his place,” Erdogan said during a meeting with a group of officials from the far-right Grey Wolves movement. “Shame on you, think with your head. You are an ambassador. Your interlocutor here is the president.”

Flake met with Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), on 29 March “as part of continuing conversations with Turkish political parties on issues of mutual interest between our two countries,” according to a tweet from the US Embassy.

Last month, Ankara summoned Flake over the visit of US Joint Chiefs of staff Mark Milley to northeast Syria. This happened weeks after Turkish interior minister Suleyman Soylu slammed the US envoy after Washington “warned” Ankara about exporting chemicals, microchips, and other products to Russia.

“Take your dirty hands off of Turkiye. I’m being very clear. I very well know how you would like to create strife in Turkiye. Take your grinning face off from Turkiye,” Soylu said then.

Presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkiye are scheduled for 14 May. Kilicdaroglu was nominated as the presidential candidate by an alliance of the country’s six opposition parties.

Erdogan and his ruling AK Party are expected to face an uphill battle for reelection following the devastating earthquake that killed over 50,000 people in the country in early February.

According to the most recent opinion polls – released on 27 March – Kilicdaroglu is ahead of Erdogan in voter intention by 2.5 percentage points. These figures show Erdogan has been able to close the gap from earlier in the month when he was lagging by more than 10 percentage points.

Four different polling agencies suggest a possible seat change at the presidential palace in Ankara, with Kilicdaroglu leading the race with more than 50 percent of voters’ support. In contrast, support for Erdogan stands at 44 percent on average.