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Published time: 18 Nov, 2017 03:34 Edited time: 18 Nov, 2017 07:36

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Washington of betraying Ankara and providing "a lot of dollars" to the Islamic State terrorists. The allegation comes just days after the US acknowledged that it allowed hundreds of armed ISIS militants to escape the besieged Syrian city of Raqqa.

"That's the headline. But what did you do? You paid a lot of dollars to [ISIS]," Erdogan said, as cited by AFP.

Its not the first time Erdogan has called out Washington for enabling terrorists. Last December, the Turkish president caused quite a stir in the media, claiming that Turkey had confirmed evidence, with pictures, photos and videos, of the US supporting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS, ISIL) and Kurdish militias, outlawed as terrorist in Turkey.

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Erdogan's comments come just days after the BBC revealed on Monday that the US-backed SDF allowed hundreds of ISIS militants to escape Raqqa with the silent approval of their coalition allies that preferred not to intervene. Truck drivers interviewed by the BBC said they were offered thousands of dollars to secretly transport ISIS fighters and tons of weapons and ammunition out of the city. At the time of the exodus, neither SDF, nor the coalition acknowledged their involvement in the deal, reportedly struck by local officials mid-October.

When confronted by the BBC, US-led coalition spokesman Col Ryan Dillon admitted that a Western officer was present as the deal was being arranged, but didnt take an active part in the talks, he told the BBC. While the extent of the US involvement in the deal is up to speculation, Dillon noted that part of the agreement was to allow the coalition to screen the ISIS-aged males and civilians. However, only four foreign fighters were detained by the SDF from some 3,500 people, 300 of which were identified as potential ISIS fighters, Dilon said.

READ MORE:Erdogan slams US for arming terrorists after Washington cancels $1.2mn Turkey weapons deal

Then on Tuesday,Moscow accused US forces of refusing to carry out airstrikes against ISIS convoys retreating from the eastern Syrian city of Abu-Kamal. The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that it twice asked the US-led coalition to strike the convoys with the US side categorically refusing to do so, the ministry said, attaching photos purportedly showing ISIS convoys leaving the city unhindered.

Aside from sparing the ISIS militants, the coalition warplanes have also been hampering the Russian Air Forces operation in support of the Syrian military, the ministry claimed, noting that in accordance with the prior agreement the coalition aircraft should not have been flying in the area.

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This is hardly the first time Moscow has accused Washington of tolerating ISISs presence in Syria. In September, Russias Defense Ministry has released aerial images allegedly proving that US Army special units provide free passage for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) through the battle formations of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists.

The Turkish president also slammed Washington for its ongoing support of Kurdish groups fighting in Syria despite promises that they would be withdrawn from liberated cities.

"It was a big disappointment for us that America has not kept its promises, to a large extent, since the start of the Syrian crisis," said Erdogan, claiming that the previous US administration pledged to not let YPG fighters to take Raqqa, Manbij and Deir ez-Zor.

"We don't want to enter into the same game in Afrin. A problem that we could solve quite easily together as allies is being dragged out by American intransigence," he added, as cited by AFP.

READ MORE:Turkey's Erdogan: 'Confirmed evidence' US-led coalition supports ISIS & other terrorists in Syria

Disagreements over the status and future of Syria's Kurds have strained relations between Ankara and Washington. Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia, which is backed by the US-led coalition, as a terrorist organization.

Washington has stressed that while its aware of Turkeys security concerns, its policy of arming the Kurds is necessary to ensure a clear victory in Raqqa.

Ankara claims that the US-backed YPG is not fighting ISIS in Raqqa but instead aiming to capture the city and engaged in regional cooperation with the so-called caliphate.

More recently, Erdogan has warned that the Turkish military may intervene to close the "terrorist corridor" in Syria's Afrin region, which borders Turkey and is currently controlled by Kurdish groups.

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U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday, comments that came amid international condemnation of Erdogans crackdown on political dissent and just months after Turkish security officials beat up protesters during a visit to the U.S.

Trump said it was a great honor to host Erdogan Thursday for a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He said that the Turkish president "is becoming a friend of mine" and that he is running a very difficult part of the world.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets with Donald Trump on Sept. 21.

Photogrpaher: Kayhan Ozer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"Frankly hes getting very high marks, Trump said, sparing Erdogan any public admonition over international concerns about election violations and human-rights abuses. "Hes also been working with the United States, Trump said. "We have a great friendship and the countries -- I think were right now as close as weve ever been. Trump added that "a lot of that has to do with a personal relationship."

After a failed coup last year, Erdogan gained sweeping powersin April after a close referendum that critics alleged was fraudulent. A Council of Europe agency has put Turkey on its watchlist, saying crackdowns on opponents have compromised human rights and the rule of law. Erdogan also has detained or fired thousands of people under suspicion they were part of the coup attempt.

Turkeys army has been fighting Islamic State jihadists and Kurdish militants in northern Syria. Erdogan, speaking this week at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York, said Turkey is prepared to send more troops into Syria. Still, Erdogans government increasingly has been working with Russia and Iran on stabilization efforts that may bolster President Bashar al-Assad.

With assistance by John Micklethwait, Selcan Hacaoglu, Firat Kozok, and Onur Ant

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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a Turkish-American meeting in New York, Thursday. Protesters disrupted his speech before being ejected from the hall. AP hide caption

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses a Turkish-American meeting in New York, Thursday. Protesters disrupted his speech before being ejected from the hall.

Protesters were forcibly ejected from a speech by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in New York City on Thursday, in the latest U.S. confrontation involving protests against Turkey's leader.

Erdogan was speaking to an audience at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Times Square when, as the AP reports, someone shouted "Terrorist!"

As shouting continued and security personnel grappled with protesters, Erdogan paused onstage before blaming the interruption on "a few impertinent hall terrorists."

The protesters were eventually forced out of the event but not before being roughed up.

The violence was captured on video by people who were at the event as well as news agencies that were covering Erdogan's speech. Footage posted by Voice of America's Turkish agency shows groups of men in suits forcing people out of the hall and in at least two cases, protesters were hit in the head while being held.

The AP reports:

"It was unclear whether the men in suits who ejected the demonstrator from the hall were U.S. Secret Service agents, private security guards hired for the event or members of Erdogan's security detail. But it did not appear that Turkish security officials were involved, the U.S. Department of State said."

The video also shows that members of the audience took swipes at the protesters as they were being taken out, striking out at them with their hands and with small Turkish flags that were supported by plastic rods.

Erdogan has been in New York to attend this week's session of the U.N. General Assembly. He was speaking Thursday at an event held by the Turkish American National Steering Committee.

"My dear friends, I have a request to you," Erdogan said as he sought to focus attention back onto the stage. "Let's not give this beautiful gathering to a few impertinent hall terrorists."

When Erdogan visited Washington, D.C., in May, protesters gathered at the ambassador's residence, and the situation devolved into an altercation with the Turkish leader's bodyguards who were seen on video pushing past D.C. police to attack protesters, nine of whom were left injured.

In June, Washington's Metropolitan Police issued 18 arrest warrants over the incident. The list of suspects included 12 Turkish security officials.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that "fight against terrorism should not be lead with another terror organization." | Getty

President Donald Trump's first face-to-face meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan since taking office will take place next Tuesday at the White House, the administration announced Wednesday.

"The two leaders will discuss how to further strengthen our bilateral relationship and deepen our cooperation to confront terrorism in all its forms," the White House office of the press secretary said in a statement, officially announcing the May 16 gathering.

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The news comes a day after Trump gave the Pentagon authorization to arm Kurdish militias in Syria as part of a renewed push to drive the Islamic State out of the pivotal city of Raqqa, despite the strong opposition of Erdogan and the Turkish government. The Turkish leader called on the White House to reverse its decision ahead of their planned meeting next week, according to the Associated Press.

The Kurdish fighters have faced opposition from Turkey in part due to their alignment with the Peoples Protection Units, which Turkey considers an extension of the Kurdish Workers Party, labeled a terrorist group by the NATO ally.

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Erdogan, speaking at a joint press conference with the president of Sierra Leone, said that "fight against terrorism should not be lead with another terror organization."

"We want to know that our allies will side with us, and not with terror organizations," Erdogan added.

In a statement Tuesday a Trump administration spokesman called the Turkish militias and the U.S. coalition forces "the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future.

President Trump in the past has praised the Turkish leader, congratulating him on his controversial April victory in a Turkish election referendum marred by claims of voting irregularities. That triumph bestowed Erdogan with sweeping new executive powers, alarming those who fear he's leading Turkey toward a dictatorship.

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The diplomatic spat between the U.S. and Turkey is a symptom of a much broader phenomenon: Authoritarian rulers everywhere not only thumb their noses at the U.S, but they see no reason not to.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hasn't been a reliable U.S. ally since before the failed 2016 coup attempt, which he blames on the U.S.-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen. In a recentessayabout the U.S. war against Islamic State, former Defense Secretary Ash Carterwrote thatTurkey"caused the most complications for the campaign" startingwell before the coup.

The two countries' key interests diverged wider than ever, given U.S. support for Kurds in Iraq and Syria, whom Turks -- not just Erdogan -- traditionally consider a major threat. Since the U.S. has refused to hand over Gulen, the rift became both geopolitical and increasingly personal, regardless of President Trump's early overtures to Erdogan and even his reaffirmation of friendship at the recent United Nations gathering.That the U.S. has now suspended non-immigrant visas for Turks in response to the arrests of some dual citizens is just a tangible manifestation of the growingdivide.

Turkey's angry tit-for-tat response shows Erdogan doesn't attach too much value to smoothing relations with the U.S.In 2016, Americansaccountedfor 460,000 of Turkey's 25.3 million foreign visitors, so if they stop coming at all, it won't be a major blow to Turkey's important tourist industry, which is more dependent on Europeans and Russians. The U.S. is a relatively important trade partner, having absorbed$8.1 billionin Turkish exports last year, but the exports are so diversifiedthat Erdogan may feel Turkish business can absorb a dent in trade. And with the world'seighth strongestmilitary, Turkey may feel less in need of NATO's protections these days given all the constraints that imposed in return.

Turkey will have also looked around and learned a few things from Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian leaders. With its annexation of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin showed there is more room for misbehaving than many thought. A prolonged spat with the U.S. might bring something of an asset sell-off, a stock-market drop and higher political risks factored into borrowing costs. Russia has weathered it; its 10-year bond yields 7.5 percent now; it never went much lower. Turkey has less of a cushion in the form of foreign reserves and a negative trade balance, but Erdogan is unlikely to be too worried about the recent jump in his country's government bond yields, driven by the tension with the U.S.

Xi Jinping's tightening control of every aspect of Chinese life and his independent geopolitical line, most recently manifested in the North Korean controversy, has gone unchallenged by Western leaders. Erdogan will also have watched Narendra Modi's illiberal shift in Indiameet with no tangible resistance in the West.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Polish ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski have clearly asked themselves whether there is any advantage to be gained by cozying up to the West. The answer they have all arrived at is, not much -- or, at any rate, less than they gain in domestic political dividends by showing off pride and independence.

Neither the U.S. nor Western Europe has the raw power to bring rogue leaders into line. But that doesn't mean there is no constructive response. The easier path is to pull up the drawbridge, but writing off the global liberal project as a failure isn't necessarily a good idea. The temptation to equate countries with their leaders is particularly strange in the U.S., where most of the policy establishment is busy distancing itself from the country's leader. It's useful to remember that two can play that game. In a recent Financial Timescolumnabout Xi's dictatorial tendencies, Jamil Anderlini wrote:

The rejection of western political systems has been made easier recently by what the Chinese see as the ludicrous buffoonery of Donald Trump and, to a lesser extent, the self-inflicted damage of Brexit and EU infighting. As a top foreign policy adviser recently told one of my colleagues: "Trump never talks about democracy or American leadership or liberty we should not be so stupid to worship things that in the western world are now in doubt."

Defending Western values requires making democracy and fair economic competition attractive propositions for Turks, Russians, Chinese and Indians. Cutting off travel opportunities for them -- as the U.S. has done with Russians and Turks this year -- achieves the opposite result. It makes them feel unwelcome, destroys their interest in how the Western world works on a day-to-day level, and feeds support for anti-Western leaders. That interest was what drove the Russian, Chinese and Turkish liberalization in the 1990s. Removing the travel barriers would be a huge step toward rekindling it. Investing in education opportunities for people in these countries, such as more university scholarships, would do even more.

There should also be clearer economic benefits to political liberalization. In Russia in the 1990s, that picture included Western investment into economic modernization, but the opening that ordinary people hoped for never happened and trade barriers remained. Turkey benefited from its increased openness to the West -- but not enough for Turks to fear the reversal of these gains. Eastern European countries were effectivelycolonized when they joined the European Union, a price they're less and less willing to pay for the middling level of prosperity they enjoy. The openness of Western markets to private entrepreneurs from currently authoritarian nations -- not to their state sectors or corrupt bureaucrats masquerading as entrepreneurs -- would go a long way toward building an incentive for these nations to liberalize.

Soft power and leadership by example should get more consideration from the West these days. The knee-jerk U.S. reaction to the ripening of dictatorial regimes is a flex of military muscle and other displays of hard power. That's not what ended the Cold War: Western soft power was a big part of what destroyed the Communist experiment from within, which is why Westerners were so surprised by their victory. Now with Turkey, as then, the stick won't be any use in the absence of a carrot.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.net

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