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Although there is no mention of the Armenian-Turkish negotiations, that could also be impacted because they were initiated upon the demand of President Joe Biden. When we see the toughening of Turkeys bargaining position, we will know where Ankara is coming from.

When asked on May 18 how he would convince President Erdogan to drop his objection against Finland and Sweden joining NATO, President Biden answered, Im not going to Turkey, but I think were going to be OK.

But it looks like everything will not be okay, because among other thing, Erdogan savors public attention and wants to be treated by all US officials like he was treated in the Trump era. Erdogan has even complained to reporters that he and President Biden dont have the kind of relationship he had with Presidents Trump and Obama. Of course, there are some meetings from time to time, but they should have been more advanced, he said.

Erdogan would like to get away with murder, in view of the Wests economic sanctions against Russia. Indeed, Turkeys business community is hard at work at this time negotiating trade deals with their Russian counterparts to replace Western companies, which have severed their relations with Russia.

Erdogans macho stand against the West will garner the most dividends on the domestic front. He needed this confrontation to boost his sagging popularity at home in time for the 2023 elections, where his prospects of winning are dimming in light of the runaway inflation.

Mr. Erdogan fails to see the negative, bullying image that he is projecting to the West. Even if he is cognizant of that less-than-complimentary image, he seems not to care.

In an opinion piece written by Joseph Lieberman, the former US Senator from Connecticut, he argues that Mr. Erdogans Turkey would flunk the alliances standards for democratic governance sought in prospective new member states. The essay, which was published in the Wall Street Journal, warned that Ankaras policies, including coziness with Putin, had undermined NATOs interests and the alliance should explore ways of ejecting Turkey.

Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in 2019, after Turkeys incursion into Syria, Turkey under Erdogan should not and cannot be seen as an ally.

Despite those characterizations, Ankara has been selling a bill of goods to the Europeans, extending its repressive rule to that continent.

During Erdogans rule, Turkey has carried out political activities in Germany and the Netherlands, trying to politicize and mobilize Turkish minorities living in those two countries, over the objections of the respective governments of those countries. It had extended the bloody hands of the deep state and the dreaded secret service, MIT, to commit high-profile political assassinations of female Kurdish leaders in Paris in 2013.

Despite such criminal conduct being launched by Turkey in Europe, Mr. Erdogan has issued this admonishment: Let me underscore it once again hereby. Those who back and provide every kind of support to terrorist organizations that pose a threat to Turkey should first of all abandon their unlawful, insincere and arrogant attitude towards us. May no one have any doubts whatsoever that we as Turkey will do our part once we see concrete practices indicating such a change.

Turkey itself is a terrorist state and because of political expediency, has convinced European Union countries to place the PKK on their list of terrorists. Twenty-five percent of Turkeys population consists of Kurds who have been denied their basic human rights; they have been systematically slaughtered by successive Turkish administrations. Article 64 of the Sevres Treaty (August 10, 1920) promised a homeland to the Kurds within the current territory of Turkey; that pledge has not been fulfilled yet. The Kurds have been subjected to mass murder from the Ataturk era to Erdogans administration. The most atrocious mass murders took place in the 1930s in Dersim.

Erdogan himself duped the Kurdish minority by feigning to hold negotiations to observe their human rights and as soon as he was elected with the support of Kurdish voters, he suspended the negotiations and resorted back to the persecution of the Kurdish minority. He even stripped the parliamentary immunity of members including Selahattin Demirtas and Figen Yuksekdag and jailed them. And today, with a straight face, he is accusing Europeans of harboring Kurdish terrorists.

With heavy-handed tactics, Erdogan has intimidated political leaders both in Europe and Russia and has been able to push his expansionist policies.

While Erdogan is playing hardball with the major powers, hopefully he wont focus on Armenia, which is not in the same league as the latter.

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Erdogan the Bully - The Armenian Mirror-Spectator

ISTANBUL, May 31 (Reuters) - Turkish police clashed with protesters around Istanbul's main Taksim Square on Tuesday and 170 people were detained as they gathered to mark the anniversary of nationwide anti-government demonstrations that began nine years ago in nearby Gezi Park.

The 2013 demonstrations were the biggest popular challenge to then-Premier Tayyip Erdogan's rule. Erdogan, who is now president, has equated the protesters with Kurdish militants and those accused of orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.

A Turkish court sentenced eight people to jail last month, including philanthropist Osman Kavala, finding them guilty of organising and financing the so-called Gezi protests. read more

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They denied the charges, saying anti-government demonstrations erupted spontaneously nationwide and were protected by constitutional rights.

Some 1,000 people gathered on streets near Taksim Square on Tuesday evening, carrying pictures of those who were sentenced to jail.

They also held up pictures of those who died when police intervened in 2013, as well as a banner reading, "The darknes will go away, Gezi will remain."

The crowds were blocked by riot police carrying shields when they attempted to walk to Taksim Square and the main Istiklal Avenue. They also used tear gas to disperse the groups.

"Erdogan is going to go. There is no other way," the protesters chanted.

Earlier, smaller groups of people clashed with police in other areas near Taksim as they attempted to walk to the square.

Social media posts showed people hiding in a building after being affected by the tear gas and police standing outside the shuttered doors.

Istanbul governor's office said 170 people were detained on Tuesday. It said the protests were unauthorised and the Beyoglu area was not designated by law as a place where demonstrations and marches can take place.

Earlier in the day, members of parliament from the Workers' Party of Turkey (TIP) hung a giant banner from one of the bridges spanning the Bosphorus.

After a scuffle, police took down the banner that read "Everywhere is Taksim, everywhere is resistance" - a popular slogan during the 2013 protests.

Ankara's Western allies, rights groups and Europe's top human rights court say last month's court decision and jailings were politically motivated and meant to intimidate Erdogan's opponents.

Critics say the verdict was aimed at criminalising Gezi and creating the perception that protesters were funded by foreign powers.

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Reporting by Umit Bektas; Writing by Ali Kucukgocmen; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Gregorio

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Turks clash with police on anniversary of anti-Erdogan 'Gezi' protests - Reuters

[Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool]

The Turkish opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP) has expressed its agreement with the recent government escalation vis--vis Greece and indicated that it would support President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if he decided to go through with a threat to challenge the sovereignty of Greek islands in the eastern Aegean.

If you have the heart for it, take the step on the occupied and armed islands. We will support you, CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu was quoted by Turkish media as saying in response to one of a series of questions posed to him by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the Grand National Assembly on Wednesday.

It is imperative that we increase the pressure in the Mediterranean and the Aegean, he said.

These things arent handled by sending out a ship, then pulling I back and saying: I wish Biden would call me, he added, in reference to US President Joe Biden.

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Turkish opposition backs Erdogan over Greek island claims - Kathimerini English Edition

ISTANBUL (AP) Turkeys president told journalists that Ankara remains committed to rooting out a Syrian Kurdish militia from northern Syria.

Like I always say, well come down on them suddenly one night. And we must, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on his plane following his Saturday visit to Azerbaijan, according to daily Hurriyet newspaper and other media.

Without giving a specific timeline, Erdogan said that Turkey would launch a cross-border operation against the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, which it considers a terrorist group linked to an outlawed Kurdish group that has led an insurgency against Turkey since 1984. That conflict with the Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, has killed tens of thousands of people.

However, the YPG forms the backbone of U.S.-led forces in the fight against the Islamic State group. American support for the group has infuriated Ankara and remains a major issue in their relations.

Turkey considers the PKK and the YPG to be one and the same. The YPG and its affiliated political party have controlled much of northeastern Syria after the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad withdrew in 2012.

All coalition forces, leading with the U.S., have provided these terror groups a serious amount of weapons, vehicles, tools, ammunition and they continue to do so. The U.S. has given them thousands of trucks, Erdogan said.

He warned that Turkey wouldnt need anyones permission to fight terror.

If the U.S. is not fulfilling its duty in combating terror, what will we do? We will take care of ourselves, he declared.

While acknowledging Turkeys security concerns, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price has voiced concerns about Turkeys plans, saying a new offensive could undermine regional stability and put American forces at risk.

Ankara has launched four cross-border operations into Syria since 2016 and controls some territories in the north with the goal of pushing away the YPG and establishing a 30-kilometer (19-mile) deep safe zone where Erdogan hopes to voluntarily return Syrian refugees.

In 2019, an incursion into northeast Syria against the YPG drew widespread international condemnation, prompting Finland, Sweden and others to restrict arms sales to Turkey. Now Turkey is blocking the two Nordic countries historic bid to join NATO because of the weapons ban and their alleged support for the Kurdish groups.

Turkey has stepped up military operations against the PKK in northern Iraq, where they are based. The PKK is considered a terror group by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.

Just as we are conducting operations in northern Iraq against the PKK and PKKs offspring, the same situation applies even more to Syria and is much more important, Erdogan said.

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Erdogan: Turkey's Syria operation could happen 'suddenly' - The Associated Press

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a ceremony at the Golcuk Naval Shipyard in Izmit, Turkey May 23, 2022. Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS

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ISTANBUL, May 29 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said talks with Finland and Sweden about their joining NATO were not at the "expected level" and Ankara cannot say yes to "terrorism-supporting" countries, state broadcaster TRT Haber reported on Sunday.

Turkey has objected to Sweden and Finland joining the Western defence alliance, holding up a deal that would allow for a historic enlargement following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Erdogan's latest comments indicated his opposition continued.

"For as long as Tayyip Erdogan is the head of the Republic of Turkey, we definitely cannot say 'yes' to countries which support terrorism entering NATO," he was cited as telling reporters on his return from a trip to Azerbaijan on Saturday.

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Two sources previously told Reuters that Wednesday's talks with Finnish and Swedish delegations made little headway and it was unclear when further discussions would take place. All 30 NATO members must approve plans to enlarge NATO.

Turkey challenged the bids from Sweden and Finland on the grounds that the countries harbour people linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and others it deems terrorists, and because they halted arms exports to Ankara in 2019. read more

"They are not honest or sincere. We cannot repeat the mistake made in the past regarding countries that embrace and feed such terrorists in NATO, which is a security organisation," he said.

Sweden and Finland have said they condemn terrorism and welcomed the possibility of coordinating with Ankara.

"Diplomatic efforts are ongoing. We decline to comment further at this moment," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said in an emailed comment to Reuters following Erdogan's latest statement.

Erdogan also said Turkey wanted to see an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible, but that the situation was becoming more negative each day.

"On Monday, I will have phone calls with both Russia and Ukraine. We will continue to encourage the parties to operate channels of dialogue and diplomacy," he said.

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Additional reporting by Simon Johnson in StockholmEditing by Mark Potter and Nick Macfie

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Erdogan says he won't let 'terrorism-supporting' countries enter NATO - Reuters