Diplomatist Magazine DIplomatist September 2018 | Page 22

GLOBAL CENTRE STAGE
won’t make any concession towards Ankara unless it agrees to
release detained Brunson instantly, otherwise, the even recent
infl ux of cash from Qatar will not save Ankara’s economy.
Moreover, the US officials have also said that further
negotiations over the contentious issue of Turkish Halkbank,
which allegedly helped Iran to evade US sanctions – will have
to wait until Brunson is released. The US treasury department
has subpoenaed the bank and received material from them.
But at this point, the US offi cials seem to be unsatisfi ed with
the material that Halkbank has provided and have warned
Turkey that it could turn into a criminal proceeding. This
could result in additional crippling sanctions on Turkish
fi nancial sectors and may further fuel the destabilization
of lira, hurting the infl ow of foreign capital, infl ation could
accelerate, and the country could face a potential current-
account fi nancing crisis.
On the other side, Ankara claims that the bank did not do
anything wrong and is reluctant to let go of Brunson as they
consider him to be the bargaining chip to convince the US to
extradite Fethullah Gulen and Turkish banker, Mehmet Hakan
smooth transactions. And also this measure has the potential
to completely shatter the hope and attempt to improve bilateral
trade between US-Turkey. However, it is noteworthy that the
“anti-dollar league” like Iran, China, Russia and now Turkey,
are fi guring their way out of US sanctions and the idea of
shifting the dollar is out there, perhaps given a bit of boost by
Trump’s habit of alienating US allies. Russia, in particular, is
thrilled by this idea, understandably since US sanctions have
hurt the ruble as well.
Defence Cooperation
Though US-Turkey diplomatic and economic ties have
been gravely harmed over Brunson case, their military
cooperation remains intact so far. The US-Turkey troops are
still adhering to the roadmap signed to coordinate and conduct
joint but separate patrols in Manbij. In fact, it was the US
that tipped Ankara off about the whereabouts of PKK leader
Zaki Shingali who was killed during a Turkish airstrike on 15
August in Shingal province. Additionally, when asked about
the US position on the membership of Turkey in NATO, the US
Trump needs Erdogan’s mi