Near East Institute Director Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Çıraklı: "Biden will maintain a foreign policy in cooperation with the international community ..."

Near East Institute Deputy Director Dr. Erdi Şafak: "Biden, will be forced to review his approach on Turkey and Cyprus during his Presidential Term"

The reflections of the presidential elections held in the United States of America (USA) on 3 November on global politics were discussed in the second session of the "Global Agenda" panels held by the Near East Institute.

In the panel held online under the title of "US Presidential Elections", the possible policies that Joe Biden, who was elected as the 46th president of the USA according to unofficial results, could follow in foreign policy were discussed.

Namık Tan, the retired US Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey and Altınbaş University Vice-Chancellor and International Relations Specialist Prof. Dr. Ahmet Kasım Han also attended the panel as speakers.

Near East University Institute Director and Lecturer Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Çıraklı commented on the possible results of the presidential elections in his presentation titled "US Foreign Policy and the Middle East in the Biden Era" and "US Presidential Elections and Turkish-American Relations".

Biden and his team to take office on January 20...
Democratic candidate Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States, according to unofficial results, with more than 78 million votes, in the 3 November 2020 elections, which reached the highest voting rate (67 percent) in the last hundred and twenty years in the USA. Joe Biden and his aide, Kamala Harris, are expected to take an oath and officially take office at the handover ceremony on January 20, 2021. During the Barack Obama administration, Joe Biden visited Cyprus with a large delegation of 400 people in 2014 as the US Vice President and met with the leaders of the period, Derviş Eroğlu and Nicos Anastasiades.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Çıraklı: "Biden and his team signals that they will follow a foreign policy within the framework of cooperation with the international community..."

Near East Institute Director Assist. Prof. Dr. Çıraklı stated that the new president of the USA, Joe Biden, has given the signals that he will follow a foreign policy within the framework of cooperation with the international community.

Mustafa Çıraklı said, “At the top of the foreign policy agenda of Biden and his team, it is to take a new step regarding the institutions, alliances and agreements that Donald Trump has made progress in the last four years. Biden will try to return to the Paris climate agreement, keep the country in the World Health Organization, revive the Iran nuclear agreement, improve relations with NATO and balance China's rising influence.”
Assist Prof. Dr. Çıraklı, who stated that on the other hand, the USA is under the grip of the economic problems that have arisen with the pandemic process. Çıraklı said that it would be difficult for Biden to keep its promises regarding foreign policy. Çıraklı added that within the framework of "global competition", the US policy towards Iran and China during the Biden period will be decisive at this point.

Steps to be taken towards Iran and China are of great importance
Stating that Biden wants to prioritize the strengthening of international partnerships unlike Trump, Assist. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Çıraklı stated that, within this framework, Biden has plans to re-include the USA in the nuclear agreement signed with Iran in 2015.
Çıraklı said: "However, we need to see the existence of some issues that will make it difficult for Biden in this regard. Although Iran wants the economic damage caused by the sanctions to be compensated, other actors have serious doubts that Tehran will comply with the agreement. On the other hand, we know that along with the Republicans in the US, influential actors such as Israel, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia take a tougher attitude towards Iran and want a stricter agreement to replace the current agreement. These balances will also be decisive in the steps Biden will take."

China-US relations will make a mark on US Foreign Policy...
Continuing his words, Mustafa Çıraklı stated that China-US relations, which have been in a tense situation regarding the issues such as Taiwan, the South China Sea, Hong Kong, the new type of coronavirus pandemic, and customs tariff wars, will also mark the US foreign policy of the Biden era.
Çıraklı said, “The threat perception Trump uses in relations with China and the developments regarding Huawei show that this approach has made a significant premium inside. In this context, Biden will be able to return to the implicit "containment strategy" followed in the Obama era. Biden will probably come up with a much more diplomatic approach to China than Trump. However, we can say that it will react with a harsh tone to the developments that may cause problems in the framework of the US national security strategy and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular, and it will put into use different allies, instruments and rhetoric.

Dr. Erdi Şafak: "Biden may change his attitude on the S-400 Missile Defense System."
Near East Institute Deputy Director Dr. Erdi Şafak has made comments on the possible policies to be followed by Biden and the United States in the Mediterranean and eastern Turkey. According to Şafak, in conjunction with Biden win the US elections - Turkey will expect significant challenges regarding their relations in the new process. Şafak said that Joe Biden in an interview with the New York Times during the election campaign defined President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an 'autocrat' and harshly criticized by the government and the opposition in Turkey. Underlining that Biden's statements are not only contrary to the principle of 'non-interference in internal affairs', which is one of the basic principles of international law, but also harm diplomatic relations, Şafak predicted in his statement that, contrary to Biden's post-election discourse, Biden will take into account both its geographical location and its position in NATO and follow a more sensitive approach in terms of the relations with Turkey.

Dr. Erdi Şafak thinks that the most important policy change in Biden and his team will be with the S-400. Dr. Şafak on the issue said, "Trump did not approve the sanctions taken by Congress against Turkey's step regarding S-400 missile defense system last year.

Dr. Erdi Şafak: "Biden will be forced to review his approach on Turkey and Cyprus during his Presidential term"
Dr. Şafak reminded that Biden during his years in the US Senate sharply critized Turkey's Cyprus policy, even recalling the continued calls to Turkey to withdraw from Cyprus. Dr. Şafak, "Biden, during his duty at the Senate Foreign Relations Commission has alleged Turkey responsible for preventing to find a solution to the Cyprus problem and as the Chairman of the Commission, vetoed the release of the $ 5 billion aid package directed to Turkey in 1999.

However, according to Şafak, Biden's presidential period will be forced to revise its approach on Cyprus and Turkey. Dr. Erdi Şafak said, "With Biden's takeover, his attitude towards foreign policy will require the common attitude of not only himself but all institutions of the USA. In other words, in the new process, Biden will have to determine on policies in which other actors and balances such as the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense are also taken into consideration. Considering all these, it is expected that sensitive balances will be seen in the context of the Cyprus problem and Biden will take a stand in favor of a common reconciliation”.

Third Panel is on December 22 ...
The third session of the "Global Agenda" panels to be held by the Near East Institute during the 2020-2021 Academic Year will be held on Tuesday, December 22 at 18:00. The panel on "Geopolitical and Geostrategic Importance of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Light of Current Developments" can be watched on the Near East University Youtube channel and the Near East Institute Facebook page.