Erdogan "expected to meet Trump" despite Armenian Genocide vote

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signalled lately that he had second thoughts about his planned visit to the United States after the U.S. legislative adopted moves against Ankara, but analysts think the president would meet with his U.S. counterpart hoping a tete-a-tete could help settle thorny issues, Xinhua reports.

Erdogan is slated to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Nov. 13, and he would stick to his schedule despite Trump's "insulting" letter and the recent sanctions sought by the House of Representatives against Turkey, observed Cahit Armagan Dilek, director of the Ankara-based 21st Century Turkey Institute.

On Oct. 29, the anniversary of the day the Turkish Republic was founded in 1923, the House of Representatives passed two resolutions highly offending for Ankara.

The House overwhelmingly demanded sanctions on some Turkish government and military officials, including Erdogan, over their responsibility in the cross-border operation against the Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units (YPG).

The second resolution, also passed overwhelmingly by the House, officially recognizes the Armenian Genocide.

"Because Erdogan manages Ankara's ties with Washington by a backstage mechanism between him and Trump rather than through the institutional mechanism," Dilek said.

The ties between the two NATO allies, already troubled over the past years, have been further strained following Ankara's recent military offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria.

"I have not yet made up my mind, but there is a question mark," Erdogan told reporters on Oct. 30 regarding his planned trip to Washington D.C..

Back on Oct. 24, Erdogan said he had accepted Trump's invitation to meet on Nov. 13 and that he hoped the meeting would take place in a friendly atmosphere as before.

Ankara criticized the resolutions, saying they were null and void and in violation of the spirit of alliance between the two countries.

"Erdogan may well go to meet with Trump, because he has the habit of resolving problems with Trump based on personal ties," Ilhan Uzgel, an analyst on international relations, told Xinhua.

"Erdogan trusts only Trump in the U.S.," remarked Dilek.