Over the past weeks those watching the Eastern Mediterranean can’t help but notice that tensions are heating up between Turkey and Israel as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s escalatory posture has some wondering what the wider risks are should this current war of words take on new dimensions. Questions range from what this will mean for US efforts to manage an already tense Middle East, to how this will impact Greece, which has developed close ties with Israel over the past decade and a half?
Deciding that he needed to chime in, we heard some headscratching remarks from US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, where he dismissed these tensions as “rhetoric”, and added that “Turkey is not a country to be messed with.” These comments drew the criticism of many, including The Wall Street Journal, which accused Ambassador Barrack of undermining US policy and interests.
Sinan Ciddi, Henri Barkey, and Vassilis Nedos join Thanos Davelis as we look into this escalating war of words in the Eastern Mediterranean between Turkey and Israel, break down how US Ambassador Tom Barrack is effectively pursuing his own Middle East policy that’s undermining US interests, and discuss the wider impact of these developments for Greece.
This week we’re also putting the spotlight on a founding member of HALC, Bill Matsikoudis, in our latest “I am HALC” segment. A successful attorney and founding partner of Matsikoudis & Fanciullo, Bill’s career has also seen him work in the Administration of New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, for Jersey City where he made headlines suing Fortune 500 companies guilty of polluting, and on Governor Mikie Sherrill’s transition team for housing.
A little more info on our guests:
Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and director of its Turkey program.
Barkey is an adjunct senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and Emeritus Cohen chair in international relations at Lehigh University.
Nedos is Kathimerini’s diplomatic and defense editor.