Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu wrote on Wednesday in an opinion piece for the Washington Post about strained Turkey-US relations, calling for solidarity, cohesion and trust among the two allies in the fight against terrorism.

Çavuşoğlu stated that Turkey was experiencing a hard time due to terrorism, violent extremism and mass illegal migration, criticizing the United States’ lack of support during this period.

The Foreign Minister said that to confront these challenges, which all had the potential to destabilize the transatlantic community, allies and partners of Turkey should show solidarity, cohesion and trust.

Çavuşoğlu expressed that the U.S. blaming Turkey for ‘anti-Americanism’ was actually the fault of the United States ignoring Turkey’s intense internal and external pressures.

While Turkey was fighting the terrorist organizations such as Daesh and YPG/PYD in Syria, the U.S. continued to work with PKK-linked groups YPG/PYD, which took many lives in terrorist attacks inside Turkey, he stated.

Çavuşoğlu criticized the U.S. stance on the Gülenist terror cult (FETÖ) after the failed coup attempt of July 15. The U.S. was late to condemn the attempt and show solidarity, and did not support the extradition of the mastermind of the coup attempt and terror cult leader Fetullah Gülen, who was still living and running his billion-dollar terrorist network in Pennsylvania.

Under these circumstances, Turkish citizens would naturally question bilateral relations with the U.S., he added.

Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu also gave Turkish-Russian relations as an example, mentioning the successful established cease-fire deal for Syria.

He reminded that Turkey and the United States, two crucial NATO allies, had overcome many threats to the two countries collective security and defense in the past, and encouraged the U.S. to work on the strained relationship for a more stable future.

Source: dailysabah.com