Turkey.. "Suspicious" affinity from America's enemies

   

 By Simon Kira              August 6, 2019

As part of its conflicting policies, Nato member Turkey is seeking to strengthen its ties with anti-American countries that president Donald Trump's administration sees as a "triangle of tyranny."

Turkey has become an actor in Latin America, dealing with authoritarian regimes in the region such as Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, countries of concern to the United States, Ankara's NATO ally, which the Trump administration calls the "triangle of tyranny."

Ankara's dealings with those countries came at a time when the Trump administration intends to revive the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, a U.S. policy that discourages international intervention in Latin America by any other countries and is widely regarded in the region as a justification for U.S. armed intervention.

While these authoritarian regimes welcome Turkey's presence and influence, the United States has difficulty understanding why a NATO ally is getting closer to countries hostile to Washington.

One of the factors underlying this is Turkey's growing relationship with Russia, and Russia's growing influence on Turkish decision-makers, after decades of limited friendly relations, Turkey has decided to develop its relations with Moscow's key strategic allies in Latin America, according to A special report on the Turkish site "Ahval News".

The other factor is Turkey's desire to assert its independence from U.S. influence, at a time when the Turkish government and the United States have been at odds over a range of issues, most notably Ankara's purchase of the Russian defense system ,S400, and U.S. support for Kurdish forces in Syria.

Accordingly, the Turkish government has plunged itself into Venezuela's political crisis, in which President Nicolas Maduro has been locked in a bitter power struggle with the opposition since January.

The United States supports Venezuela's self-proclaimed opposition leader, Juan Guaydo, against Maduro, who is backed by Russia, Iran and his Latin American allies.

Although Turkey has never had strong ties with Venezuela, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become a strong supporter of Maduro, with the U.S. Treasury Department saying last year Venezuela began sending gold to Turkey to launder revenues and use it to import Turkish food to Venezuela, enriching a "vast corruption network" enables Maduro and his regime to profit from food imports and distribution.

In recent days, the U.S. Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on a Venezuelan company based in Turkey for what it says are "transactions involving fraudulent or corrupt practices."

Turkey's interest in developing relations with anti-U.S. Governments is not limited to Venezuela, and recently Ankara hosted Bolivian President Evo Morales and the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also visited Cuba in May, where he denounced U.S. sanctions against Cuba and pledged to develop bilateral relations.