Recep Tayyip Erdogan was unhappy on Wednesday.
Flying home from a Black Sea resort meeting with Vladimir Putin, the Turkish president again lamented his suspension from the F-35 fighter jet alliance, which has allowed many U.S. allies to purchase the overrated jet. Turkey was included until Erdogan decided to purchase Russia’s S-400 air defense system.
Turkey’s possession of both the S-400 and the F-35 would have allowed Russian specialists to gather intelligence data that could be used to better target NATO air forces. Turkey was suspended from the F-35 program when Erdogan refused to cancel the S-400 purchase.
Erdogan’s latest gripe is that Turkey invested $1.4 billion in F-35 procurement but hasn’t received its jets. Demanding a meeting with Biden at upcoming summits in Italy and Scotland, Erdogan declared, “Either they will give us our planes or they will give us the money.”
Biden should ignore him. Erdogan has only himself to blame for this situation. Indeed, he has a lot of gall to make this complaint. After all, Erdogan had just offered more proof of his pathetic deference to Putin. Not only did he affirm his commitment to the S-400 deal, but Erdogan spoke of a new purchase of Russian jets, warships, and submarines.
And this supposed NATO ally wants the United States to compensate him for aligning with an adversary?
Give me a break.
We shouldn’t be surprised. The interactions between Putin and Erdogan are at once tragic and darkly hilarious — tragic because they reflect the subjugation of a NATO ally to NATO’s top adversary but hilarious because they evince the very shallow nature of Erdogan’s strongman narrative.
On Wednesday, for example, Putin engaged in a particularly bold show of his favorite slouching, “I’m bored,” open-legged seating pose. Putin puts on these theatrics during all his meetings with foreign leaders, but he takes special pleasure in dominating Erdogan. In 2020, Putin made Erdogan wait for him in a Kremlin anteroom. Russian state TV helpfully overlaid a timer over footage of an embarrassed Erdogan as he waited for the boss.
Biden should treat Erdogan with the same disdain. Let the autocrat whinge — the risk of escalation is low. Erdogan’s waning popularity and improving but unstable economy will not easily withstand new U.S. sanctions.
