On Tuesday, Joe Biden selected Antony Blinken as his choice for secretary of state. A veteran Washington insider and former Obama administration official, Blinken has been a major proponent of preserving good relations with Ankara, including at the possible expense of US cooperation with its Kurdish allies in Syria.
Turkish authorities are attempting to patch up ties with the United States, Europe and Saudi Arabia in the wake of Joe Biden's increasingly likely election victory, the threat of Brussels' sanctions and problems with Russia, Bloomberg has reported, citing persons said to be ‘familiar with the discussions'.
The sources also indicated that Ankara may agree to formally separate its Russian-made S-400 air defence missile systems from NATO air defence systems in a bid to soothe tensions.
On the European front, Turkey is reportedly concerned over Brussels' possible plans to slap it with sanctions over its ongoing maritime gas exploration dispute with EU members Greece and Cyprus at the upcoming 10 December European Council meeting.
Ankara is also said to be seeking to soothe ties with Riyadh, with the diplomatic offensive coming over two years after the killing of a Washington Post journalist in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, Bloomberg's sources said, referencing a recent telephone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi monarch Salman bin…
