Erdogan: Mystery with his trip to the USA – The silent fish from Ankara and Haniya’s role

A “veil” of mystery covers the visit of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the USA, as it is still not certain whether he will travel to Washington and meet with the American president, Joe Biden at the White House as scheduled to happen on May 9.

Rumors of the cancellation of the visit were “sparked” on April 20 by a report by the opposition website Odatv, which reported that the Turkish president’s visit had been canceled as the US House of Representatives passed a bill giving a $26 billion aid package to the Israel.

“There is neither information from the US about the cancellation of the trip, nor an order from President Erdogan to the relevant units that the trip has been canceled”

Of course, the whole issue of the Biden-Erdogan meeting is complicated by the fact that the visit has not been officially announced by the White House, nor by the Turkish government. It became known indirectly when four members of the US House of Representatives traveled to Turkey on March 9.

In fact, the report was published a few hours after the meeting the Turkish president had with the head of the political office of Hamas, Ismail Haniya, and before the trip-station of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for the first time after 12 years in Iraq, a fact that testifies to the role played behind the scenes by the Israel-Hamas conflict.

At the moment there has been no official denial or confirmation of the news, nor did any pro-government media react immediately. In fact, as he points out in his article on Wednesday (24/4), i.e. four days after the initial publication of the news in the pro-government Hyrriyet, Abdulkadir Selvi, a journalist with connections in the Presidential Palace, found it “strange that while everything was denied or confirmed immediately, no there has been no development in this matter.”

As is well known, the so-called “Misinformation Countering Center” of the Communication Directorate of the Turkish presidency is used to denying immediately when some paraphilology is considered “fake news”.

What does the US say?

The first reaction from the US side came from the country’s embassy in Ankara, which answered a question about whether “Erdogan’s visit to Washington has been canceled.”

“At this time there is no announcement regarding the visit to the White House. There is no change in our plans to hold high-level contacts at every opportunity,” he said.

In addition, he advised those interested in answers regarding “the travels of Turkish officials” to contact the Turkish authorities.

In a similar vein, the State Department’s response to VOA Turkce (Voice of America) also emphasized that those interested should contact the Turkish government for information on the travel plans of Turkish officials.

Abdulkadir Selvi tries to clarify what is true and whether or not Erdogan will eventually move to the US. As he notes, “the US did not provide any information that President Erdogan’s trip was canceled. The Americans already want this visit to take place. There is no way the US will cancel the visit.”

He also adds that “the US is preparing for the Biden-Erdogan meeting that will take place on May 9” and notes that the Odatv report states that “it included the claim that Erdogan canceled the trip and not the US”.

“Erdogan did not give an order to cancel the visit”

According to him, the competent services have not been informed about the cancellation of Erdogan’s visit. “If Erdogan cancels the trip, the presidency of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must be informed as a matter of priority. If Erdogan orders a cancellation, the Presidential Complex and the State Department will have to inform their US counterparts. But there is no directive in this direction,” explains Selvi.

“To summarize briefly, there is neither a notification from the US about the cancellation of the trip, nor an order from President Erdogan to the relevant units that the trip has been canceled. Currently, the work is carried out as a tour. This is the information I received within 24 hours. If there is another development tomorrow, I will share it. But I can say this clearly. Both in Turkey and in the USA, preparations are being made for a trip.”

Who is behind the ‘leaks’

Selvey also addresses who he believes is behind the “leaks” about the possible cancellation of the trip. According to him after the Haniya-Erdogan meeting, there is a group in the US that wants to prevent the Erdogan-Biden meeting, as they believe that an Erdogan-Biden photo given after the Erdogan-Haniya photo will be against the US president in the elections.

The second to try to cancel the visit according to Selvi is Israel and members of the Israeli lobby in Washington who are trying to push in this direction. As he underlines “they want to do this through Turkey. They are trying to point to the right and hit the left with the news that Turkey has canceled its visit to the US.”

However, as he points out, “the delegations of the two countries continue their work with the visit that will take place on May 9. The White House is preparing for May 9. Meetings are taking place between the White House and our embassy in the US on issues such as who will take part in the meeting, how long the two leaders will have a one-on-one meeting and where the press will stand.”

It also mentions that US Deputy Secretary of State John Bass was in Ankara to make preliminary preparations for the meeting and was received by both Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and President Erdogan.

The strange role of the former ambassador

However, there is one more point to be made here John Bass was the US Ambassador to Ankara during the time of the July 16, 2016 coup.

“For me he is an ambassador with question marks. But Erdoğan’s meetings regarding his visit to the USA were positive”, says Selvi and adds that:

“I see there is a gray area, but I can say clearly that no directive has been given by President Erdogan regarding the cancellation of the visit. The White House is preparing for Erdogan’s visit on May 9.”

Publications on the role of Hamas

The role of Hamas is also mentioned in an article by Musytafa Balbai in the opposition Cumhuriyet, who notes that “the behind-the-scenes information about the Ankara-Washington line is literally terrifying.”

According to him, the US has sent a clear message behind the scenes to Ankara that says: “Hamas is withdrawing from Qatar. If the Turkish Republic replaces Qatar with Hamas, there will be consequences.”

In fact, as “it is said that one of the consequences is that the meeting on May 9 can be canceled”.