To the Editor:

After decades of dealing from Washington, DC with Turkish foreign policy tactics, we have learned what a Turkish official means when asking for “constructive dialogue,” as Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu did yesterday. He means, “You have again caught us flagrantly violating the law and we will work to adjust the enforcement of that law so that we can continue violating it, maybe just a little less flagrantly.”

It is somewhat akin to another common practice of the Turks a few months prior to a multi-party negotiation. Turkey takes yet another aggressive step against their victim in the negotiation. Then, just before the negotiation, Turkey withdraws that step and says, “now that we have made a concession, what is our opponent conceding?”  

A U.S. State Department official recently described this Turkish tactic as “the pyromaniac pretending to be a firemen.”

Andy Manatos & Mike Manatos

Washington, DC