How An Organized Crime Case Led Turkish-American Relations To The Breaking Point

The relations between the U.S. and Turkey, key allies since the end of WW2, have reached an all-time low. The crisis gained a new dimension when the U.S. Mission in Turkey froze all non-immigrant visa processes in the country, apparently as a response to a Turkish embassy employee working for the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Earlier, another employee was also detained on terror charges. Washington firmly believes they were taken hostage in the hope of a prisoner swap. 

At the epicenter of the spat is a huge organized crime case in the Federal Court of Southern District in New York: the prime suspect is Iranian-Turkish Reza Zarrab, with a high number of politicians and bureaucrats in Turkey also being implicated. They are charged with conspiring to evade American sanctions on Iran. The evolution of the case, now enveloping a former Turkish energy minister as a suspect, has apparently led President Erdoğan's fury to reach boiling point. 

Sources say that the brawl outside the Turkish Embassy in the American capital, leading to a severe beating of peaceful Kurdish demonstrators by Erdoğan's security detail, also played a role in the escalating friction. So deeply concerning the case has become for Erdoğan that, according to senior journalist David Ignatius, most of the bilateral talks held between Erdoğan and Trump in the past year have been about 'begging to abolish' the case.

In another article, the New York Times delves deeply into the details of the case, which is a ticking time bomb. It brings out new elements that shed light on the question of whether or not Erdoğan himself – and his family – was implicated in the case.

“I’m sure Erdogan worries about that, and I’m sure he worries about what could come out at trial,” said Eric S. Edelman, a former United States ambassador to Turkey. “Either one could be very damaging to him.”

Here is the report which will be very helpful to understand when – not if – the two allies' relationship will hit a dead end.