There are major reshuffles in the Turkish Foreign Ministry following Fidan's recommendations to Erdogan and the latter's approval, a fact that should be taken very seriously by Greek diplomats and the political leadership of the Ministry.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry did not change or extend the term of office of its Ambassador to the USA, even though it expires on 14 January.
Erdogan media, among other things, refers to the ferment and change of mindset prevailing in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, citing as an example the non-replacement of Turkey's Ambassador to the US Murat Merkan, even though his term of office expires on January 14, 2024, due to his 65th birthday, noting:
In fact, we are going through a period of serious problems with the US, from the purchase of F-16s conditional on Sweden's NATO membership to the Gaza crisis and Israel, from supporting the presence of the PKK in Syria to the presence of Fethullah Gulen in the US.
Although both the Foreign Ministry and President Tayyip Erdogan's officials in Besttepe are aware that Merkan's term is about to expire ,as no attempt has been made to extend it, they do not appear to have taken any action on the matter, at least according to publicly available information.
In other words, if Merkan returns to Turkey on January 12, as he published in his message "X" on January 4, Turkey's relations with the United States will continue without an ambassador in Washington at one of the most problematic moments.
Erdogan did not take his ambassador to the U.S., Merkan, with him to important meetings
However, there is a strong diplomatic staff at the Washington embassy so that this development would not affect the functioning of the state, and it is known that Erdogan did not take Merkan to some important meetings recently.
For example, during his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 21, Israel's ambassador to Washington, Mike Herzog, was present, but Merkan was not.
At Erdogan and Fidan's meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 6, US Ambassador to Ankara Jeff Flake was present, but Merkan was not.
Merkan gained Erdogan's trust.
It was known that Erdogan did not include diplomats who had been trained as career civil servants in the Foreign Ministry in some of his meetings. But Merkan was not one of them, as he was one of Erdogan's most trusted political appointees.
Indeed, despite his known closeness to former President Abdullah Gül, he had appointed Merkan, an AKP deputy from Eskisehir and deputy energy minister - he is the father-in-law of Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar - first as ambassador to Tokyo and then. as ambassador to Washington.
What had changed?
Journalist Barçın Yinanç listed some of the names on the current Foreign Ministry staff, including the deputy minister under Mevlut Cavusoglu, current Permanent Representative to the UN Sedat Önal and Fidan deputy minister Burak Akçapar.
However, it is also rumored that Erdogan may make a political appointment of an Ambassador to Washington with whom Fidan could comfortably work with.
Erdogan and Fidan's preferences will also show whether a new era has begun in foreign policy, in which it will once again gain weight.
Fidan's remarks in his speech to parliament's Planning and Budget Committee on Nov. 20 signaled that the Foreign Ministry will undergo a transformation similar to that of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT), which he led for 13 years.
"As good as our diplomats are individually, our institutional capacity needs improvement, so we really need to take a lot of institutional steps.What does that mean? You have very good diplomats, but when you put them all together, you may not have very good diplomacy," he said.
So whether or not the new ambassador to Washington is a professional diplomat or not is bound to have political implications.
Businessman Yalçındağ "plays" for appointment as US Ambassador
In this context, the name of businessman Mehmet Ali Yalçindağ was circulated yesterday.
One reason for this is that Namık Tan, who served as ambassador in Tel Aviv and Washington and is currently a CHP MP in Istanbul, told Fidan during the budget talks in the Turkish Grand National Assemblym that if you were going to make a political appointment for the ambassadorial post in Washington, you should at least appoint a businessman like Muhtar Kent, who can open every door there.
The mention of Kent, who was chairman of Coca-Cola for years, in the Foreign Affairs budget talks brought to mind Yalçindağ, who resigned last week from his three-year chairmanship of the Turkey-US Business Council (TAİK).
Yalçindağ, who was the bridge between Erdogan and Trump during the Donald Trump era, is a relative of former TÜSİAD chairman Arzuhan Doğan Yalçindağ and son-in-law of Aydın Doğan.
However, Yalçindağ said he had not received any proposal. He was preparing to attend the handover ceremony for the sale of BluTV, founded by his son Aydın Doğan Yalçındağ's son, to the American media giant Warner-Bros-Discovery, and has now been elected chairman of the Turkey-Germany Business Council.
What kind of ambassador do we need?
Turkey's problems with the US are strategic, at the presidential level.
There is a President in the US who has not met with the Turkish President since he was elected four years ago, except for international meetings.
Even if Turkey takes an irreversible step by approving Sweden's NATO membership, it is highly doubtful that Joe Biden will be able to secure the sale of F-16s to Turkey with shaky congressional support.
Similarly, it is doubtful that he will cut political, military and financial support to the PKK affiliates. Moreover, this support was even in place under Trump.
Of course, there are limits to what ambassadors can do, especially in today's political dynamic.
However, Turkey needs an ambassador in Washington who has access to ethnic lobbies in the White House, Congress and the business world, rather than trying to link Ankara to Turkish associations and groups there."
Where are Erdogan-Fidan going?
We know that Erdogan is "warming up" Turkish public opinion by informing it with his country's controlled media before communicating important decisions he has already taken.
One of them is the appointment of the new Turkish Ambassador to the US, who will most likely be businessman Mehmet Ali Yalçindağ , who has strong connections to lobbyists, businesses and a pal of Trump's, playing the role of a "bridge of communication" between Erdogan and the then US President.
The Turkish president looks forward to the re-election of businessman Trump as US president.
Knowing his mentality well, Erdogan, in our estimation, will make the appointment as Turkey's Ambassador to Washington of a man who speaks Trump's language, a businessman with whom he is already acquainted in the past, and not a professional diplomat.
This if it happens will mean the start of an open war between career professional diplomats of the Turkish Foreign Ministry and Fidan, with the latter not trusting their Kemalist backgrounds.
At the same time, such a move on the part of Erdogan-Fidan would mean even greater distancing from international law in their decision-making, something that should be given special attention by us.
