Since arriving in Ankara, US ambassador Tom Barrack has been thrown into the spotlight. Aside from his active role in Syria, reports indicate he is laying the groundwork for an Erdogan visit to Washington. If we take a closer look, however, the argument could also be made that he is seemingly promoting a number of Turkish positions across the board - from selling Turkey F-35s to presenting Turkey as an indispensable actor for regional stability. Now Israel’s strike on Iran could throw many of these calculations up in the air. The FDD’s Sinan Ciddi and Tyler Stapleton join Thanos Davelis to break all of this down.

Sinan Ciddi is a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an expert on Turkish politics.

Tyler Stapleton serves as director of congressional relations at FDD Action. He previously spent eight years working in Congress where he served as a senior advisor on national security, foreign policy, defense, and intelligence for two members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here:

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872: The Altar of the Heart // Soul Drift 17 (Nathan Johnson)