President Trump’s decision to congratulate Turkey’s president for winning a constitutional referendum expanding his authority doesn’t mean Trump believes the election was fair or had a positive result, according to a spokeswoman.
“That wasn’t the purpose of the call,” Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House principal deputy press secretary, replied when asked if Trump intended to endorse the process and the outcome of the election. “And that’s certainly not the position of the president, and of course [he] supports democracy and would hope for that.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has alarmed western policymakers by centralizing power in the government of the NATO-allied country. At the same time, the ongoing Syrian civil war — with the added element of the Islamic State declaring a caliphate encompassing parts of Syria and Iraq — led to tactical disagreements between the Obama administration and Turkey, which put an additional strain on the relationship.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s outreach to Turkey, which coincided with a failed coup attempt Erdogan blamed on a U.S.-based cleric, put additional pressure on U.S. leaders to maintain the relationship.
Trump opted to conciliate Erdogan and prioritize foreign policy objectives rather than criticize the election. “Trump spoke today with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey to congratulate him on his recent referendum victory,” the White House press office announced.
Other U.S. leaders, as well as international election monitors, were more critical. “Turkey’s creeping authoritarianism continues,” House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Ed Royce said Tuesday. “All who value democracy, pluralism and Turkey’s key role in the region should be concerned about the elimination of important checks and balances in the Turkish system.”
Trump’s spokeswoman explained that he overlooked the election controversy in order to focus on ISIS and Syrian President Bashar Assad, adding that “we certainly want” international monitors to review the election results.
“I don’t know that the focus, again, should be on whether or not it’s acceptable,” she emphasized. “I think the president’s No. 1 job is to keep Americans safe. That is his priority. That has been the focal point during the campaign as well as since he took office. And if he needs to work with countries like Turkey and others to do that, I think that’s his priority and that’s what his focus is.”
