Unpredictable Trump: Not so unpredictable on Turkey

A few days ago we heard from one of the top diplomats of the United States that the "unpredictability" of President Donald Trump's foreign policy has been serving her well in her negotiations with other countries. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, in a hearing before the Congress, implied that Trump's doctrine of diplomatic chaos was a kind of planned strategy.

"I deal with 192 countries and the overwhelming feeling is that we are unpredictable. It has kept them on higher alert, not wanting to get on our bad side," said Haley.

Haley's defense of her administration's unpredictability was rather an effort to counterbalance the domestic critics' sense of the U.S. losing its traditional role of leadership on matters dear to the Western order. After all, Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, his zigzagging on the obsoleteness of NATO and his persistence to pursue a Muslim travel ban has exasperated the transatlantic alliance.

What made Haley's testimony much more eyebrow-raising was her comment that the Trump administration does not telling her what to say or what not to say. Wow! What a luxury for a diplomat!

I will not go as far as to question what makes Haley, who is not a career diplomat, enjoy such a level of autonomy in her diplomatic dealings, while her boss Rex Tillerson has not even been able to appoint personnel at the State Department without the consent of the White House.

The question for me is whether or not Trump's unpredictable foreign policy has had any unpredictable outcomes for Turkey in the last five months since he took office. It is no secret that initially the Turkish government invested high hopes in Trump, just because of his unpredictability. A very popular line from Ankara...