The fallout from Ankara’s adventurism

The reasons why Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's planned visit to Washington was called off lie in the distant, but also the recent past. The decision also appears to be casting a pall (for now?) over the positive climate of the past few months, which emerged after some diplomatic maneuvering by Erdogan, who made simultaneous openings to Greece, Israel and later Egypt, toned down the rhetoric against the United States and adapted to certain of its demands with regard to the sanctions on Russia and support for Ukraine. His stance was rewarded by Washington with the F-16 jet deal.

All of this started unraveling, however, with the war in Gaza. Turkey's initial shock very soon gave way to an escalating aggressive rhetoric against Israel, which culminated a few days ago in a partial trade embargo, to the satisfaction, mainly, of fanatical Islamists.

While talks at...