Off the Beltway

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's latest trip to Washington D.C. to attend a nuclear summit and conduct bilateral talks with U.S. President Barack Obama will probably have far-reaching consequences. It could have been a big success in terms of gathering support against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and ramping up the PR effort to position Turkey as a credible ally against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). But all it takes is a little mayhem to turn everything sour.

Obama's press conference and the remarks especially on the second part are basically censored in Turkey. No pro-Justice and Development Party (AKP), no pro-Erdo?an TV channel or newspaper dared to write the whole text. So here we go, simply to make them a little uncomfortable:

"I'm a strong believer in rule of law and democracy. And there is no doubt that President Erdo?an has repeatedly been elected through a democratic process, but I think the approach that they've been taking toward the press is one that could lead Turkey down a path that would be very troubling. 

"And we are going to continue to advise them - and I've said to President Erdo?an, remind him that he came into office with a promise of democracy. And Turkey has historically been a country in which deep Islamic faith has lived side by side with modernity and an increasing openness. And that's the legacy that he should pursue, rather than a strategy that involves repression of information and shutting down democratic debate."

Now the entire debate on talk show circus on Turkish news channels focuses on whether or not Obama said this to Erdo?an's face during their 50-minute conversation in the Red Room. Why does it matter? Susan Rice said it to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavu?o?lu...