Turkey's high expectations from Trump

On Jan. 3, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım slammed U.S. President Barack Obama and called on incoming president Donald Trump to "end this shame" in the U.S.'s Syria policy.

Yesterday, on Jan. 4, it was Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesman Numan Kurtulmuş who said Turkey was "optimistic" that Ankara's expectations would be satisfied during Trump's term.

A call from Obama to President Tayyip Erdoğan to express condolences about the Jan. 1 Reina nightclub attack by an ISIL militant, killing 39 and wounding 65, apparently did not change the government's position.

 After all, ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Parti) deputy Şamil Tayyar wrote on Twitter on the same day that the CIA was behind the Reina attack.

Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık also said on Jan. 3 that the ongoing U.S. support for the Democratic Union Party (PYD) - the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Washington uses as a ground unit against ISIL, despite its NATO ally Turkey's protests - was prompting the government to "question" the use of the strategic İncirlik base by U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition planes. (The base was opened in June 2015, and ISIL attacks in Turkey started in July 2015, followed by the resumption of PKK attacks after three years of a fragile ceasefire during a dialogue process with the government.)

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu also strongly criticized the U.S. for not giving the air support that Turkey has been demanding against ISIL positions near the Syrian town of al-Bab. Instead, Turkey has opted to cooperate with Russia in airstrikes against ISIL around the town for the last few days.

Following an earlier public complaint by Çavuşoğlu last week, the Turkish...