Hot potatoes of Ankara

U.S. President Donald Trump took his oath of office on Jan. 20 and began his four-year mandate as the most powerful leader in the world. The international community is yet to hear the basics of Trump's foreign policy, as his unsophisticated inaugural address was far from delivering any kind of vision on how his administration will deal with immediate global problems.  

The only reference Trump made was on his commitment to defeat "radical Islamic terrorism," a term that the Turkish government has long been fighting to stop the use of by Western leaders. 

"We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones - and unite the civilized world against Radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth," Trump said. It thus seems that his approach will not address the root causes of terrorism - related to social, economic and democratic deficiencies - especially in the less developed parts of the world, as his sole reference was to the fight against "radical Islamic terror."

In contrast with his predecessors, even Republican ones, Trump avoided highlighting core universal values like democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms in his first major statement as U.S. president, suggesting that these principles will no longer be components of U.S. foreign policy. 

This is why it is not surprising, for example, that Egyptian President Abdel Fettah al-Sisi feels so relieved by Trump's election, and was among the first leaders to hold a phone conversation with Trump. Sisi, who became the Egyptian ruler after toppling Mohamed Morsi in a military coup in 2013, can now feel more secure as human rights violations in his country will not be a matter of concern for Washington. (In fact, it's fair to say that the...