US 'zero-sum game' against Ankara not helpful: Turkey

WASHINGTON

The United States' "zero-sum game" against Turkey is not helpful and could lead Ankara to shift toward developing other partners in their region, special advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday.

Gulnur Aybet, who is also a professor at Turkish National Defense University, outlined that recently Turkish-American relations have been strained, and Ankara has felt "left alone in a very dangerous neighborhood."

"If the United States deals with us in a very zero-sum game like this, then what’s going to happen is all those doors that are open for the future are going to veer towards another partner in the region, which is Russia," Aybet said at a panel for the Turkish Heritage Organization, a non-profit organization in Washington.

Aybet was referring to Washington's reactions to Turkey's purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system that has led to significantly strained ties with Washington, which last week suspended delivery of parts and services necessary to Ankara's receipt of the F-35 stealth fighter jet.

U.S. officials have suggested Turkey buy the U.S. Patriot missile system rather than the S-400, arguing it is incompatible with NATO systems and exposes the F-35 to possible Russian subterfuge, including covert efforts to obtain critical information on the jet, which could then be relayed to Russia.

Aybet characterized the U.S. decision to not sell the Patriot air defense missile system to Ankara before Turkey's S-400 deal as "careless", saying Washington did not acknowledge the country's security concerns.

She pointed to the fact that Turkey had only received an offer for the Patriot system once it finalized the S-400 deal.

"That same carelessness I think is prevalent today with the United States’ unfortunate decision to arm the YPG in the fight against Daesh," she added.

Turkey has long criticized the U.S. working with and supplying arms and ammunition to the terrorist group PYD/YPG, for the ostensible purpose of defeating the terrorist group Daesh.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.

The PYD/YPG is its Syrian branch.

Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, compared Turkey's decision to go forward with the purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system with the phrase "letting a fox into a hen house".

Aybet responded saying the missile system would be using Turkish made software, and therefore it would be made into a Turkish system, and one that is independent of any NATO military systems.

"I just wish that we could have more of those moments now that our American allies would actually understand and be more sympathetic to our security concerns now then they were then," Aybet said.