OPINION - Ambassador Flake exits as befits a diplomat

The author holds a master’s and PhD in history from Istanbul’s Sabanci University, where he taught Turkish history for nine years.

ISTANBUL

In mid-July, observers of Turkish-American relations received a surprise announcement from (now former) US Ambassador to Türkiye Jeff Flake. Even though Flake's tenure would normally end no earlier than January because of the transition from one administration to another, Flake revealed to the press that he would step away from his duties on Sept. 1, 2024.

Other than the bad optics and ill-timing of his meeting with opposition presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu during last year’s Turkish presidential campaign, Flake's stint in Ankara was relatively uneventful, a welcome change from the antics of several of his predecessors.

Stark contrast to Ricciardone and Bass

US President Joe Biden's choice of Flake as ambassador to Ankara was, in reality, an eyebrow-raising political appointment. Flake emerged as a Republican opposed to Republican former US President Donald Trump (known as "never-Trumpers" in US political parlance) during Trump's term in the White House; Flake later supported Biden in the 2020 presidential election. Up to that point, Flake had spent his entire political life in Congress and engaged with foreign policy only through the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, where he served on subcommittees focused on African, East Asian, and European affairs.

Türkiye, on the other hand, had been afflicted with several extremely controversial American ambassadors over the previous ten years, namely Francis Ricciardone and John Bass (both former US President Barack Obama's appointees), who had insisted on violating international diplomatic norms by involving themselves in Türkiye's domestic politics. Both eventually left Ankara in disgrace, with Bass absconding after halting US visa processing in Türkiye on a long weekend. [3] Though Flake's immediate predecessor, David Satterfield, conducted a more stable term in Ankara than Ricciardone or Bass, relations with Türkiye were still extremely tense when Flake arrived in Kugulu Park. [4]

More diplomatic than the diplomats

Flake's departure from Ankara was marked by several developments that were, in light of recent Türkiye-America relations, refreshing. First was the friendly interview that Flake and his spouse, Cheryl, provided to Anadolu. The Flakes were clearly prepared for the interview and flashed a variety of color prints to illustrate the positive experiences that they are taking away from their time in Türkiye. That interview also served as a bookend to the conversation, similarly warm, that the Flakes provided to Anadolu when the couple arrived in Ankara two-and-a-half years ago. That is the sort of personalized public diplomacy that Türkiye-US relations need far more of.

Even more welcome were the brief comments that Flake gave to Politico two weeks ago, in which Flake acknowledged that the Obama administration had acted slowly during the July 15, 2016 coup attempt in Türkiye. As far as I am aware, Flake's admission is the first time that an American official has openly recognized that US actions that night lacked the necessary urgency and sincerity. Unfortunately, when commentators such as myself criticized the Obama administration for that inappropriate lethargy, we were met with indignant denials.

Equally as positive, Flake refused to be baited by the Politico reporter's loaded questions. [8] Instead, Flake provided even-handed answers that emphasized America's need to cooperate with Türkiye, stating unequivocally that Türkiye "...is an indispensable ally, and we haven't always treated them that way."

More of the same needed

Flake's comments were like a healing salve for a wound that has festered for the past eight years. But the remarkable aspect of Flake’s comments is that, despite not being a career diplomat, he carried out his responsibilities as Ambassador to Türkiye in a more professional manner than the career diplomats that preceded him. Flake should be the one training US diplomats, not Bass.

Flake's departure was conducted with more honesty and dignity than any of the US ambassadors of the past fifteen years. Hopefully, his successor(s) will take note and strive to represent the US in Türkiye in a manner befitting both a diplomat and the position.

[3] Ricciardone went on to a scandal-ridden tenure as the president of the American University in Cairo. For his part, Bass would go on to oversee the disintegration of the US presence in Afghanistan; Bass is now one of the State Department's highest-ranking officials: https://www.state.gov/biographies/john-bass/

[4] Flake would conduct the embassy's transition to its new building in Ankara's Balgat neighborhood: https://statemag.state.gov/2022/10/1022itn02/

[8] Compare the biased and hostile questions about Türkiye that the New York Times editors put to Joe Biden during his infamous December 2019 interview with them. Unlike Flake, Biden provided the inflammatory answers that the editors hoped to elicit: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/01/17/opinion/joe-biden-nytimes-interview.html

*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Anadolu's editorial policy.