The exhortations of the new US Ambassador to Ankara, Jeff Flake, were published in the Cumhuriyet newspaper by Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ, Chairman of the Turkey-US Affairs Council (TAİK) operating under the Economic Relations Council of Turkey (DEİK). .
According to the Turkish version of the Independent and republished by Olympia, Ambassador Flake called on American companies leaving Russia, following the sanctions imposed for its invasion of Ukraine, to go to Turkey!
As Yalçındağ said in a meeting with Flake, they were informed that American companies were invited to relocate their activities to Turkey, arguing that the country is a safe port and that there are ready industries and factories. to produce.
Recall that some of the companies that have ceased operations in Russia are BP, Shell, Exxon, Daimler, Ford, Nike, Adidas, McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Airbnb, Netflix, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple, Levi’s, Walt Disney, Sony.
Who is Flake who, until recently, had anti-Turkish positions?
Impressive, however, is Flake’s shift in stance – the Republican who backed Democrat Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Flake served as a senator from Arizona from 2013 to 2019 and a member of the House of Representatives. He withdrew from the Senate in disagreement with the administration of Donald Trump.
The new Biden government appointed him ambassador to Ankara. He has in the past clearly opposed Turkish policy.
Flake even said that if Turkey bought a new S-400 battery or other Russian weapons in the future, it could face additional sanctions.
He was in favor of recognizing the Armenian genocide, while he had angered Ankara by saying that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was authoritarian and oppressive.
The ambassador had also mentioned Cyprus, clarifying that there is no two-state solution and that the actions for the partial opening of Varos are a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
So how he came to invite giant corporations to set up shop in Turkey today, is questionable to say the least or proves the new American shift towards neighboring Greece, once again!
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