During the Cold War, Turkey was one of our very good friends. Of course this was all because of geography. We wanted to put listening posts on their borders to spy on the Soviet Union.
Nonetheless it was a good relationship.
After the cold war ended and we didn’t need them anymore, the relationship cooled. We still kept our airbase there and still kept nuclear bombs there, but the relationship wasn’t so friendly.
Turkey like many countries in the region has all sorts of issues, most related to different “brands” of Islam. We’ve never negotiated well through the different sects and most Americans don’t even understand the differences. Short analogy: Catholics and Protestants in Ireland, only on steroids.
Christian and Muslim wars were rampant from 1095 to 1588! As different as the various sects are within the Muslim world, they only unify against an outside threat. Once that outside threat is gone, then they fight amongst themselves. Look at the Sunni’s and Shias in Iraq for an example.
Our current relationship with Turkey is a function of a lot of things. The cold war ended and we didn’t really “need” Turkey anymore. So they lost their special status and don’t really understand why. The US’s on again off again relationship with the Kurds scares Turkey. The last thing they want is a larger group of Kurds in an autonomous state right next door. They have enough problems with the Kurds who are citizens of Turkey. Turkey believes that the attempted coup last year was orchestrated by Fethullah Gulen. Gulen lives in the US and the US has protected him from standing trial in Turkey.
Looks like we’re going to lose another ally in the region. Read more here.