US envoy Tom Barrack accused of plotting Turkey's partition
'I think it's a really monumental day for me, feeling the echo of this land from which my ancestors came,' he said.
'But I come with a really simple message from President Trump: his desire to raise the level of the alliance between Turkey and the United States to where it rightfully belongs.'
Two months later, Turkish officials are convinced that Barrack is among the most influential US ambassadors ever to serve in the country.
His ever-expanding portfolio, now encompassing both Syria and Lebanon, aligns with Ankara's priorities, such as preserving a unified Syrian state under President Ahmed al-Sharaa with a single military.
Both Ankara and Barrack seek a stable region. Turkish officials hope that Barrack, who has a direct line to Trump, could help resolve longstanding issues, from the stalled purchase of F-35 fighter jets to the removal of sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of Russia's S-400 missile system.
Barrack also made several remarks expressing his admiration of Turkey and its history.
New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters
However, Turkish public opinion paints a starkly different picture.
Newspapers and political influencers have launched a campaign against the US envoy, accusing him of attempting to break up the country.
Despite Turkey's longstanding history of anti-American sentiment, rooted in the US partnership with Syrian Kurdish groups and its harbouring of the late Fethullah Gulen and his supporters, for the first time in years, an American ambassador is under attack not from government media, but from the opposition, over his conduct.
Misquoted
The controversy began with Barrack's interview with Turkey's public Anadolu news agency in late June, where he referenced the Ottoman Empire's millet system, which oversaw religious communities from Christians to Jews.
Barrack explained that the millet system, which granted religious communities limited autonomy over their own affairs, ensured the survival of diverse groups in the region.
He added that a new dialogue between states and cultures was needed today.
'To me, Izmir is the example of how you blend all these communities - Jews, Muslims and Christians living side by side,' he said.
'I see this as the model of what needs to happen in the Middle East and the world. And I think Turkey can be the centre point of it all.'
Why Turkey abruptly cancelled an Iraqi oil pipeline agreement Read More »
Within days, a flurry of social media posts and newspaper articles misquoted him, claiming that he had advocated for the millet system as the ideal order for modern Turkey, a statement he never made.
For many Turkish citizens, the millet system evokes painful memories of a weakened Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, teetering on the brink of partition along ethnic and nationalist lines.
'US Ambassador Tom Barrack showered praise on the Ottoman's religion-based millet system!' wrote Arslan Bulut, a journalist for the nationalist opposition newspaper Yeni Cag, earlier this month.
'For this, Turkey must be stripped of its nation-state status!'
Husnu Bozkurt, a former parliamentarian from the Republican People's Party (CHP), took it further:
'For years, we've warned that imperialist America seeks to divide the secular Republic of Turkey by transforming it into a religiously-governed state under its control, destroying the unitary nation-state structure, turning it into a federation, and eliminating linguistic unity by splitting the nation along sectarian and ethnic lines - the ultimate goal of the Greater Middle East Project (BOP).'
Barrack is viewed as unconventional among western ambassadors in Turkey, spending much of his time in the region and in Istanbul.
His candid interviews with various publications are often taken out of context, as he speaks without reservation.
PKK peace talks
As Barrack grapples with these reactions, Turkey is engaged in peace talks with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, after more than 40 years of conflict.
Earlier this year, the PKK announced an end to its armed struggle and, in a symbolic ceremony this month, burned its weapons, a development that has left many Turks uneasy about the country's future.
Retired Colonel Unal Atabay argued that Barrack's alleged suggestion to revive the Ottoman religion-based millet system would undermine Turkey's status as a nation-state.
Syrian Kurds face 30-day ultimatum from US and Turkey Read More »
'Isn't it interesting… This is exactly what Ocalan refers to as Middle Eastern unity,' he said.
'It's about ensuring the formation of a separatist Kurdish region while transforming Turkey into an Ottoman-like state.'
Barrack's recent interview with the Associated Press about Israeli strikes on Damascus and Sweida in Syria over the weekend did little to help his case.
He suggested that Israel would rather see Syria fragmented and divided than governed by a strong central state.
'Strong nation-states are a threat - especially Arab states are viewed as a threat to Israel,' he said. But in Syria, he noted, 'I think all the minority communities are smart enough to say, 'We're better off together, centralised.''
Turkish media and commentators interpreted Barrack's criticism of Israel as indirect approval of US efforts to partition strong nation-states in the region.
At the same time, Devlet Bahceli, a Turkish nationalist leader within President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling coalition, proposed that Turkey could, in the future, appoint two vice presidents, one Kurdish and the other Alevi, a minority religious group that has sometimes reported persecution.
Mehmet Ali Guler, a columnist for the opposition Cumhuriyet daily, argued that Bahceli's proposal and Barrack's comments on the Ottoman millet system all serve the same purpose: 'The Lebanonisation of Turkey'.
Bahceli in a statement strongly rebuked the allegations, calling them 'distortions'.
The US Embassy in Ankara has remained silent in the face of these accusations.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Gulf Today
5 minutes ago
- Gulf Today
Tulsi Gabbard became a ‘weapon of mass distraction'
Josh Marcus, The Independent Critics have accused Tulsi Gabbard of trying to shield Donald Trump's administration from scrutiny through her recent claims that top Obama administration officials should be prosecuted for leading a "coup" against the president in 2016 by investigating Russian efforts to help his campaign. The allegations and conspiracy theories "would be sad if they weren't so dangerous," Democratic Rep. Jason Crow told Fox News on Sunday. "She has turned herself into a weapon of mass distraction, is what I've been calling it." Crow accused Trump's national intelligence director of "trying to curry and get back into favor with Donald Trump and has concocted these theories to do so," an apparent reference to Gabbard and Trump's public disagreement over the state of Iran's nuclear programme. This month, Gabbard spearheaded the release of materials regarding the then-outgoing Obama administration's attempts to probe Russian influence operations during the 2016 election. Critics saw the release as an attempt to distract from continued criticism of the Trump administration for its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and the president's ties to the late financier, who died in prison while awaiting a federal sex trafficking trial. "Nothing in this partisan, previously scuttled document changes that," Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Hill after the disclosures. "Releasing this so-called report is just another reckless act by a Director of National Intelligence so desperate to please Donald Trump that she is willing to risk classified sources, betray our allies, and politicise the very intelligence she has been entrusted to protect," he said. Gabbard claims the Obama materials, including a declassified 2020 Republican report from the House intelligence committee, reveal his "years long coup" against Trump. She claims that top Obama officials pushed to override past intelligence findings to allege that Russians specifically wanted to boost the Trump campaign, rather than undermine faith in the US election system more generally, and has called for Obama and others to face criminal charges. Trump has echoed such claims, sharing a fake, AI- generated video of Obama being arrested and thrown in jail on his Truth Social account. As evidence of the alleged coup, Gabbard honed in on past conclusions that Russian actors did not successfully hack digital voting infrastructure or change vote counts, suggesting these findings clashed with intelligence officials' later assessments that Russia sought to help Trump. Susan Miller, a former CIA officer who helped oversee the 2017 intelligence assessment, said Gabbard was "lying." "We definitely had the intel to show with high probability that the specific goal of the Russians was to get Trump elected," Miller told NBC News, adding that intelligence officials had briefed Trump on their findings and he had thanked them. "At the same time, we found no two-way collusion between Trump or his team with the Russians at that time," she said. Obama's office issued a rare public statement denouncing Gabbard's allegations. "These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction. Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes," a spokesperson said. The White House has pushed back against the argument that Gabbard's investigation is a partisan play. "The only people who are suggesting that the director of national intelligence would release evidence to try to boost her standing with the president are the people in this room who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos among the president's Cabinet," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Wednesday briefing. "And it's not working," she said. Multiple assessments have backed up the intelligence community's original findings of a general, one-way Russian influence operation that sought to boost Trump through tactics like hacking Democratic party materials and spreading disinformation online, even though the Trump campaign itself wasn't shown to have collaborated on the effort. Special counsels have investigated both the underlying "Russiagate" claims and the origins of the FBI investigation into the Trump campaign without uncovering any intentional "coup" by the Obama administration.
Middle East Eye
3 hours ago
- Middle East Eye
Sisi says Trump 'is the one who can stop the war in Gaza' in televised address
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called on US President Donald Trump to end Israel's ongoing war in Gaza in a televised address on Monday. 'I direct this special message to president Trump: Please, exert all efforts to end this war and allow the entry of aid,' said Sisi in the adresss, adding that Trump 'is the one who can stop the war in Gaza". A key US ally in the region, Sisi has intensified Egypt's crackdown against pro-Palestine activism in recent months amid mounting domestic outrage surrounding the country's alleged role in facilitating Israel's blockade of Gaza.
Al Etihad
3 hours ago
- Al Etihad
EU defends Trump trade deal facing backlash
28 July 2025 17:55 BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (AFP)The European Union on Monday vehemently defended its trade deal with President Donald Trump, with EU capitals and businesses sharply divided on an outcome some branded a "capitulation"."I'm 100 percent sure that this deal is better than a trade war with the United States," top EU trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic told Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clinched the framework accord with Trump Sunday after dashing to Scotland as the August 1 deadline loomed for steep levies that threatened to cripple Europe's exports are now set to face across-the-board tariffs of 15 percent -- higher than customs duties before Trump returned to the White House, but much lower than his threatened 30 27-nation bloc also promised its companies would purchase energy worth $750 billion from the United States and make $600 billion in additional investments -- although it was not clear how binding those pledges would be."This is clearly the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances," Sefcovic details of the agreement — and crucially, which sectors could be exempt from the 15-per cent levy — will be announced in the coming days, although the EU states it has avoided steeper tariffs on key exports, including cars and the reaction from European capitals -- which gave von der Leyen the mandate to negotiate -- ranged from muted to outright Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it was a "dark day" for Europe and said the accord was tantamount to "submission".Speaking for Europe's biggest economy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave a warmer welcome to a deal he said had avoided "needless escalation".Industry groups in both countries made plain their disappointment however, with Germany's main auto sector body saying the 15-percent levy "burdens" carmakers while its VCI chemical trade association said the rates were "too high".Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban attacked the deal in blunt terms, saying "Trump ate Ursula von der Leyen for breakfast". 'Not only about trade' "It looks a bit like a capitulation," said Alberto Rizzi of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR)."The EU accepted a fairly unbalanced deal," he added, saying it delivered a "political victory for Trump".Von der Leyen had faced intense pressure from EU states to strike a deal quickly with the bloc's biggest partner and protect a $1.9-trillion trading Brussels' approach, Sefcovic warned that a no-deal scenario -- meaning a 30-percent tariff and the prospect of further escalation -- would have risked up to five million jobs in the months-long talks, Brussels prioritised stability and maintaining good relations with Washington over line of thinking has support: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally, said the deal had avoided "potentially devastating" in Asia and Europe welcomed the certainty and rose following the announcement -- reflecting the 4.4 billion euros ($5.1 billion) worth of daily transatlantic goods and services trade that were at over the negotiations was the risk to other areas of cooperation -- like Ukraine -- if the EU descended into a trade war with its closest security partner."It's not only about the trade -- it's about security, it's about Ukraine," Sefcovic told reporters Funk Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics acknowledged it was "clearly an imbalanced deal" if judged purely on trade terms."But if you're trying to avoid worse national security outcomes, well then maybe the deal is not so bad," he said. Cautious approach The EU had sought to ramp up the pressure in the final stretch of talks, fearing a bad deal and higher levies, with countries approving a $109-billion package of counter-tariffs at the last states led by France were pushing for a more robust response, including the option to deploy the trade "bazooka" known as the anti-coercion the threat of retaliation was consistently framed by Brussels as a last resort should talks fail, and experts suggested the hardening stance may have come too late to make a real difference. "If the EU had played hardball at the very beginning, it probably could have got a better deal," ECFR's Rizzi told AFP.
