Notes on Erdoğan in New York

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was actually very "cool" on the first evening of his recent trip to the U.S. He had a meeting right across from Hotel Peninsula, where he was staying, at the St. Regis Hotel. He walked there slowly, in a relaxed way, speaking to everybody and posing for photos. 

However, the next day, after he delivered his speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 17, I asked those around him about how he handled issues in bilateral contacts. I was once again convinced that the ambition and rage inside Erdoğan will never change - the only difference is that it changes target from time to time. 

During his meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, he started on the subject of Fethullah Gülen, while discussions on the case of Reza Zarrab were scattered throughout the conversation. Then they moved on to Syria. He fiercely criticized the matter of U.S. President Barack Obama's special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Brett McGurk, receiving an award from the People's Protection Units (YPG) in February in Kobane. McGurk, who was present in the meeting, apparently moved from his seat to signal that he "got the message." But Erdoğan was unable to control his anger. After the meeting was over, while bidding farewell to the Americans, he said to McGurk's face: "Don't do it again."

The Americans, meanwhile, listened as they always do. Biden was careful to use diplomatic language. But his stance most likely annoyed Erdoğan. When Erdoğan said the U.S. had supplied the YPG with arms, Biden said he had no information on that. That answer is not something Erdoğan would understand or accept. 

Meanwhile, U.S. officials have finally changed their discourse on...