Erdogan Retracts Threat to Expel Western Ambassadors

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan this week withdrew his threat to expel 10 ambassadors from Ankara. (Wikimedia Commons)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan backtracked on an earlier threat to expel 10 ambassadors from Western countries on October 25 after their envoys issued a statement in support of jailed Turkish activist Osman Kavala. Just days earlier, Erdoğan had laid out his government’s plan to label the ambassadors persona non grata, a common diplomatic precursor to formal expulsion. 

Erdoğan has expressed frustration at what he perceives to be foreign interference in Turkish domestic affairs on behalf of the ambassadors. The ambassadors to Turkey from the U.S. and nine other countries issued a joint social media statement on October 18 calling for Kavala’s release. Their request is consistent with that of the European Court of Human Rights, which has urged Erdoğan to free Kavala, who has been imprisoned since 2017 without a trial over terror-related charges.

Erdoğan quickly reacted with a forceful assertion of Turkish sovereignty over domestic legal proceedings. “What kind of an indecency is this? Where do you think you are? This is Turkey. This is not a tribal state as you think,” he said on October 23.

Erdoğan’s allies in Turkey have further accused the Western envoys of breaching the Vienna Convention that regulates the work of diplomats abroad. Article 41, Section 1 outlines the ambassadorial responsibility to respect the laws and customs of the state in which they work, without interference in that state’s internal affairs. 

Before Erdoğan modified his position, Ankara had already begun the process of labeling the ambassadors persona non grata and unwelcome in Turkey, according to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu. 

“We were to submit works for their expulsion at the Cabinet meeting on Monday [October 25], but the ambassadors took a step back,” Çavuşoğlu explained in an interview with CNN Türk. Erdoğan himself similarly put responsibility for the change in policy on the ambassadors themselves while insisting he himself remained on the offensive.

“We believe that these ambassadors, who have fulfilled their commitment to Article 41 of the Vienna Convention, will now be more careful in their statements,” he said in televised remarks following a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

The episode comes amidst a tumultuous period in U.S.-Turkey relations, as Erdoğan and President Joe Biden prepare to meet at the upcoming COP26 international climate conference in Glasgow. Foremost on the agenda will be the U.S.’ refusal to deliver $1.4 billion worth of F-35 fighter jets following Ankara’s purchase of the Russian-made S-400 missile defense system. 

Erdoğan signaled to Turkish media that he and Biden had made progress on a plan in which the U.S. would provide F-16 warplanes in exchange for the return of Turkey’s earlier payment.

“There is… some information about giving us F-16s. The information we received is that there is a plan to pay for this with them. Is this true or not; we will learn from them. At the highest level, of course, it would be appropriate for me to talk to Mr. Biden. If so, we will have reached an agreement accordingly,” Erdoğan explained.