{"id":46751,"date":"2026-09-03T11:41:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T11:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/46751\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T11:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T11:41:06","slug":"trumps-disgraceful-diplomat-how-tom-barrack-is-selling-out-america-to-turkey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/46751\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s disgraceful diplomat: How Tom Barrack is selling out America to Turkey"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the First World War, Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol was appointed to head the American mission in Constantinople, spending nearly a decade telling the State Department that reports of the Armenian genocide<\/a> were mere \u201cmissionary exaggerations.\u201d In doing so, he shielded Turkey from congressional scrutiny and gave birth to a corrosive doctrine that still infects Foggy Bottom: Protect the commercial relationship, and the crimes will sort themselves out. A century later, billionaire Tom Barrack has updated this shameful legacy for Recep Tayyip Erdogan\u2019s<\/a> neo-Ottoman court.<\/p>\n

Barrack assumed this role on May 14, 2025, presenting his credentials at the Dictator\u2019s bunker following a 60\u201336 Senate vote. He quickly consolidated power, seizing a concurrent role as presidential envoy for Syria<\/a> and Iraq. Today, a single private equity financier speaks for Washington across three critical, deeply volatile capitals. Yet rather than projecting American strength, this \u201cdiplomat\u201d heels whenever Erdogan whistles.<\/p>\n

Barrack\u2019s handling of the region\u2019s anti-Israel file demonstrates a dangerous pattern of appeasement. Speaking at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Barrack claimed that Israel and Hezbollah were \u201cequally untrustworthy,\u201d argued for \u201ca path with Hezbollah\u201d that avoids \u201ckilling Hezbollah,\u201d and warned Jerusalem not to \u201cbox Turkey out\u201d of Gaza. In his view, Zionism was reduced to a \u201cquestion as to a definition,\u201d while Israel could merely \u201cclaim\u201d to be a democracy.<\/p>\n

By August 2026, his rhetoric had completely unraveled. In an interview with Mario Nawfal, Barrack asserted that Israel \u201cstill occupies the Golan against the UN resolutions\u201d (directly contradicting standing U.S. policy), while publicly accusing the Jewish state of \u201cbaiting\u201d Turkey with its strikes on a Syrian airbase. Though he scrambled to walk back the comments after swift bipartisan backlash, the damage was done. Precedents dictate policy. Allied officials now use just two words to describe Washington\u2019s top representative in Ankara: \u201cErdogan\u2019s man.\u201d<\/p>\n

The track record speaks for itself: Pro-Turkey<\/a> service consumes the courtier\u2019s regional portfolio. Barrack dismisses neo-Ottoman expansionism as mere nonsense, demanding Ankara\u2019s restoration to the elite F-35 fighter program despite its S-400 purchase. He midwived the total betrayal of the Syrian Democratic Forces and the lifting of Syria sanctions, all while ethics officials flagged heightened conflict risks in his Turkey-linked assets. Barrack\u2019s Colony Capital booked massive gains on Turkish investments while raising $1.5 billion from Gulf sources. A 2022 acquittal for acting as an unregistered foreign agent merely closed a legal docket; financial self-interest ensures this courtier keeps fetching for Turkish autocracy.<\/p>\n

Although the White House may preach \u201cpartnership,\u201d the Turkish Islamist danger remains geostrategic. Sultan Erdogan treats Incirlik Air Base and its American nuclear gravity bombs as hostages. Meanwhile, a NATO capital has become an active planning node for designated terrorists, with Israeli intelligence naming five Hamas figures directing West Bank attacks from Istanbul. To pretend otherwise is pure fantasy: Greece, Cyprus, and Israel have learned that American loyalty is optional, leaving the Eastern Mediterranean to risk becoming a Turkish lake with a U.S. stamp of approval.<\/p>\n

MIDDLE EAST \u2018NEUTRALITY\u2019 IS A FRAUD. TRUMP MUST SHATTER IT BEFORE THE TRAP IS COMPLETE<\/a><\/p>\n

Congress<\/a> must ban this dual-hatted role immediately. The ambassador to Turkey should not hold the Syria or Iraq presidential envoy portfolios, and the U.S. ambassador to the Jewish state must countersign any instruction affecting Israeli national security. Lawmakers should also strengthen the Arms Export Control Act, and add a strict \u201cHost-of-Terrorists\u201d clause to deny all weapons waivers to any government sheltering terrorist chiefs. Most urgently, the Senate must force the Pentagon to certify a live plan to transfer the Incirlik nuclear mission to Souda Bay in Crete and to Romania. Briefing this plan in open session will strip Erdogan of the blackmailing strategy he uses to keep American diplomats on a leash.<\/p>\n

Bristol called his work realism \u2014 history called it malpractice. Barrack carries the same stick. Bring the courtier home.<\/p>\n

Jose Lev Alvarez is an American\u2013Israeli scholar specializing in international security policy. A multilingual veteran of the IDF special forces and the U.S. Army, he holds three master\u2019s degrees and is completing a Ph.D. in Intelligence and Global Security in the Washington, D.C., area.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the First World War, Rear Admiral Mark L. Bristol was appointed to head the American mission in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[10370,37,5178,4821,60,408,293,58,543,6121,84],"class_list":["post-46751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ankara","tag-ambassadors","tag-ankara","tag-congress","tag-hezbollah","tag-iraq","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-recep-tayyip-erdogan","tag-syria","tag-trump-administration","tag-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/turkiye\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}