The writer is director of the Turkey programme at the Middle East Institute and author of ‘Erdoğan’s War: A Strongman’s Struggle at Home and in Syria’
President Joe Biden has repeatedly framed the war in Ukraine as a battle between democracy and autocracy. His early efforts to rally the support of democratic allies behind the embattled nation generated copious commentary about the growing importance of liberal democratic norms in shaping world affairs. Pundits and policymakers alike rushed to argue that Washington had bent the arc of history away from realpolitik and towards high-minded principles.
Two years into the war, however, it has become clear that the opposite has happened. Russia’s invasion has forced the democratic world to revert to power politics and seek closer ties with those they see as lesser autocrats than the one in Moscow. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is one such leader. After shunning him for years, Washington has now grown quiet about the authoritarian ways of the Turkish strongman, who is seen as a key ally in the effort to contain Russia.