The Intelligence Review | volume 2 | issue 4 |

parliament (BBC 2017). The referendum also passed 18 new amendments that
were added to the Turkish constitution. These amendments primarily deal with
the powers of the executive and legislative branches in the Turkish government.
For example, one amendment that was added through the referendum was the
abolition of the post of prime minister. Now President Erdogan can appoint the
cabinet himself and oversees a number of vice presidents that are under his
command. Additionally, the Turkish parliament no longer oversees the ministers,
as its power to initiate a motion of no confidence against them has been be removed
(Shaheen 2017).
On October 9, 2017, the US embassy in Ankara, Turkey, suspended all nonimmigrant
visa services, reportedly in order to reassess Turkey’s commitment to
the security of the embassy’s staff (BBC 2017). The US government decided to
minimize the number of visitors to its embassy and consulates in Turkey, until
the personnel working there stopped facing what the embassy said were security
threats. Only individuals who were permanently moving to the US were able to
apply for visas. In response, Turkey suspended all visa services for US citizens at
their diplomatic and consular missions (BBC 2017). President Erdogan and
President Trump had met in September, shortly before the visa suspension
occurred. During that meeting, President Trump stated that the relationship
between the two nations was better than it had ever been (The White House
2017). However, as will be shown here, this statement appears to contradict the
facts, as the latter do not support it.
On November 7 2017, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim met at the White
House with US Vice President Mike Pence, to discuss the ongoing diplomatic
dispute between Washington and Ankara. Following the closed-door meeting,
“Prime Minister Yildirim stated that [it] was a positive step for both nations” (The
White House 2017). The Turkish official also took a large legal team with him on
his visit, in what appeared to be an unofficial attempt to strengthen the case to
extradite Gülen to Turkey —something that did not ultimately materialize.
Interestingly, President Trump was on a tour of Asia when Prime Minister
Yildirim came to the US to meet with Vice President Pence to discuss diplomatic
disagreements between Washington and Ankara.
Another recent event that negatively affected Turkey’s relations with NATO was
a dispute over a NATO military exercise in Norway in November of 2017. During
this routine exercise, President Erdogan was reportedly depicted as NATO’s
enemy during a simulation (Fraser 2017). NATO Secretary-General Jens
Stoltenberg immediately issued an apology for the offense, stating that the
incident was the result of an external contractor that was hired for the exercise,
and that it did not reflect the views of NATO. Stoltenberg added that “Turkey is
a valued NATO ally, which makes important contributions to allied security” (The
Guardian 2017). A report by Politico said that the contractor involved was a
48