“The steel tariff is laughable. Turkey doesn’t sell very much steel to us at all. The penalties on the ministries of defense, interior and energy don’t preclude any intergovernmental relations and, in any case, wouldn’t be activated for 30 days.”

“Erdoğan has to make the case to Trump that there are material benefits that are greater than the S-400 issue. Giving Turkey greater control in Syria is in line with Trump’s desire to reduce U.S. costs in the conflict.”

“The sense of Western perfidy that Erdogan saw with Egypt, he was very explicit about seeing Morsi’s overthrow as one iteration of a larger story in which Western forces are attempting to control the world.”

“I read the indictment and it’s ludicrous hodgepodge of guilt by association and non-sequiturs, which makes it pretty typical for Turkey’s political trials. They throw the kitchen sink at a target.”

“I think that forcing Erdogan to be openly repressive, to openly cheat, is in fact a good thing. And I don’t think a more violent regime—which I think is a distinct possibility—is necessarily a stronger one.”

“[Election-related instability] is going to be very costly for the economy. What Turkey needs most of all right now political stability and a sense of normalcy.”

“Turkey wasn’t democratic yesterday and it’s not democratic today.”

“The United States and Turkey will continue to have close areas of cooperation, but they’re going through a divorce…there’s a lot of bitterness that goes with divorces.”