Obama and BFF Erdogan speaking to each other for the first time since graft probe.

Obama and BFF Erdogan speaking to each other for the first time since graft probe.(AlMonitor).

A lot has happened since Obama listed Erdogan in 2012 as one of his top five close friends among world leaders.

The White House readout of the Obama-Erdogan telephone conversation sounded as if the Obama administration was listing its disappointment with Erdogan one sentence after another.

“The President affirmed the value he places on a strong, mutually respectful bilateral relationship with the Republic of Turkey and expressed his view that Turkey can demonstrate leadership in the world through positive engagement,” it read, allowing analysts to speculate as to why there was any need to openly spell out “positive engagement.”

Umit Ozdag, the head of 21st Century Turkey, an Ankara based think tank, told Al-Monitor,

“At its core, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has a very different ideological essence from the Western system. They gather in protest in front of the US Embassy, they provoke the civil war in Egypt or support the Salafi groups in Syria. It is to say, the Turkey-US relationship can be derailed anytime, despite whatever concession Erdogan may give to the US [for staying in power].”

On Cyprus, there may be some optimism for a permanent resolution of this conflict. However, signing the ultimate deal on this long-lasting issue is not as easy as those hopeful words sound. The political opposition already expresses doubts as to whether providing concessions on Cyprus is the price that Erdogan will be paying for staying in power, and the thought of such approach makes it unlikely that there really will be any deal on this issue.

It may be, however, easier to mend the ties with Israel, but the political landscape also makes it only illusionary to expect any “quick” normalization.Hmmmm....The writer is totally wrong about Israel, as long as Erdogan is PM there will be no 'good relations' with Israel.Read the full story here.

Related: The critical question to ask at this juncture, however, is whether Erdoğan gives a hoot about what Obama, or anybody else, for that matter, said