Former US Sen. Jeff Flake plans to quit as ambassador to Turkey
Jeff Flake, the former U.S. senator from Arizona and current ambassador to Turkey, acknowledged Tuesday he is quitting his post in September.
The move, first reported by Axios, makes good on Flake’s intention to only serve a single presidential term in that position.
President Joe Biden named Flake, a Republican who prominently supported his 2020 election, to the top job in Turkey, a complex and critical ally that bridges Europe and the Middle East and is a vital chokepoint for marine traffic into the Black Sea, which has major implications for commerce and combat connected to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Flake arrived in Turkey in January 2022, about six weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has walked a delicate line with Russia and the West, forcing both to accept a blurred role for Turkey.
In a social media post Tuesday acknowledging his decision to step down, Flake wrote, “It has been an honor to serve.”
In his tenure, Turkey held a pressure-packed presidential election and suffered an earthquake on its southern border that killed 50,000 people there.
In a September interview with The Arizona Republic, Flake joked about the challenge Turkey presents.
“Sometimes at a couple of ambassador conferences, I’ll look at some of my former colleagues who are in maybe more luxurious posts and think when everything that is going on here that makes it pretty busy, I think sometimes it would be nice to be on some island country or something,” he said.
“But then I think, ‘Naw, I’d be bored in a week.’ This is extremely challenging and fulfilling. I’ve enjoyed it immensely.”
Flake’s work in diplomacy was no surprise. In the Senate, he was a member of the chamber’s Foreign Relations Committee.
Turkey was a U.S. ally in the Korean War and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as a bulwark against the Soviet Union in 1952. NATO has a major air base in Incirlik, Turkey.
The nation of 82 million is often cast as the bridge, physically and culturally, from the West to the Middle East. That has historically given the country outsized importance in U.S. diplomacy.
Relations between Washington and Ankara have been strained during the leadership of Erdogan, who implemented far-reaching crackdowns after a 2016 coup failed to topple him.
During that time, Turkey has raised concerns in the West over its support for different armed groups in Syria and its closer ties to Russia.
In 2019, for example, Turkey purchased Russian anti-aircraft systems despite heavy objections from the U.S. at the time. Turkey, as a member of NATO, helped block the defense of Poland and other nations in the Baltic region in a move viewed favorably by the Kremlin.
On Flake’s watch, Ankara approved the accession to NATO of Finland and Sweden, moves that could help check potential conflicts with Russia elsewhere in Europe.
Getting Turkey’s approval on Sweden was especially complicated and was linked to the U.S. decision to sell Turkey F-16 fighter jets and other military equipment for $20 billion.
