U.S. President Donald Trump's new national security adviser, former ambassador John Bolton, has very interesting opinions on Turkey and on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Like many Western countries, it seems the U.S., through Bolton's lenses, will continue to interpret Turkey's evolution only as being the result of President Erdoğan's personal actions, forgetting that he is an elected president who is acting according to the will of his voters.

According to Bolton, President Erdoğan's ultimate aim is to transform Turkey into an Islamist and undemocratic state. If he believes a single person is capable of imposing such transformation upon a country of 80 million people, there is nothing more to say. He omits the fact that conservatives have come to power in Turkey simply because the majority of the voters have decided so. It is interesting that the American conservatives don't want to understand that, as the neocons, the Tea Party or the Republicans accede to power through elections in the U.S., in other countries, too, those countries' conservatives may come to power through elections.

The claim that Turkey is drifting away from democracy has been uttered very frequently for some time. Those people who blame Turkey for having a democratic deficit often forget to mention that Turkey had to cope with a failed coup attempt, along with terrible terrorist attacks carried out by Daesh and the PKK during the last two years. The struggle against those threats has been tough, and no country would want to be attacked so abjectly. Had Turkey been supported better by its allies, and especially by the U.S., during this struggle, maybe Bolton would have the right to criticize Turkey.

The newly appointed national security adviser is so unaware of the truths that he once said he would shed no tears if the current Turkish government was toppled by a coup. He probably believes that the "old" Turkey was better as he is asking for its restoration by all possible means. Besides, he supposed that the Turkish army has a duty to protect the constitution; so carrying out a military coup is not a problem for him.

It would be interesting to ask him what kind of democracy he is in favor of, as he believes democracy can be established through a military regime. In fact, it is not surprising that he likes armies playing a political role in different countries, when you think that the current Trump administration is being subjected to some sort of militarization with all these former generals occupying critical positions, as if the Pentagon was now ruling the country. Maybe Bolton is unhappy because what had happened in the U.S. is not happening in Turkey.

One may suggest that Bolton dislikes Turkey's current leadership, because he is against politicians with Islamic references. Having said that, one must admit the U.S. is not very coherent on this, as well. They perfectly know that Saudi Arabia is an Islamic and undemocratic kingdom, but you never hear any criticism toward them from the U.S. On the contrary, the American-Saudi alliance is stronger than ever nowadays. In other words, this is not about Islam, but this is about Turkey not acting blindly to serve the U.S.'s strategic interests. If Turkey was governed by totally different people, but with a similar stance toward America, those would be criticized by Bolton as well.

Maybe Bolton has a problem when Turkey gives the priority to its own interests, rather than the interests of the U.S., and when Ankara is cooperating with Russia. The point is, when people like Bolton address antagonist criticism toward Turkey, the only result is the rise of anti-American feelings among Turkish people. Under these circumstances, reconciliation with the U.S. becomes harder, and Turkey is therefore looking for other partners. Washington is maybe unhappy with Turkey's recent policy choices, but the reason for this is nothing else than Washington's own policy direction.