How do you explain to a "friend and ally" that you have been cooperating with a terrorist organization bent of dividing that country, that you are using the affiliates of a terrorist organization for your own interests in a neighboring country, or that you have arrested and jailed a leading bank executive of your "friend and ally" on the charges that his bank violated your sanctions against another country? How do you explain that your people communicated with a key person involved in a bloody coup attempt to topple the elected government of the same "friend and ally"?

The United States has been actively supporting, arming and training the People's Protection Units (YPG), a militant group in northern Syria that has "eliminated" its Kurdish political opponents and is also an affiliate of the PKK — a secessionist terrorist group also on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. The U.S. has recently provided heavy arms to this organization and is protecting its militants against Turkey in the Syrian town Manbij.

The Obama administration made the terrible mistake of enlisting the help of the YPG in Syria. Recently, we had expected the newly elected President Donald Trump to put an end to this cooperation. Yet, that has yet to occur, and although the U.S. has not officially informed Ankara about its intentions, it has become absolutely clear that Americans are going ahead with their plans to capture the Syrian city of Raqqa, regarded as a stronghold of the Daesh, so there is not much left to discuss.

Apparently, our ally is actually cooperating with the terrorists bent on destroying the other ally. Can Rex Tillerson, the new U.S. Secretary of State kindly explain this? He would be very hard pressed, if not at a loss for words.

Now, you have the arrest of a Turkish bank executive on the charges that he was a part of a plot to violate the U.S. sanctions on Iran. The executive in question is the deputy manager of Turkey's state-owned giant Halkbank, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, who was arrested by the FBI in New York as soon as he set foot in the U.S. and then thrown into jail by a judge. Some people would say: "Well this is part of the U.S. legal system. What can the administration do?" Yet, this is only part of the issue. The investigation on this issue is no secret to Turkish or American officials. Actually, President Trump sacked the chief prosecutor running this case. Additionally, if there was a possibility that our bank executive would be arrested, why didn't American authorities warn their Turkish counterparts about sending him to the U.S. to avoid creating another dent in the uneasy relationship between the two allies? Can Tillerson digest this mess?

Can anyone explain to the Turks how the U.S. legal system can work with lightning speed to arrest a Turkish bank executive, actually an innocent bystander, when the U.S. system has proven so sluggish in processing Turkey's request to extradite Fetullah Gülen, the leader of the July 15 bloody coup attempt who lives in Pennsylvania? Tillerson could have his "ifs" and buts" but that will hardly satisfy the Turkish public.

Then you have the issue of banning electronic equipment larger than a cell phone in the cabins of all planes originating from Turkish airports. What is that all about? Why pick on Turkish airports instead of banning such items from all planes flying into the U.S.? If this is terror related, can't people trying to hurt the U.S. enter from other destinations? Can Tillerson himself even make sense of this U.S. decision? Instead, we see yet another dent in our relations.

All these are just a few of the recent dips in our relations with Washington — not all of which are the Obama administration's doing.