Despite endless attempts to provoke a crisis, the recent visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan marked an important increase in momentum for the future of Turkish-American relations.

Shortly before the visit, while Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, the head of the intelligence service Hakan Fidan and Presidential Spokesman İbrahim Kalın were in Washington, news was released by Washington to the public regarding an arms transfer by the U.S. to the Syrian branch of the PKK terrorist organization, the People's Protection Units (YPG).

Voices were raised, loudly calling for the annulment of Erdoğan's planned visit to the U.S. capital. Many in Washington and Ankara as well as in other Western capitals did their best to overshadow the visit; moreover, they tried to create a momentum for a "rupture" between Ankara and Washington. But they failed, and a positive encounter took place in D.C. between the Turkish and U.S. leaders and their delegations.

Of course, nobody was expecting a miracle from the meeting, since it was just an initial meeting between the two presidents. Items to be discussed and redlines of the two sides were known for months. The first face-to-face meeting is an opportunity to look for solutions to problems. However, the above-mentioned circles wanted to eliminate this opportunity using various means.

President Donald Trump, faced with various attempts to immobilize him, is battling to take over the direction of the country, as the "remains" of the Barack Obama administration are forcing him to follow the policies of the ex-president, including policy on Syria.

And not only arms transfers, but also different types of assistance and direction have been provided by the Obama administration to the PKK branch in Syria.

Perhaps Trump will have to accept Obama's path on Syria in the future. However, an initial rencontre between Erdoğan and him should not have been a subject for a serious crisis.

Finally, diplomacy and a careful handling of affairs won the game.

For the time being, the real outcome of the meeting in Washington is that an artificial barrier placed before two countries was destroyed by the careful steps taken by two presidents. The plot failed.

AS MACRON SHAKES FRENCH POLITICS

Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron continues to shake French politics. Following his move to launch his movement, En Marché, which paved the way to his presidency and nearly eliminated French socialists from the political arena, he took a step that shocked the French right as well.

His nomination of Édouard Philippe as his prime minister created a shock wave among Les Republicans, the French center-right party.

They declared that it was not a coalition, expressing their disappointment over Philippe, who accepted the proposal from Macron.

Philippe, one of the founders of the center-right party and a close aide of Alain Juppé, criticized Macron until March, just two months before his nomination. He even accused Macron of having a Brutus-like style.

Now, François Bayrou, the head of the center-right MoDem party, is given the justice portfolio, which is another attempt to cause shockwaves along another political line. Let us continue to follow French politics closely.