Biden nominates ex-Senator Flake as US ambassador to Turkey

U.S. President Joe Biden on July 13 nominated former Senator Jeff Flake as ambassador to Turkey, extending a high-profile diplomatic post to the anti-Trump Republican.

Tuesday July 13 2021 11:37 pm

Former Republican Sen. Jeff Flake speaks with reporters in this file photo.

Reuters - Duvar English

U.S. President Joe Biden on July 13 nominated Republican former Senator Jeff Flake as ambassador to Turkey.

"Given the strategic importance of the United States’ relationship with our long-time NATO Ally, the Republic of Turkey, I am honored and humbled by the trust President Biden has placed in me with this ambassadorial nomination," Flake said in a statement.

"This is a pivotal post at an important time for both of our countries," he said.

"With this nomination, the Biden Administration reaffirms the best tradition of American foreign policy and diplomacy: the credo that partisan politics should stop at the water’s edge. U.S. foreign policy can and should be bipartisan," he said.

Flake served as a senator from Arizona from 2013 to 2019 and was a vocal critic of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Biden met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in June at the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels.

Although both leaders characterized their talks as "productive," they did not announce any major breakthroughs in Turkey-U.S. ties.

Biden infuriated Turkey in April by formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire over a century ago.