New US envoy presents credentials to President Erdoğan

ANKARA

The U.S.’s new ambassador to Ankara, David Michael Satterfield, presented his credentials to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Aug. 28.

Erdoğan received Satterfield at the presidential complex in the capital Ankara.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Satterfield’s candidacy on Feb. 16 and the Senate designated him on June 28.

Born in 1954, Satterfield stands out as a senior career diplomat of the U.S.

Earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1976, he has served as acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs since 2017.

During the presidential term of Barack Obama, Satterfield served as director general of the multinational force and observers in Rome from 2009 to 2013 and 2014 to 2017.

In 2014, Satterfield was appointed as special advisor to the secretary of state for Libya, based in Tripoli.

During George W. Bush’s presidency, Satterfield was the coordinator for Iraq and senior advisor to the secretary of state from 2006 to 2009.

He also assumed top posts at U.S. missions in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Lebanon.

John Bass was the last serving American ambassador to Ankara in 2014-2017.

Bass, who now serves as new U.S. envoy to Afghanistan, left Turkey in October 2017 amid a visa crisis between Washington and Ankara. The post was vacant until the arrival of Satterfield.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey as a reaction to the detention of U.S. Consulate employee Metin Topuz, and Turkey’s Washington Embassy followed suit in suspending non-immigrant visa services.

The blame for Turkey’s visa spat with Washington lies with the United States, Erdoğan had said in 2017, singling out then U.S. ambassador to Ankara, Bass, as responsible for the situation.

Diplomatic relations between Turkey and the U.S. were established in 1927 after the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923.