Turkey's President Erdogan visits Washington amid policy rifts

When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan comes to Washington this week, he'll open an Islamic cultural center in Lanham, Md., attend the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit and meet with Vice President Biden.

One thing he likely won't do is have a formal meeting with President Obama.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Tuesday that Erdogan and Obama are expected to meet informally and "at least have a conversation." They won't meet because more than 50 world leaders are in town and Obama's time is limited, Earnest said.

But analysts detect a snub reflecting U.S. discomfort with Erdogan's crackdown on free expression in Turkish news media and political opponents.

On security matters, however, Erdogan and Obama are closer. Turkey supports a U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State and backs Obama's call for new leadership in Syria to end the five-year civil war.

Erdogan was to arrive Tuesday evening and hopes to meet with Obama at some point during his visit, said Fatih Oke, spokesman for the Turkish Embassy in Washington.

Earnest said Monday that Obama and Erdogan met several times in recent months, including at the Paris climate summit in November, and both leaders will attend the nuclear security summit Thursday and Friday.

"We've got a lot of important business with the Turks to do, and we've made important progress through that diplomacy," Earnest said.

Erdogan, who has pushed his majority Muslim nation away from its traditionally secular culture to a more religious one, has been severely critical of the West. After the Paris terrorist attacks in November, Erdogan called European leaders hypocrites for not taking a stronger stand against anti-Muslim hate speech and attacks on mosques. He also has called for the West to do more to help Turkey deal with millions of refugees from Syria's civil war.

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“He believes the Western world is decadent and immoral,” said Aykan Erdemir, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

Erdogan’s visit comes weeks after Turkish officials seized the country’s largest newspaper, Zaman, which authorities accused of being a mouthpiece for Fethullah Gullen, a former political ally who it now accuses of trying to overthrow the government. The newspaper's staff was replaced and its content turned overnight from critical of the Erdogan government to complimentary.

Turkey seizes leading paper, tightening grip on press

State Department spokesman John Kirby described the seizure as "troubling," and said it was just the latest in a string of seizures of media companies and charges filed against journalists accused of insulting the Turkish leader.

Erdogan Win Ends Months of Political Tension in Turkey

The arrest last week by U.S. officials of a prominent Turkish-Iranian financier adds to the awkward timing of Erdogan's visit. Reza Zarrab is accused of funneling money through U.S. banks from illegal oil and natural gas sales from Iran to Turkish companies, in violation of nuclear sanctions. Zarrab was at the center of a Turkish corruption scandal in 2013.

That investigation resulted in no charges, while Erdogan's government reassigned police officers and a prosecutor who they accused of working for political enemies.

Although Turkey and the United States agree on some aspects for ending the Syrian civil war, they have a fundamental disagreement over support for rebel groups fighting the Syrian regime.

Erdogan wants the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against the Islamic State to do more to support nationalist and Islamic militants fighting against the Syrian government and its allies. The United States worries that Syria’s rebels are too close to al-Qaeda and prefers to support Kurdish militia, which Turkey views as terrorists because of their links to the PKK, a Turkish terrorist group that seeks independence for Turkish Kurds.

“American officials have been in Turkey every two weeks since the start of the anti-Islamic State campaign,” said Aaron Stein, a Turkey and Iran analyst at the Atlantic Council. “Those engagements are reaching dead ends because of these substantial differences.”

Turkey, a member of NATO, hosts U.S. and other coalition member aircraft at its Incirlik Air Base, but hasn't flown missions in Syria since November, when it shot down a Russian military jet that it accused of crossing into Turkish air space.

On Tuesday, the U.S. government ordered families of U.S. diplomats and military personnel to leave Incirlik and two other bases in southern Turkey because of "increased threats from terrorist groups" operating across the border in Syria.