President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been “implicitly fueling, if not yet formally endorsing” the already potent anti-American wave in Turkey as a means to pursue his domestic and foreign policy objectives, Burak Kadercan, an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Policy at the United States Naval War College, wrote for the National Interest.

Well-pronounced anti-American sentiments have been a distinctive feature of the Turkish society for decades. As many as 90 percent of the Turks held an unfavorable view of the US, according to a study released in 2012. A report, published by the Pew Research Center in July 2014, showed that more than 63 percent of Turkish people had an unfavorable view of the US in the past decade. Interestingly, anti-Americanism, according to Kadercan, is “shared by all ethnic, religious and political groups, and cannot be explained by differences in education or income levels.”

“Make no mistake: Erdogan will not only stop fueling anti-Americanism, but also put a lid on it – when, of course, he thinks it no longer serves a purpose,” he said.