It is finally over. The election battle in the United States which has been on the agenda for more than a year now came to an end. The long and tiring debates among dozens of Democratic candidates started in late 2019. Everybody knew that it would be a long campaign process due to increasing polarization in American society.

Turkey is focused on reforms at home and fresh starts in the international arena. Ankara’s efforts to repair its relations with the United States, the European Union, France, Greece and certain Middle Eastern nations, however, are not necessarily about making revisions or getting soft. The current process is of interest to all capitals, including Washington. All players are doing their homework with the sense that the world is on the brink of a new era.

Donald Trump's election as U.S. president, a man known to most as a xenophobic, populist, far-right, ultra-nationalist, radical conservative personality, has brought to light many aspects of the country's politics that previously may have been overlooked. In this piece, I want to highlight a few of the critical problems the United States has faced since the last presidential elections.

The Qatar blockade, also known as the Gulf crisis, broke out in 2017 due to the aggressive attitude of the "alliance of the globe" toward the country. The alliance was established by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first official visit to Saudi Arabia.

A year ago, the world was expecting different things from the year 2020. There were already too many unknowns about world affairs. U.S. President Donald Trump and his presidential style generated too many uncertainties about U.S. foreign policy and international relations.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reciprocated Russian President Vladimir Putin's earlier remarks about him being "a man of his word who would go all the way for his country." He, too, described Putin as "someone who speaks his mind and keeps his promises."

In less than a month, the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States will take place. Joe Biden will take his oath and start his tenure as the new president. However, the events during the last week have demonstrated that this period may be the longest one month in recent U.S history.

The wave of democratization, which began with the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, took down the authoritarian leaders of Egypt, Libya and Yemen. Whereas the uprising in Bahrain was crushed thanks to Saudi Arabia’s military intervention, Iran and Russia ensured the survival of Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria.

The United States reached its long-anticipated decision on sanctions over Turkey’s purchase of the S-400 air defense system from Russia. Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump imposed Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions on NATO ally Turkey's Presidency of Defense Industries (SSB) under pressure from U.S. Congress. The sanctions, as they stand, are not necessarily severe, although there is the possibility of additional steps being taken. However, what is important is that there is now room for the incoming U.S. administration to reengage with Turkey.

With the official announcement of Joe Biden’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, everybody has started to discuss what the new president's foreign policy will bring for the U.S.

The question of whether the United States and the European Union will apply sanctions against Turkey has finally been resolved. U.S. President Donald Trump signed off on a series of sanctions against Turkey, and over the next few weeks, we will find out which of the 12 Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions Trump will impose on Ankara.

The debates over sanctions through the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) have been haunting Turkish-U.S. relations for the last four years. Since being passed by Congress, the bill has gone on to erode bilateral relations.

Since the U.S. elections, there have been optimistic analyses about the future of trans-Atlantic relations. Leaders of the European Union were among the first to call President-elect Joe Biden to congratulate him on his victory. They expressed hope of reviving the partnership between allies on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan conveyed a powerful message to European leaders, who will meet later this week, in reference to the Eastern Mediterranean. He called on the European Union to save itself from “strategic blindness” and not to let Greece and the Greek Cypriots use Brussels as a battering ram.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is forming his Cabinet, and there has been a flurry of analysis about the names he nominated for key positions. The candidates, their backgrounds and previous experiences demonstrate that Biden is planning to follow a different form of presidency in the next four years.

Last week, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced some of the most senior names of his national security and foreign policy team. The only surprise was the appointment of former Secretary of State John Kerry as a special envoy for climate change with a Cabinet-level position. The other names were mostly expected by Washington pundits.

Trump not only escalated the disputes into a trade war but also extended the scope of these disputes to include some other countries, including Japan. Through bilateral talks, the dispute with Japan was de-escalated, but with China, the long and tedious negotiations did not lead to a resolution.