By George Skafidas
“I don’t see any democracy anywhere,” Tom Barrack said on December 7, referring to the broader Middle East. “Israel may claim to be a democracy, but in this region, what has really worked best, whether you like it or not, are benevolent monarchies,” the American official added, notably not even counting Erdoğan’s Turkey among the region’s, admittedly problematic, democracies.
The remarks were made by the U.S. ambassador to Ankara and special envoy for Syria during a forum in Doha, Qatar. The discussion was not about Israel or Turkey, but about Syria. What Donald Trump’s appointee appeared to be saying was simple enough: do not expect a post-Assad Syria to turn into a democracy overnight; give it time. In practice, however, Barrack went further, triggering reactions in both Israel and Turkey.
“The U.S. special envoy for Syria says he sees no democracies in the Middle East,” wrote Middle East Eye in a cautiously critical comment reflecting, broadly, the positions of the Turkish leadership. Turkish journalist and analyst Barçin Yinanç was far harsher in TurkeyInDepth.
“Since Turkey is not a monarchy, Barrack apparently sees either an authoritarian regime or a ‘sultanate,’” she wrote. “A decade ago, he would have been summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry over such statements, he might even have been declared persona non grata.”
The reaction was not limited to Turkey. Israel, too, bristled.
“U.S. envoy to Syria claims Israel is not a democracy,” read a headline in the Jerusalem Post, while Jacob Magid asked in the Times of Israel whether Barrack’s remarks reflected official U.S. policy.
Nor was this the first time the U.S. ambassador to Ankara and Syria envoy had raised eyebrows.
In an interview last August, Barrack described himself as a “mercenary.” In the same YouTube-posted interview, he dismissed the borders drawn by the Sykes–Picot Agreement as “meaningless.”
A month later, in an interview with the Emirati outlet The National, he described peace in the Middle East as an “illusion.” “There has never been peace. There probably never will be,” he said.
That interview included several other controversial remarks: that the Lebanese “do nothing but talk,” that a ceasefire in Gaza “is not going to work,” that the United States is not truly an ally of any Middle Eastern country (“I don’t trust any of them. Our interests are not aligned. ‘Ally’ is a mistaken word”), that by 2045 there will be five billion Muslims worldwide, and that he could not rule out future military strikes against Iran.
Unsurprisingly, many of those comments angered Arab leaderships, while reactions on Arab social media were largely negative.
More recently, Barrack’s interview with Greek newspaper K and journalist Manolis Kostidis also stirred debate, particularly his remarks on the negative consequences of nation-state formation after 1919, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkish irritation has been especially visible in attacks launched in recent weeks by President Erdoğan’s ultranationalist coalition partner, Devlet Bahçeli. In one instance, Bahçeli lashed out over Barrack’s comments on the possible reopening of the Halki Theological School in 2026. “Will this ambassador decide, or the Republic of Turkey?” he asked. In another, he reacted angrily to suggestions of potential Turkish-Israeli cooperation: “You crossed the line.”
The “Barrack issue,” however, is not limited to his public statements. Yinanç also points to what she describes as his unusual “special immunity.”
“He cannot be summoned to the Turkish Foreign Ministry because he is nowhere in Ankara,” she writes. “Barrack’s role in the Turkey–Syria–Israel triangle gives him immunity beyond what diplomats normally enjoy.”
“Trump’s envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, is testing Israel’s patience,” Israeli analyst Ben Caspit wrote in Al-Monitor.
Barrack met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar in Israel last Monday. Netanyahu is set to meet Donald Trump in Florida on December 29. In a post following the talks, Barrack described the discussions as “constructive.”
Others see it differently.
“Barrack is always against us,” an Israeli source told Al-Monitor. “In every conflict between Israel and Turkey, he sides with Turkey. Between Israel and Syria, he sides with Syria.”
Another Israeli diplomatic source was more blunt: “Barrack has a special relationship with Trump. They’ve been friends for 40 years. We’re told he’s untouchable.”
