Trump Expands Barrack’s Syria and Iraq Role Despite Ankara Controversy
By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
US President Donald Trump has expanded the role of Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Türkiye, naming him special presidential envoy to Syria and Iraq while keeping him in Ankara.
The decision gives a politically controversial envoy in Türkiye a wider mandate over two neighbouring files that sit inside Ankara's border security, counterterrorism policy, Kurdish file, refugee pressure, military deployments and bargaining with Washington.
Trump said Barrack had "done an outstanding job" and would be named special presidential envoy to Syria and, likewise, special presidential envoy to Iraq. He also said Barrack would remain ambassador to Türkiye and operate with the full backing of the US Department of State, according to US media reports.
The White House move came after a confusing sequence around Barrack's Syria role. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said Barrack's formal Syria envoy title was expiring, while also stressing that he would continue to play a leading role for the Trump administration in Syria and Iraq. Trump's statement now places both files under a presidential envoy label.
Syria and Iraq are not distant files from Ankara's perspective. Syria remains tied to Türkiye's security operations, refugee politics, border policy, the future of armed groups and the shape of the post-Assad transition. Iraq sits inside a parallel set of concerns, from counterterrorism and energy routes to Baghdad-Erbil balances and Iranian influence.
Barrack is not entering this expanded role as a neutral figure in Turkish politics. His remarks at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum had already drawn criticism after he praised "powerful leadership regimes," including "benevolent monarchies" and "monarchical republic" type structures, while questioning the record of externally promoted democracy and human-rights frameworks in the Middle East.
CHP leader Özgür Özel called the remarks an insult to Turkish democracy and declared Barrack "persona non grata" for Turkish democracy. The reaction reflected a wider unease over how Washington's senior envoy in Ankara reads political order, governance and state structures in the region.
That controversy now follows Barrack into a broader regional mandate. The same ambassador criticised in Türkiye over his comments on democracy and political systems will now carry presidential authority on Syria and Iraq, two theatres where debates over state unity, armed groups, local governance and external redesign directly touch Turkish security concerns.
Washington's calculation is clear enough. Barrack already held the Syria file, has direct access in Ankara and remains close to Trump's regional circle. Adding Iraq allows the administration to keep Syria, Iraq and Türkiye coordination inside one diplomatic channel.
Türkiye will read the appointment through a more sensitive lens. Barrack's expanded portfolio may create a faster line to the White House on Syria and Iraq. It also concentrates three sensitive files in the hands of an ambassador who had already become politically contested in Türkiye before his mandate grew.
The decision does not mean US Middle East policy has moved wholesale to Ankara. It does change the weight of the US embassy in Türkiye. Barrack is no longer only the ambassador managing the bilateral relationship. He is now Trump's envoy for two neighbouring arenas where Turkish and American priorities have repeatedly overlapped, collided and required hard bargaining.
That makes the appointment consequential. Syria and Iraq are where Türkiye's security doctrine meets Washington's regional agenda. Trump has now placed those files, at least in part, in the hands of a diplomat whose presence in Ankara was already under political scrutiny.
***Sources: Fox News, Al Arabiya, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarks, Turkish media reports.