Putin’s evocative meeting with the leader of Turkey, an intermediary of Ukrainian diplomacy

BEIRUT – A few weeks ago the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew his objections to consent Finland and Sweden joining NATO, a move that angered the president Vladimir Putin From Russia.

now i go to Iran to speak to none other than Putin himself, in the presence of the president Ebrahim Raisi.

The journey highlights the complicated and often seemingly contradictory by Erdogan.

As a member of NATO, Turkey is presumably in league with pro-European Ukraine.

It is a major Turkish producer of drones It proudly sells the drones that Ukrainian forces used to blow up Russian tanks.

However, Erdogan has gotten closer to Putin in recent years and has kept open lines with the Russian leader, serving as mediator between him and the president Volodymyr Zelensky from Ukraine and pushing for talks aimed at allowing Ukrainian wheat to bypass the Russian blockade to alleviate global food shortages.

During his tenure as Turkish head of state, Erdogan used a complex network of relations with various countries to create Turkey. a playerserve as Intermediary between nations in conflict or pitting enemies against each other for their own benefit.

While other NATO members may see Turkey as a sometimes problematic alliance member, its membership gives Turkey additional weight when it comes to countries like Russia and Iran.

Rather, Erdogan uses his wide range of external relations to lobby against NATO, said Karabekir Akkoyunlu, a professor of Middle Eastern politics at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

“This is partly balance, partly maneuveringdouble playAkkoyunlu said.

“You can give it a positive or a negative touch, but that was a kind of trademark of Erdogan’s foreign policy.”

Despite Turkey’s difference with Russia over Ukraine, the two countries have other issues to discuss.

All its countries are militarily active in the Syrian war, for example, albeit on different fronts.

Russia and Iran came to the president’s aid Bashar Assadwhile Turkey has supported the rebels trying to overthrow it and now controls a large swath of territory inside Syria along the Turkish border and wants to take more.

Erdogan has been talking for months about launching a new military foray into northeastern Syria to drive out the Kurdish militiamen that Turkey considers terrorists.

But Russia also has troops in the area, so the operation is unlikely to go ahead unless Turkey can resolve it with Russia.

Turkey also maintains ties to Iran, although Turkey, as a member of NATO, is part of the US-led Western camp that Iran opposes.

This means that while the US seeks partners to discourage Iran in the Middle East, Erdogan does not hesitate to accept the country’s hospitality.

Putin is just the latest visitor to Iran from Moscow.

Russia is looking for hundreds of drones Iranian armed and unarmed surveillance drones for use in the war in Ukraine, and a Russian delegation has visited an airport in central Iran at least twice in the past five weeks to examine the armed drones, according to White. Home.

Alper Coskun, a former Turkish diplomat and researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Turkey’s position meant it had to “Maintain a balance as a country in the region.

“It is natural and right for Turkey to maintain close relations with Russia and Iran to protect national interests while fulfilling NATO membership duties,” he said, noting that some Western countries have found such contacts. disconcerting.

“Given that our Western allies, particularly the United States, have doubts that Turkey shares collective interests, these bilateral contacts could attract attention,” he said.

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