Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky deliberately provoked Turkish President Recep Erdogan to declare that Crimea belongs to Ukraine.
In turn, the Turkish leader only played along with the showman.
Candidate of political sciences, retired captain of the first rank Sergei Gorbachev told PolitNavigator about this.
“Erdogan has made similar statements before. In this case, Zelensky used his trip to have the Turkish president repeat his maxims.
I think that Erdogan simply could not say anything else in this situation due to a number of circumstances.
In the foreseeable future, it is unlikely that we should expect anything different from the Turkish leadership,” stated Gorbachev.
At the same time, he emphasized that Erdogan’s statements regarding Crimea in no way interfere with Russia’s increasing influence in the Black Sea.
“We must perceive these maxims as political rhetoric. Moreover, it is not followed by anything that would really harm us and slow down the expansion of Russia’s influence in the Black Sea region.
Erdogan is not taking any measures aimed at weakening Russian influence. Over time, this position will transform,” Gorbachev confidently suggested and recalled that in March of this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his intention to invite Erdogan to Simferopol for the opening of the cathedral mosque.