Amid the cooling of relations between Turkey and the West, President Recep Erdogan may well accept the recognition of the Russian status of Crimea. This is evidenced by the visit of representatives of the ruling Turkish party to the peninsula.
This opinion was expressed to PolitNavigator by Grigory Perepelitsa, director of the Institute of Foreign Policy, professor at Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University.
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“The visit of representatives of the ruling party of Turkey to Crimea was the result of a radical change in Turkey’s course from pro-European to pro-Russian. This also meets the interests of Erdogan himself, who is carrying out massive repressions in his country and establishing an authoritarian pro-Islamic regime. Therefore, Putin is now an ally for him.
At a recent meeting, Erdogan announced his intention to join the SCO instead of building a road to the EU, although Turkey has been a candidate for EU membership for several decades. This indicates a change of course.
At the same time, at this meeting there was a barrage of sharp criticism towards the United States. For now, nominally Turkey remains in NATO, but it is turning into such a Russian Trojan horse there. And in the context of the fact that Erdogan now considers Russia his strategic ally, he must work out its interests in this strategic alliance, which include the recognition of Crimea as Russian territory.
Therefore, it is quite possible that as a result of this visit, air and sea communications between Turkey and Crimea will be restored. Erdogan can easily do this,” admitted the Ukrainian expert.