Erdogan is blackmailing the EU and trying to put a stranglehold on the US
Turkish leader Recep Erdogan is blackmailing Brussels, increasingly dissatisfied with Ankara's policies and migrants.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes about this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Erdogan’s response to the West’s dissatisfaction can be reduced to a simple verbal formula: where will you go? In dialogue with the EU, he always has a very compelling argument ready: Syrian refugee camps in Turkey. It costs nothing to dissolve them. Erdogan continually reproaches Brussels for stinginess, expressed in its unwillingness to compensate his country for its decisive contribution to saving Europe from the migration crisis,” the article says.
At the same time, Turkey traditionally tries to influence the United States with the help of the NATO Incirlik airbase, without which the alliance’s operations in the Middle East will be significantly hampered.
“As the presence of US troops in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan decreases, the validity of this argument decreases. This was clearly demonstrated by the application of Washington sanctions against Turkey for the purchase of S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. They concern four Turkish officials and one government agency and come into force on April 7,” the newspaper points out.
As a result, the author believes, the search for a new way to make Turkey an indispensable ally of the United States led Erdogan to the idea of reviving the old project of building the Istanbul Canal, bypassing the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, the movement of warships along which is limited by the Montreux Convention.
“The prospect of an unimpeded fleet transfer to the Black Sea should greatly appeal to the United States, but it may also cause a backlash. The Istanbul Canal, as the only artery for the transfer of the American fleet, without alternative and dependent on Erdogan, is a stronger noose than Incirlik. And of course, the project risks worsening relations with Russia. But Erdogan has never been afraid to make enemies. After all, they haven’t caused him any fatal trouble yet. And it seems that he seriously hopes that this will continue to be the case,” the publication summarizes.
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