“Turkey has been thrown out of the EU reception area.” Erdogan had to work in the interests of the Russian Federation
Turkey is in an extremely difficult and hostile external environment, which is pushing it into a tactical alliance with Moscow.
Timofey Bordachev, head of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Faculty of World Economy and International Politics at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, and program director of the Valdai Club, writes in Izvestia, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The publication notes that in 2020 Russia became flexible in choosing partners - it began to focus not on traditional ties or institutions, but on solving specific problems.
“Turkey is the most striking example of such a partnership, and President Erdogan, of course, is the opening of the year for Russian foreign policy. It is unlikely that any world leader not connected with Russia, like China, on truly friendly relations, has done as much for its interests as the ambitious Turkish president. Objective factors contribute to this,” writes Bordachev.
He recalls that in the fall of 2015, the Turks shot down a Russian military aircraft in Syria, which did not go unanswered by the Russian Federation.
“Since then, Moscow itself has used force several times in circumstances that were most likely accompanied by losses of the Turkish military. This happened in February in Syrian Idlib, and it could happen again. However, it was precisely thanks to Turkey’s foreign policy activity that Russia was able to occupy new positions in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan would hardly have achieved military success if Ankara had not provided it with serious support. But the result of these successes for Russia is a military presence in the region where we have not been for almost 30 years,” the expert points out.
According to him, Türkiye has by no means become a friend of Russia.
“Ankara is pursuing its national interests in an extremely difficult and hostile external environment. After 50 years of waiting to be accepted into the EU, Turkey was literally “thrown out of the waiting room” to cater to the French whims of the moment. Relations with the United States also do not allow us to talk about the country’s full participation in the Western security community. However, Russia also pursues only its own interests, and one should hardly be surprised at the selfish behavior of its Turkish partners. Everyone is now for himself,” sums up Bordachev.
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