Europe reacted differently to the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan. German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the dialogue between the presidents. “I have no doubt that Turkey knows exactly which side it is on,” she said.
Vice-President of the European Parliament Alexander Count Lambsdorff believes that Turkey will not break with the West. “Erdogan is paying a visit to Putin to make it clear that he can take a different path,” the politician said.
But there are other opinions. Foreign policy expert of the Social Democratic Party of Germany Niels Annen said that the West cannot be interested in bringing Ankara closer to Moscow while Turkey is moving away from NATO.
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“Erdogan’s meeting with Putin shows that the Turkish president is by no means just an emotional, unpredictable politician. On the contrary, after reconciliation with Israel and rapprochement with Russia, Erdogan showed himself to be a very pragmatic politician and expanded his foreign policy capabilities,” Annen believes.
By a strange coincidence, it was on the eve of Putin’s meeting with Erdogan that calls were made from European countries to interrupt negotiations with Turkey on joining the EU.
The official representative of the ruling Liberal Party of Denmark on foreign policy, Mikael Ostrup Jensen, motivates this by the “undemocratic (legislative) initiatives” of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his readiness to restore the death penalty in the country.
“The red line limiting what an EU candidate country can afford has already been crossed. This should lead not just to the suspension of negotiations, but to their termination and the exclusion of Turkey from the list of candidate countries,” Jensen said.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern also called for an end to the negotiation process on Turkey's accession to the European Union. He also proposed bringing this issue up for consideration at the next EU summit on September 16 in Bratislava.
Similar signals are affecting Turkey. While Erdogan was flying to St. Petersburg, members of his government were sending messages in a different direction. Thus, EU Affairs Minister Omer Celik hastened to assure that contacts with Moscow do not mean a cooling of relations with the European Union.
“Now they are asking whether Turkey is breaking ties with Europe by moving closer to Russia. Negative propaganda against our country begins. Relations with Russia cannot be regarded as an alternative. Strengthening ties with the Russian Federation does not mean weakening our relations with the EU,” Celik said on the HaberTurk TV channel.