Filenews 13 November 2021
Turkey is drifting deeper and deeper into the Russian trajectory," Turkish journalist Burak Bekdil reckons, recalling that "like a despised lover, deeply offended by President Biden's refusal to meet him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York, Islamist President Tayyip Erdogan rushed to Sochi on the Black Sea, in Russia, on September 29 for a private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin."
In an analysis of the Gatestone Institute, Beckdil cites Turkish former MP Aikan Erdemir's view that the "Turkish president will continue to play a corrosive role within NATO, creating other opportunities for Putin to undermine the North Atlantic Alliance and its values. The Turkish journalist calls NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg's statements that Turkey is "an important ally that played an important role in the defeat of the Islamic State" "childishly naïve". Bekdil, one of Turkey's best-known journalists, who was recently fired from the newspaper "Huriyet", where he worked for 29 years, because of his views on his country's course, counters that "Turkey is becoming an increasingly important ally of Russia, not NATO". He even points out that Turkey's "paramilitary groups in Syria are the jihadist remnants of the Islamic State."
He continues: "In Sochi, Erdogan met with Putin only in the presence of translators, that is, without the official delegation, defying any diplomatic rule. The two leaders called the meeting "useful", smiled at the cameras and announced that they agreed to cooperate on critical defence technologies, including aircraft, engines, submarines and Space. In addition, Ankara and Moscow will discuss Russian know-how and the construction of two more nuclear power plants for Turkey, in addition to the $10 billion nuclear reactor already being built on the Mediterranean coast. All this strategic planning will further increase Turkey's NATO ally's dependence on Russia, Ankara's largest gas supplier."
"Turkey's turn from the West in general continues relentlessly," Eugene Cogan, a defence and security analyst based in Tbilisi, Georgia, told the Gatestone Institute. "Putin and his government are well aware of Turkey's weaknesses: a) the economy is going from bad to worse; (b) the pandemic is not under control; (c) gas prices are rising, but Russia is ready to offer Turkey an amicable discount; d) arms purchases have an impact on an already hostile U.S. Senate."
THE S-400 AND THE US. Turkish former congressman Aikan Erdemir believes Erdogan's stance serves as a wake-up call to Biden administration officials. "Erdogan's statements about Russia buying a second batch of the S-400 air defence system should put Biden administration officials on alert, who have been cited by Turkey as an 'invaluable partner' and 'important NATO ally' over the past month." He continues: "Erdogan's insistence on a second batch of S-400s reflects the impunity the Turkish president has felt since he offered in June to help the Biden administration during and after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Given that the Biden administration's dependence on the Erdogan administration in Afghanistan severely limits Washington's ability to repel Ankara's violations, bipartisan congressional action is necessary to rebuild the U.S. and NATO deterrence in the face of the challenges posed by the presidents of Turkey and Russia."
Erdogan, Beckdil concludes, "is trying to make Turkey a unique example of a political oxymoron: An 'invaluable' NATO ally that maintains both a deep strategic and a military alliance with Russia. He will not back down unless he sees that his love for Russia will have a punitive cost."
