From the Ukraine-Russia war to the Turkey-Greece tension…
From the Ukraine-Russia war to the Turkey-Greece tension – An article by IŞIN ELİÇİN (Medyascope.tv)
In Turkey, it’s all about the upcoming election now. The steps that have been taken and will be taken in foreign policy, as well as in domestic policy, are being shaped in accordance with the goal of strengthening and protection of the power of President Erdogan, who also announced his expected candidacy this week. Erdogan said earlier in the week, “Whoever is attacking this brother of yours in the world is actually attacking Turkey. Whoever is defaming the AK Party and the Cumhur Alliance in the world is actually targeting Turkey”. He did not call out his party comrades and say these for nothing. So the “survival/continuation discourse” is in circulation again, as it was before the 2019 local elections.
Based on this point of view, let’s look again at the use of the veto card of Sweden and Finland for NATO membership, the declaration of the Greek Prime Minister Miçotakis as “does not exist for me” by Erdogan and the plans for operations in Syria. These three almost simultaneous moves, which stylistically take on the atmosphere of defiance; Turkey’s implementation from 2021 onwards primarily indicates a deviation from the diplomacy-dialogue to solve problems with the USA and Western allies without raising tensions. Ilhan Uzgel, a professor of international relations, recently argued in an article that “Erdogan was trying to get what he couldn’t get from the West and especially from the Biden administration by compromising, by forcing it this time, showing that he still has some leverage”. My prediction is that Erdogan will raise tensions with the West and maintain his perception of a “defiant leader” by raising his hand until the election.
This is an excerpt from an important article by IŞIN ELİÇİN writing on medyascope.tv
The continuation is available in Turkish language on this link: medyascope.tv/2022/06/11/isin-elicin-yazdi-ukrayna-rusya-savasindan-turkiye-yunanistan-gerilimine/ (Google or Yandex Translate will certainly be of help for non-Turkish speakers)
