The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has reaffirmed its committment to Turkey as a valued member of the 28 nation alliance in attempt to allay Turkey’s concerns that it does not have the full support of the West. “North Atlantic Treaty Organisation counts on the continued contributions of Turkey and Turkey can count on the solidarity and support of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation”, the press statement read.
Advertisement
According to the Express, this should be alarming to NATO’s allies, because this demonstrates how further Western relations have degraded in the region following the failed coup.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Konstantin Palace outside St Petersburg, Russia, on Tuesday, Aug 9, 2016.
The shooting down of a Russian fighter jet by a Turkish F-16 on the Syrian border last November saw Putin slap sanctions on Turkey and launch a blistering war of words that dealt serious damage to burgeoning ties.
Following the meeting, Putin said that Russian Federation is interested in the full restoration of bilateral relations with Turkey. Then, Turkey joined the spurned or semi-spurned list based on what was considered to be its government’s repressive response to an attempted coup d’etat by its military against Mr. Erdogan last month.
He demanded that the USA extradite Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim cleric whom he accuses of organising the coup. Turkey has been a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member since 1952.
Erdogan, in his opening remarks, thanked Putin twice for inviting him to Russian Federation and said cooperation between the two countries should benefit the entire region.
For his part Erdogan said that he hoped Russia-Turkish ties would become “more robust” and stressed how important it was that Putin offered his support after the coup.
Russian Federation supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad while Turkey opposes the Syrian leader.
The dispute has strained US-Turkish ties, with some Turkish officials implying the US could have been behind the coup.
Moscow has accused the Turkish government of turning a blind eye to the flow of weapons and supplies to the Islamic State group and other extremists in Syria.
The presidents of Russia and Turkey vowed to open a new period of close relations as they rebuild ties between their countries after a almost seven-month rupture over Ankara’s shooting down of a Russian warplane past year.
The failed July coup also appeared to draw the two countries closer together.
Advertisement
On talk of the death penalty being restored in Turkey, he said this was “only a discussion” triggered by people’s anger after the failed coup. “We worked very hard to have good relations with Europe for 15 years”, Cavusoglu said, as he blasted the European Union for having “encouraged the putschists”.
