Erdogan and Putin are both seen internationally as strong but autocratic leaders, and there may be some common ground in the way that the Turkish president has restricted his country’s media environment, an accusation often levelled at Putin’s Russian Federation.
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The presidents of Turkey and Russian Federation met in St. Petersburg on Tuesday, after months of enmity between their two countries.
In his first trip overseas since the attempted takeover by the military, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly courted Russian Federation – in vivid contrast to recent and bitter hostilities with Moscow, especially over Syria’s civil war.
Then, after the 15 July coup attempt in Turkey, Mr Putin expressed support for Mr Erdogan.
The visit, Erdogan’s first after the coup attempt against him last month, is expected to “reinvigorate” ties between the two nations over which hang the shadows Ukraine and political purges, both issues that did not go down well with the West. So what are some of the issues in play?
As Ankara sealed its rapprochement with Russian Federation, at home it warned of rising anti-American sentiment and of risks to a migrant deal with the European Union, in remarks which underlined how bad its ties with the West are.
The meeting provided a stark visual of a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation country’s leader making his first visit overseas after a coup attempt not to a fellow alliance ally, but to its nemesis, Russia. About 22,000 people have been arrested or detained by Turkish authorities following the failed takeover.
The Erdogan Administration has since alleged that the United States played an active role in the coup attempt, with Erdogan hinting that his former ally and current arch-nemesis, Fethullah Gulen, was a “pawn” in USA military and intelligence operations.
Putin underlined his position in St. Petersburg Tuesday.
The post Erdogan Visits Putin, Seeks to Mend Broken Ties With Russia appeared first on SIGNAL.
Over the long term Mr. Putin wants to weaken Turkey’s attachment to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which has been firming up its ability to defend Eastern Europe after Russia’s depredations in Ukraine.
For Russia, fueling tensions within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance is squarely within its interests, says Alexander Shimulin, of the US-Canada Institute in Moscow.
Mr Erdogan was angered by criticism from the European Union and the United States of the mass detentions of suspected plotters.
Moscow could use economic levers to force Turkey to compromise on Syria. Turkey would take about 14 billion cubic meters, with the rest going to Europe.
Apart from that, he touched upon the impacts of the attempted coup on the coup on the country’s economy. Turkey said the jet had crossed into Turkish territory and that Moscow had been repeatedly warned over previous airspace violations. But Turkey will not change its policies vis-à-vis Bashar Assad in Syria. The Muslim Tatars have long had close ties to Turkey.
“Erdogan can threaten to huff and puff and threaten to blow the house down but at the end of the day it is a house made of bricks”.
The Kremlin leader insisted it would take “painstaking work” and “some time” to return to previous trade levels as Russian Federation looks to roll back a series of economic sanctions against Ankara, but both sides said they wanted to restart major energy projects hit by the crisis.
In the Tass interview, Erdogan also claimed that the Nusra Front, which recently formally separated itself from al-Qaida, that the Nusra Front should not be considered a terrorist group because it is fighting against the Islamic State.
Today’s meeting was portrayed by both sides as an attempt to bury the hatchet.
One of the show’s contributors, Andrei Petrovich, acknowledged he had some “cognitive dissonance” accepting that Erdogan was now a friend, but said in general he was content.
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“Turkey seeks regime change, Russian Federation is in favor of regime stability”.
