site.btaErdogan between Putin, Zelensky and the West

Turkey, which is in good relations with both Ukraine and Russia, and is trying to normalize those with the West, while also being a leading NATO power, is currently in a very difficult situation. This week President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cut short his Africa tour, declaring he was returning to Turkey to attend the NATO leaders' summit via video conference on Wednesday. Then he made a statement that Turkey could not give up on either Russia or Ukraine.

“We have the same political, military and economic relations with Ukraine. So we cannot give up on them, because our country’s interests there are very high,” he said. “On the other hand, we cannot give up on Russia either, because we have a really advanced relationship at the moment. Our aim is to take such steps that we can resolve this issue without giving up on any of them,” Erdogan said, as quoted by the Anadolu Agency.

Hours earlier, Erdogan said the declaration of ‘independence’ of Donetsk and Lugansk on the part of Russia was unacceptable to Turkey and that Turkey respected the territorial integrity of Ukraine. He called on all parties to abide by international law.

In a phone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, Erdogan yet again underscored that, as a matter of principle, Ankara does not recognize recent steps by Moscow that violated "Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," while highlighting the importance of reaching a solution to the dispute between the two countries on the basis of the Minsk agreements. 

He also stressed Turkey’s efforts to help reach a resolution.

It should be noted that Erdogan also spoke with Ukraine’s Zelensky on the phone this past week.

Both Turkish and western media constantly spoke of the terrible real danger of war, and now these predictions have come true. Nevertheless, Turkish authorities never stopped repeating that absolutely all diplomatic means should be used, meaning that they remain hopeful.

A neighbour to both Ukraine and Russia via the Black Sea, Turkey has long pressed for a diplomatic solution in a bid to defuse tensions between its fellow NATO members and Moscow.

Last month, Erdogan said Turkey was “ready to do whatever is necessary” to avoid a war that would hit close to home and called for “dialogue that will listen to Russia and eliminate their reasonable security concerns”.

But with fighting now raging in Ukraine, it seems unlikely that Ankara will be able to achieve any success in quelling the conflict. 

The Turkish newspaper Star wrote that the latest development change the geopolitics in the region and the distribution of powers, which forces Ankara to both act in new conditions and prepare for the further development of events. Besides, it is quite clear that like any other country, Turkey has its own goals and President Erdogan is playing his own game in his attempt to be the peacekeeper at the resolution of the complicated conflict involving Ukraine.

Just as after the war in August 2008, when Moscow recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, now too the situation for Ankara is exceedingly complicated. On the one hand, Turkey, like its western partners, does not support Russia’s decision to recognize Donetsk and Lugansk. On the other, cooperation with Moscow is exceedingly important to Ankara and it would like to avoid the risk of deterioration in relations with Russia.

Ukraine and Russia are indeed key trade partners, with the latter supplying 40 per cent of Turkey’s natural gas imports and a quarter of its petrol imports. The conflict between the two countries stands to harm Turkey’s already-beleaguered economy, Al Jazeera commented.

Many observers say that Turkish media are relatively objective in reporting both Russia’s complicated relations with the West and the Ukrainian crisis.

After the latest developments though, on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, and condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “heavy blow to regional peace and stability”.

“We reject Russia’s military operation,” he said in a televised speech after convening an emergency security meeting. Erdogan said Russia's military intervention in Ukraine is "against the international law and a heavy blow to peace, tranquility, and stability of the region."

Turkey rejects Russia's "unacceptable" military operation against Ukraine and reiterates its call on Russia and Ukraine to resolve the issues through dialogue in line with the Minsk agreements, he added, as quoted by the Anadolu Agency.

The president also said Turkey will "do its part to ensure safety of everyone living in Ukraine, especially its citizens, including Tatar brothers and sisters,".

From this point on one can only await further developments.