Western officials “increasingly alarmed”According to the Financial Times, Turkey is a NATO ally, and a potential EU member. After talks with Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdan recently returned to Sochi and promised to increase trade.
Six Western officials, who were not named by the paper, claimed that they were “concerned” about the plans of Russia and Turkey to cooperate on trade and energy. An EU official stated that Brussels had been monitoring relations between Ankara, Moscow. “more and more closely,” given how Turkey seems to be “increasingly”Being a trading platform with Russia
Following a four-hour meeting with Putin on Friday, Erdogan welcomed Russia’s role in building a nuclear power plant in Turkey. Both countries aim to achieve a $100 billion bilateral trade turnover and cooperate in fighting terrorism as well as promoting peace in Libyan, Syria and Syria.
Putin promised Russia that it would supply Turkey oil, gas, and coal. “without any interruptions,”After the leaders reached an agreement, Ankara agreed to pay some of this gas with rubles.
Another official told the newspaper that Erdogan’s behavior is “very opportunistic,”This is an additional feature “we are trying to make the Turks pay attention to our concerns.”
Turkey is a NATO member country since 1952, and an EU candidate since 1987. However, Turkey broke with each bloc on multiple occasions. Most recently, it was over the conflict in Ukraine.
Erdogan described Erdogan’s diplomacy in Moscow and Kiev with the following words: “balanced,”Against Russia’s military operations, the United States has not sanctioned it. Turkey is not the only NATO member to refuse such sanctions.
Erdogan took advantage of the chance to host peace talks in March between the two countries. These negotiations failed to produce any results. He has been praised for his role in overseeing the negotiations that resulted in the return of grain shipments from Ukrainian ports across the Black Sea. As the Financial Times’ article went online on Saturday, the first ship carrying Ukrainian corn arrived in Istanbul for inspection by Turkish, Ukrainian, Russian and UN officials.
Financial Times spoke with officials that said there had been no discussion in Brussels over possible sanctions against Turkey. But, that members might reduce financial and trade cooperation. Washington warns that countries who circumvent its sanctions on Russia will be penalized. “secondary sanctions,”It is not clear if the US, EU or other countries will make this move against Turkey.
Turkey has enough power to sometimes break ranks with Western allies. Its role in hosting some 3.7 million migrants since 2015 who would otherwise have traveled on to Europe has allowed it to extract concessions from the EU, while its strategically vital location – Incirlik Air Base in Adana is within striking distance of all of the US’ most recent theaters of war in the Middle East – grants it influence over its NATO allies.
Turkey, despite intense US pressure, has integrated the Russian S-400 anti-air defense system into its army. This was done in an effort to prevent Sweden and Finland from joining NATO.
According to the FT, at this time, Western officials suggest that individual countries could call on their banks or corporations to pull out of Turkey. However, such a move would not be concrete.
“There are very significant economic interests that would probably fight hard against such negative actions,”One European official said that they would, but added that it was his intention to. “not rule out any negative actions [if] Turkey gets too close to Russia.”
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