Erdogan wins – Putin wins too
Contrary to expectations, Putin spoke rather mildly about Turkey's decision on the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. He knows that Ankara will no longer be an instrument of US foreign policy, Sabah writes. Their attempts to contain Russia in the south are doomed to failure.
Berjan Tutar
The trilateral memorandum signed on June 28 in Madrid between Turkey, Sweden and Finland is a kind of declaration of NATO's changing defense doctrine. But this new doctrine will not save the United States either.
After all, NATO, founded on April 4, 1949 against Soviet Russia (USSR) as part of the Cold War project of the United States and Europe, has outlived itself. However, the United States, unable to get rid of its old ideological hysteria, is trying to make a new USSR out of Russia and create a new NATO against it.
This time, the Cold War policy is applied to Russia through the Baltic Front.
Let's not forget that Turkey, which remained neutral during World War II, was made a member of NATO on February 18, 1952 only so that the Atlantic would have a southern front against the USSR. Nevertheless, Turkey has had very strong relations with the Soviet Union since the time of Ataturk.
In 1920-1922, young Turkey asked for help from Soviet Russia, and during the Turkish War of Independence, Vladimir Lenin provided 800 million lira of military aid to the apparatus headed by Mustafa Kemal, which was twice the annual military budget of the Government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNST).
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With the signing of the Turkish-Russian Treaty of Friendship and Brotherhood (the Moscow Treaty) on March 16, 1921, our eastern borders with the Caucasus were guaranteed.
With this treaty, Soviet Russia, which announced the recognition of the declaration of independence of Turkey, testified to all kinds of diplomatic and military support to the government of the VNST against the imperialist powers.
However, after the Second World War, Ismet Inönü, who took advantage of the absence of Ataturk, and the Republican People's Party of Turkey, succumbed to the manipulation of the United States, distanced themselves from the USSR and completely fell under the control of the West. Turkey, accepted into NATO, was turned into a front country against the USSR. Now Joe Biden wants to use the strategy that Harry Truman implemented 70 years ago, using Turkey, this time through Sweden and Finland.
For the southern front of the Atlantic, Turkey was made a member of NATO in 1952. Now Sweden and Finland are being accepted into the alliance for the north-western front of the Atlantic.
There is no doubt that Turkey, due to its geographical location, continues to be an indispensable participant in the polarization between the West and the East, as before. Both Russia and the United States understand this.
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Therefore, Russia's first reaction to the trilateral memorandum, by which Turkey forced NATO to accept its red lines, was in the spirit of: "Erdogan got what he wanted."
The United States has very weak chances to restrain Russia, which has achieved what it wants in Ukraine, from the west and north. Because Russia's southern borders, which provide access to the world through the Caspian, the Caucasus and the Black Sea, will remain open thanks to Turkey.
For this reason, Putin, contrary to expectations, spoke rather mildly about Turkey's decision, noting: "We have no problems with Finland and Sweden." In addition, Putin's calmness, which step by step achieves its goals in Ukraine, is also due to the belief that Turkey will remain neutral.
Putin also knows very well that Erdogan can no longer turn Turkey into an instrument of US foreign policy, as it was in the days of Inenyu. Moreover, the strengthening of Turkey in the Atlantic, paradoxically for some, contributes to the strengthening of Russia.
Turkey's attitude towards NATO, which has declared Russia a new enemy, has obviously been revised for a long time. In this regard, the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance cannot torpedo its relations with Russia. The fact is that Turkey is no longer a front–line country. Turkey is one of the playmakers at the table.
Thus, at a time of deepening global polarization, Turkey's policy development in accordance with its strategic axis plays most into Russia's hands. We can say that while Erdogan gets what he wants and wins, Putin also wins.
