Erdogan’s Visit to Russia May Change Regional Equations
TEHRAN (Basirat)- Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s recent visit to Russia could mark the beginning of a new chapter in relations between Moscow and Ankara. A chapter in which Russia has the upper hand and Turkey is inevitable for several reasons to consider the Kremlin’s desires in its relations with Moscow.
Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s recent visit to Russia could mark the beginning of a new chapter in relations between Moscow and Ankara. A chapter in which Russia has the upper hand and Turkey is inevitable for several reasons to consider the Kremlin’s desires in its relations with Moscow. By Dr.Shuaib Bahman
At present, Turkey is involved in an inappropriate situation as it is still suffering from the aftermath of last month’s failed military coup attempt against the government of Erdogan, and therefore it needs to expand its relations with a foreign power.
While ties between Turkey and the US have been strained due to Washington's covert role in the coup, Russia can be a good replacement for the US in order to both create balance in Ankara's relations with the West and convey this message to the US and European countries that Turkey has multiple options in its foreign policy and can choose Russia as its strategic partner if its relations with the West get worsened.
This is while that Erdogan should make concessions to Russia in order to be able to reach its desired goals because, given the current situation, this is Turkey that needs to expand its ties with Moscow to benefit from such a relationship both inside and outside the country. Russians understand this very well and are trying different ways to push ahead with their goals.
For instance, Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier that Moscow will phase out sanctions against Turkey step-by-step but the priority is to bring bilateral ties between the two countries to their pre-crisis level. By doing so, Russia is actually seeking to learn about reasons and objectives behind Ankara’s shift in its foreign policy. Moreover, one of the most important goals that Russia is following here is related to Turkey’s change of approach toward the Syrian crisis.
From Russia’s perspective, Ankara is now in a position of weakness and that has created favorable conditions for its change of policy towards Syria. Accordingly, while Russia tries to appeal to Turkey to act against terrorism, it seeks to prevent it from helping terrorist groups covertly.
In the meantime, Russia plans to change Turkey’s view about the future of President Bashar Assad and, thus, detach its policy toward Syria from that of Arab and Western countries.
Now, Russians know very well that the Syrian crisis has turned into a matter of honor for Erdogan inside Turkey. Therefore, the Kremlin is trying to lay the ground for Erdogan's dignified exit from the crisis as well as his gradual change of policy toward Syria.
