The biggest surprise of the summit was that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan withdrew his opposition to Sweden’s NATO membership, writes the United States Institute of Peace, a US federal institute tasked with helping to resolve and prevent conflicts. , on July 13.
It grabbed the headlines, of course. But what is less well known are Erdogan’s other moves which, taken together, suggest that he is now backtracking on concessions to Moscow in the wake of the Russian insurgency.
As much as Moscow tries to cover up and present this gap as harmless, it presents Russian President Vladimir Putin as a much weaker figure than anyone could have imagined just two months ago.
In light of this, Erdogan shifted his position between his imperative to be a NATO ally and managing his relationship with his giant neighbor Russia. For now, at least, he tends to be more inferior to his NATO allies.
The first signs that Turkey had changed its mind appeared shortly before the summit. On July 8, Ukrainian President Zelensky visited Erdogan, who handed him five Ukrainian commanders.
Russia condemned Erdogan’s decision as a breach of a public promise to Turkey, part of a deal brokered by Turkey last year. From the outside, the abandonment of Turkey’s opposition to Sweden’s entry seemed very sudden, but it was partly the result of Erdogan’s covert efforts, quite successful, as it turned out, to reach the toughest possible deal with the NATO allies.
Finally, an interesting issue that is not yet resolved is the tension between Russia and Turkey over the preservation of the grain agreement. While Russia has expressed interest in terminating the deal when it expires next week, Turkey has said it will work to keep the deal in place.
In recent days, Erdogan has publicly pressured Putin to extend the deal: “The ball is in President Putin’s court, and the whole world is watching”.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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