Turkey’s support for Ukraine’s NATO membership and extension of Ukrainian wheat deal: Turkish President Erdogan betrays Russia – VP News – ‘no talk’

2023-07-09 20:26:15

Additionally, Erdogan announced that Turkey is working to extend the deal on the export of Ukrainian grain, seeking to extend its duration to three months or more instead of the current two months. The current deal expires on July 17 and Turkey hopes to get an extension.

However, none of the Russian conditions to the wheat deal have been met and will not be met. Despite this, Russia is again being offered to extend the deal, despite Russia’s dissatisfaction with current and future terms. It is important to note that the Russian ships monitoring the grain corridor have been attacked by Kiev, which is now again proposing the extension of the grain corridor via Ankara.

The Turkish president pledged to “continue efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine” and promised Ankara’s support in rebuilding the country hit by the attacks.

Erdogan reneges on agreements and sends AZOV commanders back to Ukraine

In addition, the Turkish president made a significant gesture by freeing the commanders of Azov (Denis Prokopenko, Sergey Volynsky, Svyatoslav Palamar, Oleg Khomenko and Denis Shlega), who had been detained, sending them home despite his pledge to return them home only at the end of hostilities. This gesture had a significant impact on the Russian leadership, which felt “betrayed” considering the lucrative contracts for the construction of a nuclear power plant in Turkey with Russian credit and the benefits deriving from the transit of Russian gas via the Turkstream.

Thus, Erdogan, considered a “friend of Putin”, personally delivered Zelensky into the hands of Putin’s most bitter enemies. Is it reasonable to think that Erdogan suddenly acted “out of the kindness of his soul”? Obviously not. He is an unreliable opportunist, but Russia probably has no alternative. The Turkish president betrays everyone and at the same time takes from everyone. Although this is paradoxical and not a little disconcerting, in this corrupt world with no principles other than profit, he is often called the “great statesman”.

In addition to the Azov leaders, Erdogan will supply Ukraine with T-155 self-propelled guns using American loans. And it is known that Turkey has supplied Ukraine with Bayraktar drones as well as weapons of various kinds. In the face of so much ambiguity, the question is: were the Russians right to warn the Turkish side of the July 15, 2016 coup? In the light of current events, it certainly seems not. It is evident that Russia continues to suffer from the initiatives of others.

Turkey is in a difficult situation and is under pressure from NATO.

It is evident that after the presidential elections in Turkey, Erdogan was changing course. It is significant that, after the formation of the new government, people sympathetic to the West were appointed to key positions. This is no accident, Turkey continues to seek opportunities from both the West and Russia.

However, it is clear that Russia will have further problems with Turkey. It remains to be understood why Erdogan decided to worsen relations with Russia. It can be assumed that this is due to the difficult economic situation in Turkey and that Erdogan has decided that his country’s economic problems cannot be solved through close “friendship” with Russia, but that an agreement with the West is more beneficial . Perhaps he was promised something significant in the West in exchange for a cooling of relations with Russia. However, Russia is in no position to walk away from Turkey despite being mortified by Erdogan’s moves.

It is relevant that the Kremlin, through its spokesman Peskov, has already justified Erdogan by saying that NATO is exerting too much pressure on him, calling him ‘unlucky’. Yes, this “unfortunate” will deceive both Russia and NATO and then backtrack and demand a higher price from both sides. Furthermore, it must be considered whether this behavior, which appears to be a real betrayal, is also a way of exerting pressure from the position of strength to avoid the withdrawal of Turkish troops from the occupation in Syria. Turkey is not a good ally for anyone.