Aykan Sever
“Turkey is in a financial crisis. The West however, does not want to lose Turkey, who they see as a market and barrier against refugees between the West and the Middle East.” writes Ayken Sever for Yeni Özgür Politika.
The critical voices from the West are beginning to be raised in the face of the full onslaught of the dictatorship that attempts to cower the peoples of the country into submission. Even NATO has come to such a point that they say, “We have some objections at issue.” Some international human rights organizations have finally begun to call on their own states not to be a “partner in crime” with Turkey, something that they should have been saying years ago.
However, all ‘concerns’ are nothing more than window dressing.
Some press reports state that negotiations with the Turkish regime and statements from the US and EU authorities were nothing more than expressing “concerns” which are not able to be put into practice as sanctions. There are rumours that Biden is willing for some limited sanctions, but we do not know about that. And if President Biden would not want sanctions would the EU administration take any step against Turkey? I don’t think so. The thing is, is that public opinion in the US already has a negative attitude against the dictatorship in Turkey.
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There are two emerging fronts the Turkish regime focuses on.
Turkey participates in NATO’s military exercises in the Black Sea, off the coastlines of Georgia and Ukraine. Some ‘think tanks’ in the US suggest the Turkish state might play an important role in the search for balance against Iran, Russia and China in an attempt to develop a “new” position in the Black Sea.
It is also discussed that Turkish personnel might be active on the military fronts with Turkish armed drones in the war against the Donbas region.
Another attention-grabbing issue directly relevant to this topic is the new military exercises in Azerbaijan and the new airport construction in Varanda, which is among the new regions that Turkish-backed Azerbaijan took control of.
The Turkish state has been building up a military presence in the Ain Issa region of NE Syria with the Russians drawing attention to this military mobilisation. Although there were ceasefire agreements signed by both Russia and the USA they have remained silent when the Turkish state carried out air strikes against Syrian Democratic Forces positions during the weekend.
Both of them continue to play their duet drama. It was once again shown that what really matters to them is not the future of the peoples of the region, but the continuation of their relations with Turkey. With the attack against Turkish-backed forces in Idlib in the aftermath of the airstrikes, Russia continued this bilateral policy. Next month, it will impose a second S-400 purchase on Turkey.
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Turkey is in a financial crisis. The West however, does not want to lose Turkey, who they see as a market and barrier against refugees between the West and the Middle East.
Taking advantage of the political and military power vacuum in the countries of the region so far, Turkey has reached its limits as well. Having already lost its capacity to be an actor in regional wars where there are other larger and more numerous actors have also been playing their moves, it is very hard for Turkey to overcome this turmoil, unless a political movement, which undertakes radical change embracing the hopes of the peoples of the regions, emerges.
