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** Putin's Man in Ankara: Erdoğan ([link removed])
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by Burak Bekdil • October 4, 2023 at 5:00 am
* Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is trying to get the most from Turkey's theoretical Western allies while in reality allying with Russian President Vladimir Putin – like sort of a Muslim Fidel Castro.
* "[A]ny sense of a significant change in Mr. Erdoğan's balancing act between Russia and the West appeared to evaporate on Monday, when he and Mr. Putin stood side by side after a meeting in the Russian resort town of Sochi and spoke of expanding cooperation." — Editorial, The New York Times, September 4, 2023.
* Erdoğan returned home [from Sochi] with an agenda to convince Western parties to the [grain corridor] deal on whatever terms Moscow insists should be in any new agreement.
* Erdoğan needs Western money to prevent Turkey's economic suicide. He needs U.S.-made fighter jets to maintain a delicate power balance over the Aegean skies. He needs Western pats on the shoulder to win legitimacy for his undemocratic one-man rule. But he wants all of these cookies without having to give up Russia. Over the past years, Erdoğan has made Turkey addicted to Russia, like a junkie to a dealer.
* [I]t was appalling to hear an EU ambassador in Ankara tell me that he was appalled that Erdoğan said that a) he trusts Russia as much as he trusts the West, and that b) Ankara could "part ways" with the European Union if necessary. Erdogan's ultranationalist ally, Devlet Bahçeli, immediately endorsed the cheap bluff: "We're done with the EU."
* That is the way Erdoğan does horse trading. Sadly, each time, the gullible West gets cheated.
* Erdoğan's Turkey is one of the breakers of Western sanctions on Russia. Earlier in September, the US State Department imposed ([link removed]) sanctions on five Turkish shipping and trade companies for repairing Russian Defence Ministry vessels, transporting Russian military goods, and helping Russia to evade sanctions.
* Perhaps Erdoğan is right. Turkey should part ways with the EU – and NATO too.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is trying to get the most from Turkey's theoretical Western allies while in reality allying with Russian President Vladimir Putin – like sort of a Muslim Fidel Castro. Pictured: Putin greets Erdoğan in Sochi, Russia, on September 4, 2023. (Photo by Sergei Guneyev/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is trying to get the most from Turkey's theoretical Western allies while in reality allying with Russian President Vladimir Putin – like sort of a Muslim Fidel Castro.

In an article published last month, this author suggested:

"Once again, Western optimists are misreading Erdoğan, that he is 'rekindling fraught relations with the West.' He just needs Western money, a few pats on the shoulder and legitimacy for his sultanship."

The New York Times, in an editorial, woke up and agreed:

"Just two months ago, many in the West thought they had seen indications that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey was shifting away from what they saw as his overly chummy relationship with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

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