President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in
Brussels today.
First, he met the Secretary-General
of NATO. He got a very simple message. NATO is already doing quite a bit for Turkey,
in terms of deployment of radars and other means of defence. But it can’t do
much more, particularly in support of Turkey’s campaign inside Syria. That
would bring the Organization, sooner or later, into a direct clash with Russia.
Nobody within the Alliance wants that to happen. Moreover, many within NATO are
yet to understand the special defence relationship President Erdogan has
developed with the Russian President. He seems to have one foot in NATO and the
other in Moscow. That’s certainly a strange policy.
Second, he spent time with the EU
leaders, Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen. The meeting came to no real
conclusion. There is little love left within the EU for Erdogan’s actions, in
particular for his manipulation of the migrant and refugee populations. Erdogan
is seen by many as a problem, a big challenge at the gates of Europe.
If there is one conclusion to take
from the visit, I would say that in Europe there is no trust on President
Erdogan’s ambitions. That should be clearly stated.
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