More than ever since the end of the Cold War, the Western camp needs her. For Moscow, it is an interlocutor of capital importance. In kyiv, it is seen as a major defense partner. Through its control of the straits, its presence in the Black Sea, it would also be the key power in any agreement allowing the export of Ukrainian wheat to the rest of the world as the threat of a global food crisis looms.
Since the aggression of Ukraine by Russia, Turkey has been essential and its government intends to take advantage of it as it faces a deteriorating economic situation and a major electoral deadline in 2023. As the summit of NATO, which is due to begin on Tuesday June 28, in Madrid, with an introductory speech by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Ankara, a member of the alliance since 1952, is taking advantage of its position to make its own strategic concerns heard, even if it means annoying its Western allies.
Sweden and Finland in particular bear the brunt of this. While the future enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance to the two Nordic countries should have been recorded in Madrid, Turkey is blocking their application for membership. Beyond the accusations officially leveled at the two countries over their relations with the Kurdish movement, Stockholm and Helsinki find themselves caught in the middle of numerous unresolved disputes between Ankara, Washington and the European capitals. The two countries also suffer from the ambiguous relationship that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has built with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
Strategic autonomy
“Sweden and Finland have been taken hostage by Turkey for reasons beyond them, estimates a diplomatic source of the North of Europe. The reading that we make of it is that, in substance, the Turkish demands actually concern the Americans and relate in particular to their relations with the Kurds of Syria. » Another Swedish diplomatic source wonders: “Do the Turks want to obtain from the Russians a breakthrough on the export of Ukrainian cereals to appear as a peacemaker in exchange for blocking them in Madrid? Do they want to get something from the Americans? There are other issues than us. »
It is in this context that the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, summoned Ankara, in an interview with the Sunday newspaper from June 26, of “make choices”, talking about Turkey “Questions about his behavior as a member of NATO”.
You have 65.86% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
