Hüseyin Çiçek in the Tagesspiegel about Turkish-Russian arms deals – A Background
Hüseyin Çiçek, who works as a university assistant in the Alevi Theological Studies course at the University of Vienna since May 2019, but still belongs to the EZIRE as an Associate Member, writes in the Tagesspiegel about the Turkish-Russian arms deals: “The anger of the West comes too late” – from 08.06.2019.
After Western governments had repeatedly failed to respond to the Turkish desire for their own air and missile defence system, Erdogan had now found his ally in Russia for this project. Putin and Erdogan had concluded a deal that would result in the installation of the defence system – made in Russia – this summer.
Erdogan has been trying since 2003, one year after taking office, to reduce Turkey’s dependence on foreign support in security matters and to prove “that an Islamic-conservative party knows how to assess, develop and defend the preservation and expansion of geostrategic interests,” Çiçek said.
Initial plans with China as a partner have failed because of China’s Uighur policy. Subsequent promising talks with France were made more difficult by American support for the Kurdish Peschmerga and the reaction of NATO members to the coup attempt in Turkey.
In the constantly deteriorating atmosphere between Turkey on the one hand and the USA and NATO allies on the other, Putin would have used the opportunity and strengthened the Russian-Turkish alliance.
It is difficult to predict how relations between the parties could normalise, Çiçek concludes. But Erdogan could not completely do without cooperation with the USA, the EU and NATO due to geopolitical interests.