The Economist: Erdogan fuels crisis in desperate bid to win election
A major crisis sparked by Turkey’s rejection of Finland’s and Sweden’s membership applications in NATO made the leaders of the member states confirm that Turkey has become the weakest link in the alliance under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to the British magazine “The Economist”, the government of Turkish President Erdogan has proved to be the weak point in NATO, especially since the Turkish crises and disagreements with the European Union and the United States are increasing due to Erdogan’s policies and his insistence on destabilizing the region, the most recent of which was his refusal to join NATO with Sweden and Finland and the threat to attack the Kurds in Syria, and to increase tensions with neighboring Greece.
Turkish aggression
Erdogan’s aggressive practices caused growing frustration in Western capitals, where many believed that the war in Ukraine would force him to reconsider his positions, according to the British magazine “The Economist”, clarifying that Erdogan’s objections to NATO membership requests from Sweden and Finland have further damaged Turkey’s position in the alliance, and Erdogan seems to have become hostile to expansion.
It added that the country now risks being marginalized as NATO countries plan to provide bilateral security guarantees with the two countries as an alternative to membership. The magazine pointed out that Turkey’s membership in NATO has become controversial, as the leaders of the alliance started whispering among themselves about the need to separate from Turkey, and confirmed that it is clear that the same thing for Turkey, where Devlet Bahçeli, the leader of a nationalist party in Erdogan’s alliance, said recently: “Turkey’s status in NATO should be examined and put on the agenda as an alternative, we did not exist because of NATO and we will not perish without NATO”.
Blackmailing
Erdogan’s move to block Sweden and Finland from joining NATO further damaged Turkey’s standing in the alliance, the magazine noted. Erdogan is blackmailing the Nordic countries, and has made his approval of Finland and Sweden joining NATO in exchange for the extradition of several members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), it said, adding that Erdogan may be looking for concessions from the United States in exchange for withdrawing the veto to impose sanctions on Russia, or from Russia for doing the opposite. It added that Erdogan may also need two external crises to divert the attention of Turkish voters from their rapidly diminishing circumstances, as the accelerating inflation, officially measured at more than 70%, devours their savings and wages.
