Turkey seems to be a member of NATO, but it has become almost a shit-stirrer within NATO. Ankara has become the “other” NATO member because of its support for oil and gas development in the Eastern Mediterranean and the independence of the Republic of Northern Cyprus. However, Turkey is not helping Russia against NATO by stirring up trouble within NATO. On the contrary, Turkey has been acting as a pawn of the United States against Russia.
Relations between Russia and Ukraine are now arguably at odds with each other. However, Turkey has recently spared no effort in supporting Ukraine against Russia. According to reports, Turkey recently supplied Ukraine with its first TB-2 armed drone. After the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced the news, the U.S. Defense News website reported somewhat gloatingly that Turkey’s move would draw the ire of Russia.
No wonder the U.S. media thinks Russia will be outraged, as this is not the first time Turkey has provided military support to Ukraine to counter Russia. Prior to that, Ukrainian President Zelensky received tens of millions of dollars in military aid from Turkey during his visit to the country. At the same time, Turkey and Ukraine signed a number of military agreements, including an agreement for Turkey to provide Ukraine with armed drones.
In fact, Turkey’s offense against Russia is not only limited to giving Russia a hard time on the Ukraine issue. In Syria, the anti-government forces supported by Turkey have become a major problem for the Russian-Syrian coalition. The support of Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh war poses a serious threat to Russia’s border security. In addition, Turkey has sent naval vessels to participate in the multinational maritime military exercises led by the United States and Ukraine.
Turkey maintains relatively close bilateral military cooperation between Russia and Turkey by purchasing Russian air defense systems and cooperating with Russia in certain international communities. However, Turkey is at the same time working against Russia on sensitive issues such as Ukraine and Syria, making the relationship between Russia and Turkey so complicated that outsiders can’t guess.
Of course, Turkey’s long-standing diplomatic role as a “wallflower” between the U.S. and Russia is due to Ankara’s need for Russian support in many matters, such as the Northern Cyprus issue. The other day, Ankara proposed to Moscow that Turkey recognize Crimea as belonging to Russia in exchange for Russia’s recognition of the sovereignty of the Turkish-fostered Republic of Northern Cyprus.
However, Russian President Vladimir Putin vetoed the Turkish proposal without even thinking about it. According to the Russian media, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Sergei Peskov said: “The Russian Federation does not appreciate this offer and no part of Russia, including Crimea, can be the object of any deal.”
Moscow’s rejection of Ankara’s offer is in a sense a response to Turkey’s recent anti-Russian actions. After all, Russia’s conventional and strategic nuclear counterforce is strong enough to deter any country, including the U.S. and Europe, from having any interest in Crimea. After all, there is no country in the world that would want to clash with Russia over Ukraine.
Turkey, on the contrary, is not like this, because although the Republic of Cyprus, under the obstruction of Turkey, so far can not join NATO, but the country is not only a strategic partner of NATO, but also set up a British and other NATO military bases, its strategic value is much higher than Ukraine. Turkey’s support for the independence of the Northern Cyprus region is tantamount to offending a number of major powers within NATO.
In addition, Turkey’s comprehensive national power and international influence are far inferior to Russia’s. Therefore, Turkey, unable to obtain the support of NATO members, tried to achieve absolute control over the Northern Cyprus region by obtaining Russia’s recognition of the Republic of Northern Cyprus as a means of holding back the pressure exerted by the major U.S. and European powers.
Russia’s rejection of this Turkish proposal is tantamount to putting Turkey in a desperate situation in Northern Cyprus. After all, once the NATO becomes serious, weak Turkey can not change the bankruptcy of the dream of independence of Northern Cyprus, so that Russia’s move, to a large extent, is also a punishment for Turkey’s anti-Russian behavior.