Before the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in Brussels on January 12, the first since 2019, Turkey is in close contact with Russia.

Foreign ministers Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Sergei Lavrov telephoned on Thursday.

The day before, Çavuşoğlu had agreed with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin spoke to each other on Sunday.

Rainer Hermann

Editor in politics.

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According to official sources, they not only exchanged New Year's wishes, but also talked about their bilateral relations and the upcoming NATO-Russia Council.

Putin had dismissed Erdoğan in December when he had suggested a mediation between Russia and Ukraine.

The NATO-Russia Council will discuss a paper that the Russian Foreign Ministry sent to the US government on December 15, in which Russia is demanding so-called security guarantees from NATO.

Turkish demands on Russia

Details were not given of either the presidents' phone call or that of the foreign ministers. Çavuşoğlu had already explained Turkey's position on December 27 in Ankara. Ankara rejects Russia's “unilateral demands”, said Çavuşoğlu. NATO could also demand security guarantees from Russia. Proposals should be put on the table that could be accepted by both sides and are not maximalist, Çavuşoğlu said to Moscow. Both sides should act constructively.

At the same event, Çavuşoğlu criticized the other NATO countries for providing Ukraine with insufficient military support. In Ankara it is said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj describes Turkey as his country's most reliable partner. The two governments recently agreed to jointly produce Turkish drones in Ukraine. In contrast to other NATO countries, Turkey not only supports Ukraine's claim to the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia, but also Ukraine's membership in NATO.

Turkey is taking the side of Kiev in the Ukrainian-Russian conflict because it sees its interests in the Black Sea region threatened by Russia's expansive and aggressive policies.

In addition, there is growing resentment among the Turkish army command at the repeated bombings of the Syrian rebel province of Idlib by Russian fighter planes, which are driving the Syrian refugees further to the border with Turkey.

Special role in Afghanistan

Turkey is zigzagging in its relations with NATO. Sometimes she emphasizes her loyalty to the alliance, then she questions this with behavior that irritates her partner. At the turn of the year, as planned, it handed over responsibility for the rapid reaction force to France. Had it been deployed last year in response to Russian aggression, the unit would have been headed by a Turkish general, the core of which would have been an elite Turkish force.

In addition, Erdoğan brought into play last August that Turkish units could secure Kabul airport. On December 7th, Turkey and Qatar, which had agreed with the Taliban, agreed in Doha that Turkish experts would operate the airport. Qatar is involved. Turkey participated in the NATO mission Resolute Support with 600 soldiers. Turkey also takes part in the multinational formation KFOR in Kosovo and participated in the completed NATO training mission in Iraq.

In the Eastern Anatolian province of Malatya, NATO operates a radar base as part of its early warning system against ballistic missiles, while AWACS aircraft are stationed at the Konya Air Force Base.

Izmir is the headquarters of the NATO command authority LANDCOM, which coordinates and synchronizes NATO's land forces.

Apple of contention S400

The Turkish military works smoothly with its partners. It sees its country firmly anchored in NATO. The government, on the other hand, is moving closer to Russia and possibly using it as a lever for hoped-for concessions from the allies, including economic aid. The rapprochement that began in 2016 after the failed coup attempt caused irritation among the allies. This applies in particular to the procurement of the Russian S400 air defense system. The first delivery arrived to Ankara in July 2019, but has not yet been put into operation.

At a meeting in Sochi last September, Putin and Erdoğan discussed expanding their cooperation on armaments. On the return flight, Erdoğan said that there had been discussions, among other things, about the joint production of ships and possibly also of submarines, as well as platforms for rocket launches. There is speculation in Ankara about whether Turkey would then order the Sukhoi SU-57 multi-role fighter aircraft in Russia if the purchase of the fourth generation of the F16 multi-combat aircraft fails due to opposition from the US Congress. Turkey switched to the F16 after purchasing the Russian S400 and being banned from purchasing the F35 stealth multi-role fighter under US sanctions.

Turkey had caused anger in recent years, for example when it temporarily blocked cooperation between NATO and non-NATO EU countries and when it stopped NATO's defense plans for Poland and the Baltic states.

In return, Turkey irritates France's defense agreement with Greece as an alliance within NATO that is directed against Turkey.