An article in an American magazine concluded that the current Ukraine crisis has revived Turkey's role as a regional mediator in resolving conflicts, and reinforced the idea that Ankara has become a leader on the international scene.
Today, Turkey is among the big players like Germany, France and the United Kingdom, said Stephen A. Cook, a columnist for Foreign Policy.
This war, according to the writer, does not represent an opportunity for Turkey because - as some say - it wants to once again become a bulwark against Russia as it was during the Cold War, but because Ankara simply does not want to be assigned the role of guard again for the southeastern flank of NATO. NATO (NATO).
The opportunity available to Turkey in the current crisis is, according to Cook, the product of a reality linked to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling party's perception of Turkey as a power in its own right, its apprehension about the danger of Kurdish secession at home and in Syria, and the disappointments that exacerbated and accumulated to the point of grudges against those who were They are supposed to be Turkey's most important allies, ie the United States and Europe.
The writer added that a combination of these aspirations and shocks prompted Erdogan to search for his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin relatively early in the crisis.
He added that the resulting dialogue and the expansion of bilateral relations between the two countries - despite the differences between Turkey and Russia in Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine - led to increased mistrust between Ankara and its Western partners.
The writer pointed out that Turkey's purchase of the Russian air defense system "S-400" prompted the United States to apply sanctions on the Turkish defense sector, and there were even calls to expel Turkey from NATO, which is not allowed by the founding documents of the alliance.
He said that more serious questions about Ankara's foreign policy orientation are being asked in Western countries, such as: Is Turkey still part of the West?
Are you starting to move east?
Are you trying to become a leader in the Middle East, the eastern Mediterranean, or even the Islamic world?
Here, the writer says, the answer to all these questions is: "Yes."
Then came Russia's war on Ukraine, and the Turkish position on it appeared almost immediately in two opposing narratives, according to the writer.
On the one hand, Erdogan's support for Ukraine's independence, Ankara's willingness to provide Kyiv with lethal drones and the closure of the Bosphorus, which were positive proof of the argument the Turks had always made that their country was and remains a critical component of Western security.
On the other hand, critics highlighted the fact that the Turkish government did not impose sanctions on Russia, that Turkish airspace was still open to Russian aircraft, and that giant yachts of the Russian oligarchs were appearing in Bodrum and Marmaris with the clear approval of the Turkish government.
Regardless of the information war between pro- and anti-Erdogan groups, the fact that Turkey can neither be entirely pro-Ukrainian nor entirely anti-Putin provides an opportunity for Erdogan to resume the role he played in the mid-2000s, and even reinforce Turkey’s role as an independent power without To be a provocation to the West, always according to the writer.