Türkiye and the difficulty of balancing between Russia and America; Two way S400 or F35?

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, just as yesterday Friday, President Zelensky Ukraine was Erdoğan’s guest in Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also in Washington meeting and negotiating with American officials. Fidan came to Washington three days ago to participate in the seventh meeting of the Turkish-American Cooperation Mechanism. traveled and the media under the Justice and Development Party have evaluated his talks with American officials as important.

Continuous opposition of Turkish political and security authorities to the continuation of US military cooperation with PKK satellite entities Kurdish militias in northern Syria and the request for the extradition of Fethullah Gulen, a fugitive living in Pennsylvania, have become two important points of challenge between Ankara and Washington. and provide detailed explanations in this regard. They only state these points that from the point of view of Washington, the armed Kurds of the group known as “Syrian Democratic Forces” (Syrian Democratic Forces) are not the same as the PKK, and the issue of Gulen’s return is also within the jurisdiction of the American prosecutor and has nothing to do with the government. .

What did Fidan say to Salivan?

One ​​of the important meetings of the Turkish Foreign Minister in Washington was his meeting with Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor of the White House.

Hakan Fidan met Jake Sullivan in Washington on Thursday. , the American National Security Adviser, said: “An immediate ceasefire must be announced in Gaza and humanitarian aid must be increased.” In this meeting, the necessity of not prolonging the war in Ukraine was also emphasized.

But Fidan’s most important request in this meeting was the repeated reference to Turkey’s determination to fight against terrorist organizations in Syria. Fidan called on the US to act in accordance with the spirit of unity and cut ties with PKK-affiliated terrorist groups. Mentioning the importance of political stability in Iraq, supporting the peace process of Azerbaijan and Armenia, were among the other axes of Fidan and Sullivan’s meeting.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey also met with Benjamin Cardin, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and senators who are members of this committee. Cardin, the head of the foreign relations committee of the US Senate, announced that in the meeting with Hakan Fidan, Turkey’s return to the F-35 program was also discussed, but they focused more on the sale of the F-16.

America does not hide the challenge with Turkey

Anthony Blinken’s words in the joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, show that Washington does not shy away from raising this issue, which shows that there are serious challenges and differences between the two countries.

He said: I am happy to welcome Foreign Minister Fidan in Washington. I welcome my friend Hakan and all our colleagues. The United States and Türkiye are very close and sensitive allies. In a situation where we have many challenges ahead of us, but we face all these challenges. Yesterday I had the honor to officially welcome Sweden as the 32nd NATO ally in our common alliance. I again want to thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs and President Erdogan. Türkiye did a very good and important job for Sweden to join NATO. We are very focused on the alliance issues, and especially on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. That is, where Turkey has played an important role in supporting Ukraine in various ways. We are also very focused on the Middle East and the conflict in Gaza, a strong and shared desire to minimize and end the suffering of innocent women, children and men caught in the crossfire. Aid should be distributed more effectively to those who need it. We are focused on seeing if we can achieve a lasting ceasefire solution with the release of the hostages, the expansion of humanitarian aid, and an environment to work on. The question is whether Hamas will decide that a ceasefire is in everyone’s interest.

The Turkish foreign minister also responded to Blinken in this way: “Thank you, Tony. I would like to begin by thanking Minister Blinken and his team for the very warm hospitality they have extended to me and my delegation. We are here today to hold the 7th meeting of Turkey-US Strategic Cooperation Mechanism. That is, the same mechanism established by President Biden and President Erdogan in 2021. Our teams had extensive discussions yesterday on a wide range of topics, from security, regional cooperation, regional issues, trade, energy and other issues. This is the third time I’ve met Tony in the last two months. Because geopolitical and regional developments require cooperation and close cooperation. In Gaza, our immediate attention as the international community is necessary and necessary to stop the suffering of innocent people. They need urgent humanitarian aid. “We must work hard together to ensure that the ceasefire is implemented and that humanitarian aid enters Gaza unimpeded.”

Fidan further announced that he will talk with his counterpart about regional issues, developments in Ukraine and the security of the Black Sea and many other important issues.

Official and new news about the postponed visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Turkey has not been announced, Turkey is warming up with America. has defense and security, and Hakan Fidan, in a meeting with American security and defense officials, wanted to return Turkey to the list of F-35 buyers.

Some time ago, Ms. Victoria Nuland, the political deputy of the US Secretary of State During his trip to Ankara, he openly stated in an interview with CNN Turk: “If Turkey passes the Russian S-400 missile system, it is possible to return to the list of buyers of the F-35 fighter”.

In other words, the United States has proposed to Turkey to use the same solution as Greece to remove the obstacle to the development of relations with the United States. Previously, the Greek government had caused the anger of America and NATO by purchasing the S-300 missile system, and later, with a warning, it decided to move the missiles to a warehouse and underground!

Zamani When Erdogan’s opposition representatives in the Turkish parliament asked Defense Minister General Yashar Gul about not using the S-400 missile system, he angrily replied: “The missile system is not like a washing machine that we use constantly. It will be used whenever it is necessary.” Although Güler’s remarks prompted some humorous remarks about Turkish missiles, it showed once again that the Turkish government In terms of choosing the exact direction of foreign policy, it is caught between the US and Russia. Because, on the one hand, he sees great economic benefits in maintaining the relationship with Russia, and on the other hand, he is worried about the coldness and freezing of the relationship with America and NATO.

end of message/