An historic meeting between Putin and Erdogan in St. Petersburg

09.08.2016
Russia

The historic meeting of the Russian and Turkish presidents was held today in St. Petersburg. Putin and Erdogan will hold the first bilateral talks since the tragic incident with the shoot-down of the Russian Su-24 near the Syrian-Turkish border last November.

The historic reversal

Turkey's turn toward Russia was delineated before the US-backed coup attempt. The resignation of the ideologue of the Neo-Ottomanist Ahmet Davutoglu, as leader of the ruling "Justice and Development Party" (AKP) and prime-minister until May of 2016, and his replacement by the pragmatist Binali Yildirim, has been indicative of this course. However, the US interference in the internal affairs of Turkey, and support to the organizers of the coup by Washington, made an about-face of Ankara to Eurasia practically irreversible.

Eurasian vector

Prior to the meeting of the two presidents, several important preliminary meetings had already been held. Last week the president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, visited Ankara. This strategic ally of Russia held confidential talks with Erdogan. The day before, on August 8th, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran held talks in Baku. The question here is about building up a powerful new Eurasian bloc, which is also an invitation to Turkey. On the agenda is the membership of Turkey in the SCO and the inclusion of the country in the Eurasian Union's integration structures. The presidents will discuss the global plans of the Eurasian integration of Turkey, as well as specific projects, such as the "Turkish stream".

Syria

Eurasian reversal of Turkey and its transformation from a border guard and launching pad of American interests in the Middle East, into a truly sovereign power, makes it possible to reach agreements on controversial issues of a geopolitical nature, including a settlement over Syria.

NATO

In turn, the ongoing conflict with the US and their European satellites, and traces of NATO involvement in the coup in Turkey, are doing the actual work of a Turkish withdrawal from NATO, or at least from the military organization of NATO.

Turkey
Coup in Turkey
Erdogan
Putin
meeting of Putin and Erdogan
Russia
Syria
Syrian war