Erdoğan’s visit to Athens for the meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis was undoubtedly important, but also one that did not hide surprises and this is news in itself. Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Berlin a short time ago as part of his European tour.
The Turkish President showed that he has absolutely no problem putting even the Chancellor of Germany in an extremely difficult position within his own country.
In Athens, however, came an “other” Erdogan, with more of a smile than we are generally used to, a phraseology bordering on the “subdued” and most importantly, without any inclination for subterfuge and aggression.
Of course, the specific climate is credited to the positives of the meeting, but the truth is that in diplomacy such transformations in such a short period of time are “strange” and require attention both in approach and interpretation.
But has the Turkish President “changed”?
The question simply put has an also “easy” answer… no. Tayyip Erdoğan in the last 20 years has managed to structurally change the political, social, economic and international image of his country.
It is without a doubt one of the most important poles not only in the Eastern Mediterranean but also in the whole world and today there is no global event in which its own Turkey is not present in a primary, or in very few cases, a secondary frame.
The way Erdogan conducts politics both at home and abroad doesn’t often change in manner or tone. Maneuvering is a constant practice for politician Erdogan and the way he chooses to exert pressure is so consistent that it is not unlikely that the historian of the future will also give his name to this particular diplomatic practice.
He wants a reversal of the climate
The Turkish President was not in Athens under “repression” nor is there anything that would make him change his tactics if he himself did not believe in this move. Athens is critical today for Erdogan, however… from Athens he wants to start the reversal of the climate that will give him a big breath inside his country as well.
The US has made it clear that for there to be progress in relations and the “relative” opening to the West, its own Turkey must stop its provocations towards Greece. The fact that there are no violations of the Greek airspace and that the air battles are zero in the Aegean gives Erdogan a card that he can “play” and indeed on a double board.
First, it shows the US, and specifically the powerful, even without Menendez, the foreign affairs committee of Congress, that US weapons, specifically US fighters, will not be used “in bad faith” against NATO allies. In the second year, it shows the European Union that Turkey realizes that immigration in particular cannot be limited only by the money that Ankara will receive, but also through cooperation with neighboring Greece…
Prioritizing the recovery of the economy
For his extreme Government partners, Erdogan was very mild in Athens, but even they do not dare, fresh from his electoral victory, and even in very difficult conditions due to the deadly earthquakes, to at least publicly articulate objections.
Erdoğan would have no problem ordering an increase in raids in the east of the country and against PKK “terrorism” in Syrian territories. Today, Tayyip Erdoğan has an answer to every problem that will be presented to him, but he has made the decision that the recovery of the economy is a priority and even immediate.
Without Western aid and with only Qatar as a “sponsor” such a thing will not happen. The signs are clear and simply today the Turkish President has chosen not to ignore them. It is not improbable with the way he has chosen to move that he manages to increase along with the available liquidity in his coffers and his very popularity again.
In Athens yesterday, a mutated Turkish President did not come, but the well-known one, and those who greeted his attitude and words with skepticism are well aware that behind the “Yavas – Yavass” (s.s. step – step) of Turkish diplomacy are always hidden claims and crowns for “blue homelands” and “Turkish minority of Thrace” that when required will make their reappearance.
Source: cnn.gr
