ISTANBUL, July 17. /TASS/. Relations between Moscow and Ankara do not pose a threat to the NATO bloc, of which Turkey is one of the oldest members, Huseyin Bagci, a leading Turkish expert on international security issues, head of the Ankara Global Advisory Group, told TASS.
"The existence of NATO is initially a threat to Russia. The alliance also views the Russian Federation as a threat to itself. At the same time, Turkey’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance does not mean that it is an enemy of Russia and that relations between them pose a threat to NATO," the political scientist said commenting on the results of the NATO summit in Washington on July 9-11. The summit’s main topics were confrontation with Russia and providing military assistance to Ukraine.
Bagci recalled that Turkish-Russian relations are rooted in centuries-old history, they have had different periods of ups and downs, and with the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, both neighbors in the Black Sea basin are using the opportunities that have opened up for them to comprehensively develop bilateral ties.
"NATO is by far the largest military alliance in the world. In the 1990s, the Warsaw Pact, which was created as a counterweight to the alliance, collapsed, and almost all of Russia’s former allies in this organization became NATO members. The expansion of the alliance, primarily to east, contradicts the interests and doctrine of Russia. This can be clearly seen in the example of Ukraine, where the Russian Federation uses its legal right to protection," the expert said.
According to him, Turkey has been pursuing a balanced policy since the very beginning of the Ukrainian conflict, maintaining dialogue with both Russia and Ukraine.
"It [Turkey] has prepared negotiations between the parties in Antalya and Istanbul in 2022. The likelihood of a second Istanbul negotiation process is high," the expert said, speaking about the possibility of resuming negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.
"If Russia considered Turkey’s membership in NATO as a threat to itself, it would not have built the Akkuyu nuclear power plant on its territory, and would not have made various offers of an economic nature to it. If Russian leader [Vladimir] Putin saw Turkey as a threat, then in 2022, there would not have been an agreement on the grain initiative, which is very important for the Turkish side. The Presidents of Russia and Turkey communicate with each other most often among world leaders, at least 12 times a year," Bagci noted.