The opinions of the German experts are divided in regard to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit to Russia and possible objectives to meet with the President Vladimir Putin on August 9. " Turkey's switch toward Russia and NATO does not proceed from our interests ," says the SPD 's foreign policy expert Niels Anen, reports the DW.
In addition , he pinpointed the sober calculation the Turkish President. " The meeting of Erdogan with Putin shows that Turkey's president is not a sentimental and an unpredictable figure at all . On the contrary, after reconciliation with Israel Erdogan, having a new vision of rapprochement with Russia, introduced himself as a purely pragmatic political figure, who is enlarging his capacity for the foreign policy , " said Anen .
A member of the German Free Democratic Party, the European Parliament Vice-Speaker Alexander Lambsdorff believes that Turkey is not trying to cut ties with the West. "Russia is not an alternative to the European orientation. Erdogan payed a visit to Putin to show that he can behave himself in another way . However, Turkey needs to enter the European market and the guarantees of the NATO for its own security, "says the politician.
The historian Michael Wolffsohn believes that Putin, in his turn, wants to drive a wedge between Turkey and the West. According to him , using Ankara 's rapprochement with Moscow , the Russian president wants to weaken the EU's and the NATO " in a natural way". At the same time , he does not consider Turkey as a reliable partner for Russia in the long run , as Ankara pursues a " zigzag policy ."
"There is nothing that can last in a long term for Erdogan, except for preserving and strengthen his government," said Michael Wolffsohn. Putin, according to the historian, by contrast, has a clear strategy.
It is the difference between those two approaches that prevents to create a union of those two strong leaders, as "an alliance is established with a long-term perspective." Wolffsohn believes that Ankara and Moscow can only have tactical but not strategic partnership, especially considering that "Russia can offer Erdogan far less than the Western countries."
