News
Show news feed

Turkey's anti-Western rhetoric and aggressive foreign policy are pushing its NATO allies to unite against Ankara, Voice of America reported.

Disagreements over issues including an arms embargo on Libya, access to hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean and the role of Kurdish forces in Syria have caused tensions with other NATO members.

Turkey's policies and actions as a whole have reached a dangerous escalation point, said analysts Heather Conley and Rachel Ellehuus of the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Western officials are also increasingly disenchanted with the anti-Western rhetoric of Turkish government officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

To fuel the current controversy in the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish leadership uses rhetoric revolving around such topics as conquest - referring to the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 - battles and wars, foreign conspiracies, and a return to glory, Marc Pierini from the Carnegie Europe research group noted.

The US and the EU have been reluctant to work against Turkey, holding back sanctions over both the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean and Ankara's decision to buy Russia's S-400 missile defense system.

But Erdogan's claims of foreign machinations against Turkey could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If Western countries and Turkey's closest neighbors begin to coordinate containment strategies, it will be a consequence of Erdogan's aggressive goal of expansion through assertive politics, diplomacy, and military means.

!
This text available in   Հայերեն and Русский
Print