Main opposition CHP calls on gov’t to be consistent in foreign policy

ANKARA

Turkey’s foreign policy is inconsistent as it has been “paying court” to both Russia and the U.S., the deputy leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has said.

“Turkey’s foreign policy is being scattered on the global scale. On one hand, Turkey acquires S-400 defense systems from Russia, and just after that, works commence to establish a ‘safe zone’ with the U.S. in northeastern Syria,” Ünal Çeviköz said on Aug. 28 at a press conference in the capital Ankara.

“Then, the decision to establish a joint operations center with the U.S. is being taken, but immediately after that a Turkish military convoy gets attacked in Idlib and its 9th and 8th observation points get besieged by the Syrian army,” he said.

Turkey has been “paying court” to both Russia and the U.S., Çeviköz said. “And this is being called foreign policy.”

“Turkey is no longer a subject in international relations, it is an object. It is being pulled at both ends by two global powers,” he said.

This situation is discrediting Turkey’s reputation before the eyes of other countries, he stressed.

Turkey’s bilateral relations with Russia is appreciated in energy and aerospace industries. But regarding Syria, the countries’ different points of views are yet to be eliminated, Çeviköz said.

“Russia has been extending its energy web over Turkey with the Akkuyu nuclear power plant and TurkStream pipeline project,” he said.

The TurkStream is a project which will carry Russian gas via a pipeline under the Black Sea bypassing Ukraine and onward through Bulgaria, Serbia, and Hungary. The Akkuyu project, on the other hand, started with an intergovernmental agreement signed between Turkey and Russia on May 12, 2010.

Çeviköz also praised Turkey’s participation in the MAKS-2019, an annual Russia aviation and space fair, and acclaimed Russia’s hospitality towards the former.

“[Russia] gave its message to all the world by bringing a NATO country, at the highest level, to the [MAKS-2019],” he said.

“But on Syria, it is never possible to say that the different opinions of Turkey and Russia are being eliminated,” he added.