"Russia and Ukraine Crisis Equation in Turkey"
Chairman of the Crimean Tatar Cultural Associations Federation (KTKDF), President of Crimea Development Foundation (KKV) and President of the International Association of Friends of Crimea Mr.Unver Sel, in an article entitled "Russia and Ukraine Crisis Equation in Turkey", gave an assessment of the latest developments in the region on the agenda.
As of March 2021, the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, which has been ongoing for many years, has grown this much for the first time since 2014. It is aimed to prepare a war environment with the attitude of the West against the Russian Federation and the verbal support given to Ukraine, together with the mutual statements and military preparation from the two countries. Although Russia and Ukraine are two different states, the two peoples lived together under the same flag for many years until the Soviet Union collapsed. As a matter of fact, historically, both states have their origins in the Kiev Rus'. Although the beginning of the crises between Russia and Ukraine started with the dissolution of the Soviets, we can actually qualify the Ukrainian fascist Stepan Bandera's cooperation with Nazi Germany as the first conflict. The sympathy of the Ukrainian ethnic population for the Bandera trend has continued since then. Today, attacks on Lenin statues are being carried out, while the statues of Bandera are erected in various regions of Ukraine. In the process that developed in Ukraine until the Maydan Coup in 2014, the pro-Western organs came to power for a while, while Viktor Yanukovich, who was distant and balanced with the West but on the other hand, was coming to power, was taking good relations with Russia. During the Maydan Coup in 2014, many people died in clashes between the activists, mostly radical nationalists, and the security forces. Yanukovych had to leave the country and the pro-Western power took office.
On March 16, 2014, the people of Crimea, who were looking for a way out of the civil war in which Ukraine was in, were attached to Russia as a result of the referendum and recorded as the 22nd Republic that constitutes the Russian Federation. While there has been an increase in the welfare level of the people in general in Crimea thanks to the investments and state projects that have been coming since 2014; Crimean Tatars, on the other hand, gained their rights that they could not achieve during the 23-year interim Ukraine period.
On the other hand, people living in Donetsk and Lugansk cities in Eastern Ukraine declared their unilateral independence from Ukraine and established the Donetsk People's Republic and Lugansk People's Republic. Nobody knows these states but themselves at the moment. As a result, the West's attempts to encircle the Russian Federation over Ukraine have been continuing since 2004.
When we examine Russia in terms of its history, it has been geopolitically besieged by Western powers since Napoleon Bonaparte's Russian Campaign. Due to the historical memories of the Russians, their strategic military plans and programs, their foreign policy concepts and their position in today's multipolar world order, they are always ready for these moves of the West. Today they are prepared for NATO's geopolitical siege. A different version of the game played by the West and NATO in Georgia in 2008 is being tried in Ukraine. Although Ukraine is not a NATO country, it is implied that it will receive support from NATO. Ukraine is a country that cannot join NATO due to its current status. NATO has certain institutional standards and it is not possible for Ukraine to meet these standards. Moreover, Ukraine is not an EU country.
In this context, the current Ukraine-Russia conflict is not between Moscow and Kiev, but between the West and Russia. Ukraine is a pawn used here. As US President Joe Biden himself said after taking office, America has returned to world politics. On his way back, unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, he sharpened relations with Russia. It started this within a certain plan and program. For example, he appointed former US Ambassador to Moscow William Joseph Burns as the head of the CIA. We saw all the senior officials in the US Department of State distributing aid packages to Ukrainians in Kiev during the 2014 Maydan Coup. In fact, Kiril Budanov, Director of the Chief Intelligence Directorate under the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, was his private driver when Biden came to visit Kiev in 2014.
In fact, the primary concern of the USA is China. However, the trade volume of European friends within the Transatlantic Alliance with China is greater than the USA and China has not been a geopolitical threat to Europe throughout history. Therefore, in order for the USA to keep its allies in Europe close by, it had to create an element of "fear" for them. The easiest way to do this was to show Russia as a target. Washington clearly gives the message that either be with me or disappear from the system I drew in the world. It does this with aggressive rhetoric. The simplest example is the US President Joe Biden's openly saying "murderer" against Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin in the past period. Such a language was not used even during the "Cuban Missile Crisis", which can be regarded as the tensest period between the USA and Russia in history.
On the other hand, when we look at the European leg of the Transatlantic Alliance, we do not see this aggressive state. Sanctions imposed by the US against Russia did not prevent European investors from investing in Russia and continuing their current trade. German companies invest billions of euros in Russia. Germany supports the diplomatic resolution of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine. The situation of the French is no different from that of the Germans. They have long argued that the solution should be on the table. Anyway, the Minsk Protocol and their position in the Normandy Format clearly show this. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov recently brought up the issue of the "Great Eurasian Partnership" voiced by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016 and said: "Within this partnership, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Association of Southeast Asian Countries ASEAN. If interested, the EU can also take part in this formation.
" In other words, Russia is aware that the USA can be left alone in this geopolitical siege of the West and states that it can see its allies by its side as a result of different collaborations. In this context, Turkey will receive important position. Turkey, the Black Sea is not only your country but also with countries in need of this equation alliance in both strategic cooperation agreement. The flammability and rising tensions in the Black Sea crisis, which endangers the security of the Black Sea directly to the meaning threat to national interests of the Republic of Turkey. Straits can be threatened overnight.
If we think in terms of realpolitik, the Budapest Security Agreement, Minsk Protocol and Normandy Format, which were established to solve the problems between Ukraine and Russia on an international scale, seem to be dysfunctional today. Turkey in the Black Sea as one of the major forces in this equation "Shuttle Diplomacy" with a mediation process may be stationed. As our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, "The Black Sea should remain a Sea of Peace." The issue of the Crimea Platform, which was opened by the Ukrainian side in his last meeting with the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelenski, is also very provocative. The Crimea Platform, which was discussed in the meeting, is actually a project that Ukrainians tried to imitate after Crimea joined Russia in 2014.
We established the Crimean Friends' Club in Yalta, Crimea, in 2017, with the organization I am a part of. This club was established in order to respond to the embargoes and pressures imposed by the West against Crimea and to carry out public diplomacy on this issue. We are still working on our headquarters in Yalta. Due to the success of our organization, the Ukrainian side wants to develop a project under the name of the Crimea Platform. It wants to attract politicians and political leaders of many countries to this platform. Turkey is also a state who has interest in topics relevant to the Crimea. The reason is also clear. Crimean Tatars live on the peninsula.
Turkey can not keep away any platform to be installed in the Crimea. In principle, he can say "yes" to such a formation. The only purpose of Ukraine in establishing such a platform is to solve the problem in Crimea and not only deal with the issue of Crimean Tatars, but also to take a role in the war between the West and Russia. Turkey is not possible to compare the relationship between Ukraine and Russia. Certain power centers have been expressing this quite recently. Ukraine is not and cannot be an equivalent of Russia in the context of international relations. Ankara maintains its relations with Kiev at a certain level. On the other hand, we see that his relations with Moscow have a deeper and long-standing diplomatic history. Turkey's relations with Russia are not just based on the neighborhood. Turkey's southern Syria, which has a partnership with Russia continued in Libya. Apart from that, there are strategic projects such as Turkish Stream and Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant. Turkey, of course considering the security of the Black Sea. He wants it in Russia. Ukraine is trying to create problems in the Black Sea in line with the wishes of the West. Turkey does not enter this road. Turkey's diplomacy and international experience in carrying out that policy, Ukraine's too far ahead. Thus, Ukraine is not possible to overturn this attitude of Turkey-Russia relations.
(Translated from Turkish)
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