The two points that Erdogan wins in the polls and the prolonged “flirt” with Putin

By Antonis Anzoletou

To the question why Tayyip Erdogan insists on harsh rhetoric and decided to escalate with the ballistic missile test short range the answer is easy. Opinion polls show him rising by two points and his hopes for a good election result in June are being revived. The billions for equipment cannot “satiate” his people, but they can stimulate their nationalist feelings.

With this logic, no one expects him to change his course of action in the near future against an opposition that is still looking to find the leader who will lead the coalition of parties to a victory. And who several times points the finger at him because he does not follow through on his threats to Greece. His goal to make Turkey a transregional power is not hidden and it is certain that the more he strengthens defensively, the more aggressive and provocative he will become. And he’s going to advertise it in all sorts of ways, like the program he’s developing with the unmanned systems.

The range of his actions was never limited. Whatever he can salvage from his economy he will salvage. Data from the Turkish Exporters’ Association show that sales of chemicals, fruit and vegetables and other food products, along with textiles and electrical appliances to Russia have increased significantly. Apart from the cheap natural gas that Turkey will get, the terminal planned to be built in Eastern Thrace and the agreement on nuclear plant in Akougiou there have already been many reactions to the fact that the neighbors have turned into one of Russia’s main transit hubs. For those interested in selling their products through Turkey, the ports of Mersin and Izmir are busy. At a time when the European Union has severed its ties with Moscow, Ankara sees the exit of Western companies from Russia as an opportunity for Turkish businessmen to intervene.

What does this whole game mean? Not necessarily that Erdogan has chosen a camp and is thinking of leaving the “umbrella” of the West. But that in the run-up to the election he will try to exhaust all the possibilities that Putin gives him to prove that he can remain strong. Since the messages he is getting from the USA and the European Union are not positive.

The two fronts in which he has decided to invest are predetermined:

– To succeed through Moscow in improving the image of everyday life in his country, as with the strong inflationary pressures he is under, there is not much room for intervention.

– To maintain the image of a crisis with Greece by creating impressions, reversing the reality and hoping that something will manage to distract until the elections.

The internationalization of Turkish provocation and aggression remains the stable weapon of the Greek side and now the circumvention of sanctions against Russia by Turkish companies have come under the microscope of the international community.

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