A growing number of Western countries are either closing their consulates in Turkey or warning their citizens with travel advisories about the risk of attack
By Athena Papakosta
The atmosphere smells of gunpowder for Westerners in Turkey as fears of strikes in the country grow. As a result, one after the other Western countries cite security reasons and close their consulates.
The timing is no accident. Only a few days have passed since the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suspended talks with Sweden and Finland on their NATO membership. It was preceded by the burning of a copy of the Koran by Rasmus Paludan, a far-right Danish-Swedish politician, outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. Then, Erdoğan’s anger overflowed the glass of (his) blackmail that had, however, never left the table.
Today, his stance remains just as uncompromising. We also heard him say yesterday that “Sweden should not get into trouble” and added that “as long as they allow burning and tearing of the Koran (…) we will not say yes to their joining NATO”. For his part, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström underlined that religion is not part of the agreement, referring to the memorandum signed by Ankara, Stockholm and Helsinki at the NATO Summit last summer.
Analysts note that in pre-election Turkey… the pre-election Erdogan will continue to exploit the issue of Sweden joining the North Atlantic Alliance to appear strong at home against the “evil” Westerners who “support”, according to Erdogan’s narrative, terrorist organizations. But it is also a strategic move, they note, that of the Turkish president that concerns his country’s position on the international stage.
And this is because, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made sure to bargain Ankara’s power in the West by taking advantage of the “opportunity” of the war in Ukraine by playing on a double board. In particular, Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not implementing the sanctions against Putin’s Russia and at the same time he is blocking the enlargement of NATO at a critical moment for the Alliance by discrediting, not only with his actions but also with his rhetoric, his Western allies.
Because of this, the West has become distrustful and angry at the one who, at least on a theoretical level, remains its ally. Consequently, closing consulates until further notice and warning their citizens with travel advisories is an expression of this collective anger. So far, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain are closing their consulates, while the US, Canada, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Belgium are issuing travel advisories.
For the Turkish president, his country, which after two decades of rule, he completely controls, is strong and the West cannot ignore it as a player neither commercially nor geopolitically. He himself might consider that… there are orange groves elsewhere, such as China, Iran or even Russia to play, discuss, negotiate and win. For now, however, while he himself is in… diplomatic quarantine, he resents the fact that Washington is linking the F-16 program to the Swedish case.
His adviser Ibrahim Kalin called for the issue to be dropped, warning that Ankara would look elsewhere for fighter jets. But a resounding response came from Washington, with Senator Chris Van Hollen warning Turkey of sanctions if it continues the same tactics.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
