The Greek Current

Turkey waters down NATO statement as Erdogan saves Putin’s Belarusian ally

Episode Summary

Dr. Aykan Erdemir joins The Greek Current to discuss Ankara's decision to use its veto power within NATO to water down an official condemnation of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko, and argues that Turkish President Erdogan’s move to protect Russia’s Belarusian ally is the latest case of collusion between Ankara and Moscow to undermine the alliance.

Episode Notes

Last week Reuters broke a story that Turkey had used its veto power within NATO to water down an official condemnation of Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko for forcing down a passenger plane flying from Greece to Lithuania to arrest Roman Protasevich, a dissident journalist that was on board. Lukashenko’s actions drew criticism from around the world, and the EU introduced sanctions in response. Dr. Aykan Erdemir joins The Greek Current to discuss his latest piece explaining Turkey’s decision, and argues that Turkish President Erdogan’s move to protect Russia’s Belarusian ally is the latest case of collusion between Ankara and Moscow to undermine NATO.

Dr. Aykan Erdemir is the senior director of the Turkey program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former Turkish lawmaker. 

Read Aykan Erdemir’s piece in The Globalist here: Turkey Undermines NATO, Yet Again

And his briefing for the FDD here: Erdogan Saves Putin’s Belarusian Ally by Playing Spoiler Role Within NATO

You can read the articles we discuss on our podcast here: 

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