Political scientist Makeeva: in the new term, Erdogan will have to decide which side he is on

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the new presidential term will have to choose which side to be on: the West or Russia. This opinion was shared by the deputy director of the Center for Geopolitical Expertise, political scientist Natalya Makeeva in an interview with URA.RU.

“Erdogan will think about cooperation with whom in the long term in the interests of his country, will think about whether it is worth being an instrument of American geopolitical adventures, or whether it is worth turning your attention to Russia and making the right choice. Here Russia should show the most active position in terms of shifting its multi-vector nature towards an unambiguous pro-Russian vector. Unlike the pro-Western candidate [на выборах в Турции Кемаля] Kılıçdaroğlu, Erdoğan is not a pro-Western politician, but he is also not pro-Russian. Thus, in his case, there is something to work with. The outcome of the elections can be fully perceived as a restart of Russian-Turkish relations,” Makeeva said.

He will succeed in showing which side Erdogan is on by resolving the issue of Sweden’s entry into NATO, the political scientist noted. “Erdogan will be put under very serious pressure, given that Turkey is a NATO member and Turkey is blocking [вступление Швеции в НАТО]. They will put pressure on him, and this will be the moment of truth. Based on Erdogan’s position on this issue, it will be possible to draw a conclusion on how he will build relations with Russia in the future, ”the agency’s interlocutor concluded.

Earlier, Erdogan won the presidential election. The final results were determined during the second round, which took place on May 28.