“We must think about economic coercive measures against Turkey”
Turkey’s President Erdogan, Russia’s President Putin, China’s President Xi
Source: picture alliance/AA; Sergei Bobylev/picture alliance/dpa/TASS; Montage: infographic WORLD
President Erdogan wants to lead NATO member Turkey into the SCO state alliance around China and Russia – a counterweight to western alliances. The traffic light coalition is calling for severe consequences for Turkey. The Union accuses Chancellor Scholz of an omission.
Dhe Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has triggered serious anger in the traffic light coalition with a new initiative. Erdogan said at the weekend that Turkey is seeking membership in the economic and security policy alliance SCO around China and Russia.
These two countries only announced on Friday that they wanted to expand cooperation with other countries in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). This is intended to create a counterweight to western alliances.
Erdogan said on Saturday after a SCO summit in Uzbekistan, according to the Turkish broadcaster ntv, that his country’s goal is membership of the organization. NATO member Turkey is already a so-called dialogue partner of the SCO. In addition to China and Russia, the group also includes India, Pakistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Trittin: “It’s time for a more robust Turkey policy”
The Greens foreign politician Jürgen Trittin was angry and demanded an unequivocal reaction from NATO and the EU: “NATO and the European Union must ask themselves how long they will let Erdogan dance around on their noses,” Trittin told WELT. “Turkey is preventing NATO from monitoring the UN arms embargo on Libya. It is drilling in Greece’s economic zone. NATO member Turkey is doing more to circumvent European sanctions on Russia than China. Erdogan puts the brakes on Finland and Sweden joining NATO. And now he wants to join the SCO together with Iran.”
NATO and the EU should not naively close their eyes to these facts – “it is time for a more robust Turkey policy,” demanded the Green politician. “Since no one can be expelled from NATO, economic coercive measures against Turkey must be considered.”
Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, sees Erdogan’s plan as a serious mistake and as a renewed attempt to distract from domestic political difficulties. “Foreign policy, this would be another symbolic step away from the West and its values - a serious political mistake for Turkey’s future.”
Lambsdorff: Step should not be overrated
The deputy chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, was more reserved. The SCO is a loose association of very different countries with equally different interests. Democratic India is just as much a member as the dictatorships of China and Russia. “With its rapprochement, Turkey wants to signal to the USA and the EU that it is a NATO member, but is also trying to increase its influence elsewhere,” said Lambsdorff. “Precisely because the SCO has an extremely low level of integration, this step should not be overrated.”
But the opposition in Germany also sees Erdogan’s step as a result of the failings of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD): Union parliamentary group leader Johann Wadephul (CDU) said that in recent years Turkey under Erdogan’s leadership had repeatedly taken steps that raised doubts as to whether the country is serious about membership in NATO. “Flirting with the SCO goes one step further. The organization clearly has different values and concepts than NATO and is therefore directed against us.”
With such a step, Erdogan would not act in the interests of his own people. “He must be told very clearly that a swerve course is not possible and compatible with the basic values of NATO. Once again it shows how problematic it is that Chancellor Scholz has not yet established good, reliable contact with Erdogan.
AfD defends Erdogan
Left parliamentary group leader Dietmar Bartsch called it “an absurdity when the NATO member Turkey presents the self-proclaimed ‘NATO alliance of values’ in such a way”.
AfD boss Tino Chrupalla defended Erdogan: “During the Ukraine war, Turkey apparently recognized that multiple political options are needed in the multipolar world. It was above all the Green Federal Ministers in the traffic light government that cut off such options for our country, and the one-sided dependency on the West remains.” Turkey remains a strategically important partner for Germany and Europe.