How blessed are the peacemakers? The Guardian newspaper asked on Tuesday, referring to a crop of politicians who say they are ideally placed to act as honest brokers to end fighting between Russia and Ukraine.
Among them is Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohamed bin Zayed, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“These countries have all defended their interventions and various shades of neutrality over the war, saying it puts them in a good place to act as honest brokers,” Patrick Wintour, the newspaper’s diplomatic editor, said on Monday. “Their critics, by contrast, say the peacemaking is a fig leaf behind which to hide moral bankruptcy and to justify the maintenance of deep commercial ties with Russia, still a potential victor from this trial of strength.”
Turkey has been accused of shopping on both sides of the street, Wintour said.
Erdoğan is battling a financial crisis and has not introduced any sanctions on Russia or closed Turkish airspace to Russian planes, even though his government has condemned the invasion unambiguously. Turkey is now the main conduit for Russian travellers looking to leave the country on international trips.
Erdoğan’s efforts at mediation, which have included phone calls with Putin and Ukrainian officials, as well as conversations with senior officials in the White House, may be producing some results. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba have agreed to meet at a forum in the southern Turkish resort city of Antalya on Thursday. The meeting would constitute the first face-to-face talks between the countries’ top diplomats since the invasion.
“Putin and Erdoğan, both in their late 60s and in power for decades, like each other’s blunt style,” Wintour said. “The Russian president once said of his Turkish counterpart: “This is a person who keeps his word – a man”.”
On Sunday, Erdoğan spoke to Putin for about an hour, asking him to agree to a ceasefire or humanitarian corridors. The call achieved little, according to Wintour.
“But Erdoğan has previously taken a bet on Russia. Turkey chose to purchase Russian S-400 air defence systems, prompting U.S. sanctions and NATO criticism. Its tourism sector relies heavily on 5 million Russian visitors annually, and Russia is overseeing Turkey’s Akkuyu nuclear plant in Mersin province. Gazprom owns Turkstream, the gas pipeline from Russia that meets 40 percent of Turkish demand.”
Wintour said Turkey’s nationalists also have a lot riding on relations with Russia and the outcome of the hostilities in Ukraine.
“For Turkey’s right wing, what is at stake is not Europe’s future, but Turkey’s as an ascending power,” he said. “But Turkey is also a NATO member, looking for a way back with the U.S., and is Ukraine’s fifth biggest trading partner. Perennially balancing east and west, Turkey is probably not the honest broker that Putin wants.”
Ahval