Experts comment on how Russia-Türkiye relations could change after the election – RT World News
Opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu has promised a 180 degree change in relations with Moscow
If President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins the second round of Turkish elections on Sunday, relations between Ankara and Moscow will continue to be warm – but it could be different if his opponent, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, wins the tight race, according to Turkish experts. . says RT.
The election ended in a runoff after none of the candidates won 50% in the first round, held earlier this month.
There will be no change in Türkiye’s position towards Russia if Erdogan wins, believes Ibrahim Karatas, associate professor of international relations at Istinye University in Istanbul.
“Erdogan has pursued an independent foreign policy over the past ten years,” and if he wins, he will continue to do so, he said, adding that relations between the two counties may even improve.
Kilicdaroglu, on the other hand, promised before the first round “that he will change foreign policy 180 degrees”, aligning Turkey with the West, Karatas said. “I guess he will join the sanctions against Russia.”
The United States and its allies could persuade Kilicdaroglu to cancel all contracts with Moscow, including the closure of Russia’s Akkuyu nuclear power plant, which opened last month, he added.
The editor of the United World International analysis center, Yunus Soner, told RT that “you will definitely see a different discourse” regarding Russia if Kilicdaroglu defeats Erdogan in the second round.
Soner went on to say: “How far he can really change the content of his policy, for example joining the sanctions or increasing his support for Ukraine, is another matter.”
“Turkey is a great country. It has many interests, a huge economy and an organized civil society. So you can’t just sit down and turn the wheel. he said.
Soner said that Kilicdaroglu is “Recent discussions about reducing so-called energy dependence on Russia are worrying.” But carrying out this plan would be problematic, as buying energy from the United States would be too expensive for Turkey, he noted.
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