Turkey’s ambitions in 2020 posed a number of challenges to the country and the rest of the world, leading to a backlash from the European Union and the United States.
This is what was stated in the Politico website report on Turkey’s foreign policy in 2020.
The writer of the political memo says that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become a dilemma for the West, and this makes the need for a common approach to curb his dangerous adventures in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Caucasus more serious.
Even this confrontation should be at the top of the European Union’s list of priorities for cooperation with the Biden administration in the United States.
The report also deals with Turkey’s actions in 2020 and the past eleven months, as it mentioned:
- Sending weapons, drones, and paramilitary equipment to the Libyan civil war, aiming to balance the forces in favor of the reconciliation government.
- Hindering the inspection of Turkish cargo ships in the central Mediterranean in order to implement the Libyan arms embargo.
- Assist the Republic of Azerbaijan in reclaiming the lands around Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia.
- Conflict in northern Syria.
- Pressure on the European Union and “Athens” by using the tools of asylum seekers.
- Spread of reconnaissance ships equipped with weapons in Greek and Cypriot waters.
- Purchase of the S-400 missile system from Russia despite US opposition.
- Pressure on NATO to change its approach towards Syria.
The Politico website report added that such measures, such as escalating tensions with major European powers such as Germany and France, are an unprecedented approach for a country suffering from an economic and monetary crisis and still struggling to join the European Union.
It has also embarked on adventures in the Islamic world to divert local attention from the internal economic crisis caused by the outbreak of Coronavirus and to preserve its party alliance partners.
Politico adds that whatever Erdogan’s motives, he urges Turkey to be at the top of the list of foreign policy challenges in the European Union and Biden. Because this country has a very important strategic and geopolitical position.
The author concludes that it appears that the imposition of sanctions by the European Union and the United States in response to these measures by Turkey may make the country more aware of its position and actions; A warning for Ankara to apply more pressure could complement this path.
