Flabbergasting how for years in almost every Western political, media or think tank comment on the broken 🇹🇷-🇫🇷🇪🇺relationship entire parts of the story are omitted. In particular on how Western actors harmed legitimate 🇹🇷 interests and/or played dirty games themselves. (1/6)
Western commentators complain about Turkey buying Russian S-400 but remain silent on how NATO govts armed the Syrian PKK-branch (YPG), despite 40 years of lethal PKK attacks against Turkey, calling YPG “the Kurds” and concealing the PKK-YPG link. Makes average Turk angry. (2/6)
Most Western commentators ignore the evidence on the Gülenist lead role in the 2016 bloody coup attempt (shared though by MI6 boss, German quality press, entire TR opposition), while many Western govts had excellent relationships with the Gülenists before & after the coup. (3/6)
In EastMed 🇫🇷🇪🇺 support 🇬🇷 max claims against (UNCLOS) equity principle & jurisprudence on reduction of territorial rights from islands vs. opposite states. 🇫🇷🇪🇺talk about 🇹🇷”aggression” in Libya whereas 🇫🇷🇬🇷backed brutal campaign by Haftar to invade Tripoli that 🇹🇷 stopped (4/6)
On refugees 🇪🇺 condemns 🇹🇷 - with its 3.5 M refugees - for blackmailing but fails badly in terms of its fair share in finance & resettlement. Again vital Turkish interests denied, but few European elites have ever thought about this. (5/6)
Ironically, all this bolsters an autocratic Erdogan. In our public debate there is only room for Eurocentric, orientalist, neocolonial framing, which further destroys the relationship, and indirectly, Turkey’s democracy. (6/6)
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
