The meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi was a very important event in terms of many things. It proved that the two countries are strengthening their relationship, that Turkey’s role between Ukraine and Russia concerning grain exports has been very successful and that Russia sees Turkey as an important country to trade and work with amid heavy sanctions.
Western political circles have started to question the West’s attitude toward Russia. Since Europe is mostly dependent on Russian gas, the bloc is unsure about how to proceed as winter nears.
Especially in Germany, the sanction policy has been criticized by some leftist politicians.
Turkey has followed a different path since Russia started to attack Ukraine. It declared its backing of Ukraine and adopted a stance against the Russian invasion, but it did not its cut ties with Russia and maintained dialogue, which led to crucial success in diplomacy. Today, Turkey is the key actor in the Ukrainian crisis able to talk to both sides and mediate problems to achieve peace.
That was proven once more in Sochi. Erdoğan and Putin met in a four-hour meeting on Syria, gas, nuclear power and of course, Ukraine. Turkey wants to start a new operation to counter the PKK terrorist organization and its Syrian wing YPG, and Erdoğan said that Russia supports Turkey’s struggle against the terrorist groups but wants to coordinate the security issues with the Syrian regime.
Erdoğan said after the meeting that Turkey will contribute to regional peace in the Black Sea region and added that he suggested Putin arrange a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Turkey.
The leaders stressed the importance of grain exports via the Black Sea. The monthlong absence of Ukrainian grain in the world skyrocketed the prices and threatened to spread famine in regions like Africa and the Middle East.
There were other outcomes of the Erdoğan-Putin meeting as well as the aforementioned ones.
The two leaders agreed to continue cooperating on energy. It was remarkable that Putin calmly discussed the TurkStream pipeline, which is providing gas to Europe. Russian officials also said that Turkey agreed to pay a substantial amount of its energy bill in rubles, which will be beneficial for Turkey since Europe refuses to do so because of the sanctions. As a result, the gas flow to the continent is becoming problematic for the West as winter approaches.
The meeting solidified Turkey’s role as an important mediator between Ukraine and Russia – and between Russia and NATO.
Turkey’s position and efforts are key in today's crisis. It is a member of NATO but is an ally of Russia at the same time, which gives it the sole position of being a bridge between two worlds that are on the brink of completely cutting off communication. In helping Russia to export gas and grain, Turkey provides a useful ground for materials that needed to be present in the Western markets.
The meeting on Friday also implied that the two sides agree to work together in Syria and Libya, although they have been backing opposing sides.
So it would not be wrong to describe the meeting as a win-win situation for both sides. It gives Turkey diplomatic power in the West and Russia ground to survive economically amid sanctions.
