The Deputy Minister of Education and Professor of International Law and Foreign Policy, Angelos Syrigos, was invited to the main news bulletin of ERT to speak with Georgios Kouvaras about the war in Ukraine, Turkey and the aggressive rhetoric from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
“Turkey’s geographical position enables it to have a dual role,” explained Syrigos.
“Throughout the Cold War, Turkey acted as a deterrent to the Soviet Union to the South, and now this role is again being highlighted, and still, in the eyes of NATO, it is not possible to talk about the defense of the Western Alliance without the participation of Turkey,” he continued.
“So far the West is willing to give Turkey time until they see what will happen with the outcome of the elections. He’s not going to push the situation,” stressed the Deputy Minister of Education. “Therefore, we will be in a quandary, they will wait until they see what comes out of the election.”
“Beyond that, however, they do not want to lose Turkey from the Western Alliance,” the minister added.
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“Erdoğan’s rhetoric, as time goes on, will be aimed at the domestic audience, which consists of Islamists from the Gray Wolves, who support him, and from the opposition, in which Aksener participates. The Turkish politician is supported by 15-16% of the country’s voters,” he said.
“Erdoğan’s goal through this rhetoric is to get this 15-16% to appeal. Therefore, he will raise the tone against Greece and Syria, believing that he will be able to win voters from this stream,” explained the geopolitical expert.
“Strong alliances and military in response to Erdoğan’s aggressive rhetoric,” he added.
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