Erdogan, middleman in Ukraine diplomacy, to meet Putin in Iran

BEIRUT • Only weeks ago, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his objections to allowing Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) - a move that angered Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Now, he is off to Iran for talks with none other than Mr Putin himself, with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi also in attendance.

The trip highlights Mr Erdogan's complicated and often apparently contradictory statecraft.

As a Nato member, Turkey is supposedly allied with pro-Europe Ukraine. A leading Turkish drone manufacturer is also proudly selling drones that Ukrainian forces have used to target Russian tanks.

But still, Mr Erdogan has become closer to Mr Putin in recent years and has kept lines to the Russian leader open. He has served as a mediator between Mr Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky and has pressed for talks on allowing grain from Ukraine to pass Russia's blockade to ease global food shortages.

Throughout his tenure at the helm of the Turkish state, Mr Erdogan has used a complex web of relationships with several countries to make Turkey a player, serving as a go-between for nations in conflict or playing off foes against one another for his own benefit.

While other Nato states may view Turkey as a sometimes problematic member of the alliance, its membership gives Ankara added weight when dealing with countries like Russia and Iran.

Conversely, Mr Erdogan uses his wide array of outside relationships for leverage against Nato, said Dr Karabekir Akkoyunlu, a lecturer in Middle East politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

"This is part balancing, manoeuvring, double game," Dr Akkoyunlu said. "You can put a positive spin or a negative spin on it, but that's been the sort of trademark of Erdogan's foreign policy."

Despite Turkey's differences with Russia over Ukraine, the two countries have other issues to discuss. They are militarily active in the war in Syria, for example, albeit on different sides. Russia and Iran both came to the aid of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey supported the rebels seeking to oust him and now controls a large part of territory inside Syria along the Turkish border, and wants to take more.

Mr Erdogan has been talking for months about launching a new military incursion into north-eastern Syria to flush out Kurdish militiamen Turkey considers terrorists.

But Russia also has troops in the area, so the operation is unlikely to go ahead unless Turkey can work it out with Russia.

Turkey also maintains ties with Iran, even though as a member of Nato Ankara is part of the US-led Western camp that Teheran opposes.

That means that while the United States is looking for partners to deter Iran in the Middle East, Mr Erdogan does not hesitate to accept the country's hospitality.

Mr Putin is only the latest visitor to Iran from Moscow.

Russia is seeking hundreds of armed and unarmed surveillance drones from Iran to use in the war in Ukraine, and a Russian delegation visited an airfield in central Iran at least twice in the past five weeks to examine drones that can be armed, according to the White House.

Mr Alper Coskun, a former Turkish diplomat and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said Turkey's location meant it had to "maintain a balance as a country in the region".

"It is natural and right for Turkey to keep close relations with Russia and Iran in order to protect national interests, while also fulfilling Nato membership duties," he said, noting that some Western countries found these contacts disconcerting.

"Since our Western allies, particularly the US, have some concerns on whether Turkey shares the collective interests, these bilateral contacts may raise eyebrows," he said.

NYTIMES