After winning the elections, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a "warning signal" to the West by refusing to participate in two major summits of the EU and NATO - the meeting of the European Political Community (EPC) in Chisinau, where he was supposed to arrive himself, and an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, where Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu did not go. A diplomatic source at a European country's mission to the EU told TASS on Thursday.
"Turkey refused to participate in two formats at once - the EPC summit in Chisinau and the informal NATO meeting in Oslo. These decisions are due to the high busyness after the elections and the opening of the first session of Turkey's parliament. However, regardless of being busy, refusing to participate in two meetings at once under the patronage of the EU and NATO is a clear signal to the West that Ankara intends to continue as independent policy as possible," the diplomat said.
"It is no secret that the EU and the US were betting on Erdogan's opponent. There is no doubt that if he had won, Ankara would have attended both meetings," he stressed. -"Turkey will certainly continue to work with the EU and NATO on all key issues, but its absence from these meetings, albeit not the most significant ones, is conspicuous."
At the Oslo meeting, one of the main topics was to be Sweden's accession to NATO, which Turkey continues to block. At the meeting in Chisinau, the EU intends to try to convince partner countries that ignore illegal EU sanctions to support Brussels' bans against Russia, which Turkey has repeatedly refused to do.
Turkey has not officially announced whether it will attend the summit in Chisinau and the Oslo ministerial meeting or not. The fact that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will not attend the NATO meeting was officially confirmed by its organizer, Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, at a press conference on Wednesday. Erdogan's non-participation in the EPC summit in Chisinau was earlier reported by several European media, in particular the European Politico newspaper, citing sources in Moldova and the EU. Turkey is a member of the European Political Community and was represented by Erdogan at the first EPC summit in Prague.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS