International media are scrutinizing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s message and Turkey’s stance at the NATO summit in Washington.
In an analysis titled “Gaza, the elephant in the room at NATO summit,” the American newspaper The Washington Post wrote that while the main agenda in Washington is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at least one member state intends to put Gaza on the agenda. Reminding Erdogan that he has been a harsh critic of Israel since the start of the occupation, the analysis said that before flying to Washington, the Turkish leader expressed his desire to focus attention on Gaza at the summit.
In an editorial titled “The West Needs New Glasses,” the New York Times opposed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and stressed the importance of NATO member states deciding together on the best way to end the war.
Al-Monitor noted that at the summit in Washington, Ankara will likely focus on the arms embargo imposed on Turkey and the ties between some alliance member states and the terrorist organization PKK, recalling the previous step of removing Turkey from the F-35 program.
Stating that the three countries that, according to Turkey, have issues with the terrorist organization YPG in northern Syria are the US, the UK and France, Al-Monitor said that the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip will be brought to the negotiating table by Turkey at the NATO summit. The paper also drew attention to the timing, noting that the NATO summit took place shortly after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, where Turkey is seeking full membership.
The Kuwaiti news agency KUNA carried a Turkish government statement under the headline “President Erdogan will bring up genocide against Palestinians at NATO summit.”
Iranian news agency Tasnim ran the headline “Erdogan: NATO should not get involved in Ukraine war.”
The Russian newspaper cited CNN Türkiye as its source
In a report based on CNN Turkey, Russian media outlet Moskovsky Komsomolets listed President Erdogan’s agenda in Washington one by one. According to the outlet, the president plans to list proposals to end the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the war in Ukraine. In addition, the Black Sea, Middle East security issues, and the fight against terrorism will also be on Turkiye’s alliance agenda.
Russia’s TASS news agency conveyed to its subscribers Erdogan’s message on Gaza, Ukraine and the fight against terrorism, highlighting a sentence in which Erdogan said the use of NATO weapons in Ukraine confirmed the correctness of Ankara’s position.
In a story headlined “Erdogan uses historic NATO summit to address Gaza issue,” The New Arab newspaper noted that the Turkish leader will call on alliance leaders to end the Middle East war.
“President Erdogan goes to Washington for the NATO 75th anniversary summit. What does Turkey think about the summit and its reservations?” BBC Turkish, which chose this title, wrote that the Turkish government wants peace to be discussed in Ukraine, a stance that differs from that of other members of the alliance.
The United Arab Emirates newspaper, National News, reporting on the NATO summit in a story headlined “The emergence of Hakan Fidan can be witnessed from Turkey”, wrote that the warning issued by Ankara against Southern Cyprus has opened the eyes of Western countries in surprise, as the country is now in the middle of a trade war with Turkey’s capital.
Responding to comments by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, Fidan urged his Greek Cypriot counterpart to distance himself from tensions in the Middle East and said there was serious militarisation taking place in the south of the island.
Reminding us of the US’s increasing military cooperation with Greece and Southern Cyprus, National News stated that Hakan Fidan was openly attacking NATO allies and noted that the Turkish Foreign Minister exuded polite ruthlessness. Recalling that the former intelligence chief spoke fluent English and that his master’s thesis was modelled on the CIA and MI6, the analysis included comments about Hakan Fidan informing the Foreign Ministry of the changes he had made to the national intelligence organisation.
The National News newspaper cited Fidan’s combination of Sweden’s NATO membership with F-16 fighter jets and special privileges from Stockholm as one of his two major achievements, along with Ankara’s continued balancing of relations with Russia and Ukraine.
The analysis emphasized that this was the first summit since Turkey approved Sweden’s entry into the alliance, and that Turkey may speak out, especially regarding the ongoing occupation of Gaza and the two-state solution in Cyprus. President Erdogan is expected to deliver a major speech at the summit, and it would not be surprising if the foreign minister made his presence felt.
