"Erdogan's secret is pragmatism and non-tolerance of insane ultra-liberal ideology"
Caliber.Az interview with Russian pundit Dmitry Babich

INTERVIEWS  09 September 2022 - 16:27

Caliber.Az presents an interview with Dmitry Babich, the Russian political scientist, and columnist at InoSMI.

- Is it possible to call the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports Türkiye's success?

- The resumption of Ukrainian grain exports, as well as the situation around Russian and Ukrainian agricultural exports in general, is certainly a moment that boosts Erdogan's international rating. I would like to point out that Putin, in his speech at the Eastern Economic Forum, lashed out at the EU while saying only respectful, warm words for Türkiye.

"We have done everything for the Ukrainian grain to be exported. (...) We did it together with Türkiye. If we exclude Türkiye as an intermediary country, almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is directed not to developing poorer countries, but to the European Union countries," Putin said at the plenary session of the WEF in Vladivostok.

Here is a second quote from the same speech by the Russian president: "It is obvious that with this approach, the scale of food problems in the world will only increase, unfortunately. It can lead to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. Maybe we should think about limiting the direction of grain and trade food exports along this route. I will definitely consult with the President of Türkiye, Mr. Erdogan about it."

So Putin sees Erdogan as the only leader in today's NATO organisation who is capable of problem-solving and with whom he can have a conversation. Surely not with French President Macron after his statements against "Islamic separatism". Let me remind you that Macron first went to Moscow, then had hour-long empty conversations with Putin on the phone... And then the next day he sends French artillery systems to Kyiv, and he also called Russia "the last empire"! It is worth noting that Macron chose a former French colony in Africa for this "anti-imperial" statement - not at all blessed with "white masters". However, Macron did not have any shame - he recently again declared (after all his nastiness towards Russia and Azerbaijan) that he was "ready for contact" with Putin. Thanks, but no, thanks.

In the current situation, Erdogan acts as a pragmatist, really interested in delivering grain to the hungry - including Syria, from where the malnourished population can flood into Türkiye. It is not for nothing that two ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports to really malnourished Syria arrived in Syrian ports via the Turkish Bosporus and Dardanelles. One of the ships was called Razoni. I think these two ships were just bringing the grain that Putin declared to be "3 per cent of the harvest that reached the starving."

- What do you think Erdogan's secret is? How does he manage, on the one hand, to supply Ukraine with Bayraktar drones and, on the other hand, not to impose sanctions against Russia, instead providing aid and certain goods that the West does not supply because of sanctions?

- Erdogan's secret is pragmatism and non-tolerance of the insane ultra-liberal ideology that has conquered the educated and truly free Üestern world today. Erdogan is not sick of radical feminism, he does not curtsy towards homosexuals and some trans-something like Biden or Scholz have to do.

For the sake of this, Russia tolerates Erdogan for being somewhat straightforward in defending Türkiye's national interests. It is better than Western hypocrisy. Besides, today Türkiye is the "road of life" for Russia, linking it with Western countries with their technology. Roads through Poland and Finland are problematic today.

- Where is the red line for Russian cooperation with Türkiye?

- The red line... I don't think there are people in the Russian leadership who consider there is a red line in cooperation with Türkiye. I am referring specifically to the leadership, not to illiterate loudmouths like Baghdasarov, who, alas, are allowed on our TV. With Baghdasarov wherever Türkiye is, there is a red line and a red rag for the bull. And everything, in general, is red.

Türkiye's sale of arms to Ukraine is a sad fact. But it is insignificant compared to the dastardly "gift" of Soviet BMPs to Ukraine by our allegedly "orthodox brothers" from Greece. The USSR once gave these BMPs to Greece as fraternal aid. Russia supplied air defence equipment to Greece. And now Greece is also saving Bulgaria from our "gas response" for all their nastiness - for sabotaging South Stream, for expelling our diplomats, for recognising the Ukrainian Orthodox Church as the canonical "church" in Ukraine.

Caliber.Az