BELGRADE —
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused the West of staging
“provocations” against Russia that have forced it to cut energy supplies to
Europe.
اضافة اعلان
Erdogan has
maintained good working relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin while
trying to stay neutral in the conflict and supplying Ukraine with weapons and
combat drones.
He told reporters
on a visit to
Belgrade that he understood Putin’s decision to cut off natural
gas supplies to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline.
“I can say very
clearly that I do not find the attitude of the West — no need to mention names
— to be correct, because it is a policy based on provocations,” Erdogan said.
“As long as you
try to wage such a war of provocations, you will not be able to get the needed
result.”
Erdogan has tried
to use his open relations with both Moscow and Kyiv to try to arrange direct
talks between Putin and Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey.
“As Turkey, we
have always maintained a policy of balance between Ukraine and Russia. From now
on, we will continue to follow that balanced policy,” he said.
Erdogan is
expected to meet Putin at a regional summit in Uzbekistan next week.
Turkey has not
joined the Western sanctions regime against Russia and signed a new economic
cooperation agreement with Moscow during a summit between Putin and Erdogan in
Sochi earlier this month.
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