85926 - Transcription: The Iran – Turkey alliance

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Athina Kehagias

If there are still people wondering what Turkey is doing in relation to the war taking place in the Middle East, things are very simple and even simpler I would say, after the reception of the Foreign Minister of Iran in Turkey, who has visited Ankara. We have therefore two players, Iran and Turkey, who are normally functioning in a hostile manner at the local level, and who have come to terms with each other in relation to the war in Gaza, and so we in fact understand that the initial impression we had that Turkey could function in a context of balance between the players, it is now clear that Turkey has taken a position, she talks directly to Iran, which as we know has a dominant role in this case along with Qatar and has no problem regarding the interpretation of the data. Therefore, we now know that Turkey, even though she is a candidate country for the European Union, even though she is in NATO, has clearly sided with Iran, and of course with Qatar from the very beginning and functions within the context of Hamas. So we, as Greece, are in a completely different context, we understand what is happening at the level of NATO, what is happening at the level of the European Union, and these moves by Turkey carry a cost for Turkey, because the Allies observe in a very practical manner that now Turkey is allied with Iran, she has no problem whatsoever with Iran, whereas normally she would, because she has overcome those problems in the sense that she gives priority to the strikes against Israel, so that because they have a common goal, to eventually have a common behavior as well in the long run.