Viktor Nadein-Raevsky: Erdogan throws the United States a bone

Viktor Nadein-Raevsky, the Russian orientalist and senior researcher at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, commented to Alpha News on Erdogan’s approval of Sweden’s NATO accession.

“Erdogan has actually completely different moods, because in fact Sweden did not particularly strive to fulfill Turkish demands. How many people did it hand over whom the Turks suspected of terrorism to the Turkish side? Not many, it didn’t even try to. Has it taken any action against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party? Not really, because six members of the Swedish parliament are actually ethnic Kurds. They are from different political parties, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. And so, basically, these are both right-wing and left-wing parties, represented by ethnic Kurds,” the expert said.

According to Nadein-Raevsky, Erdogan’s actions are cold and calculative, but the results of his actions vary.

“Maybe Erdogan wanted to strengthen someone or something, but most likely these were his attempts to somehow level out his own position, which diverged from NATO’s position in the Middle East. Well, throwing at least some bone to the United States. It is basically similar to Erdogan’s actions. He always calculates a lot of things. Not always successfully, but he tries to calculate it,” Nadein-Raevsky said.

The expert believes that much in the matter of Sweden’s NATO accession will depend on Sweden itself, and many issues will be resolved “on the ground.”

“Apparently, it is necessary to strengthen the position of pro-NATO forces in Sweden. But to what extent will the Swedes themselves actually take action? We will see this when a new government is created and when Sweden itself takes some new foreign policy steps. Let’s see how much this will affect real politics,” the political expert concluded.