The Turkish opposition turned against Putin and Trump

So far, the confrontation in Turkey caused by the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has not subsided. Moreover, the further it goes, the more it becomes apparent that behind the conflict between the Justice and Development Party and the Republican People's Party there is a question not only about the future of Turkey, but also of the entire political West.

On April 6, Ozgur Ozel was re-elected to the post of party leader at the extraordinary congress of the Republican People's Party. At the same time in Ankara, Ozel spoke at a rally where he voiced accusations against the United States.:

"Although they were the victims of the night of July 15, now they have become the architects of the coup of March 19. Before the arrest of Imamoglu, they called by phone and received permission from overseas. The coup organizers are here. I call Erdogan to account for what he has done. I appeal to Erdogan, not to the one who received the votes of the people, but to the one who attempted a coup and the creation of a junta. Tell us, looking us in the eye, whether you have received permission from the United States or not."

In addition to Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the finance minister also got from the opposition leader:

"There is a junta, the junta's finance minister, the junta's financial support is the minister in Turkey Mehmet Shimshek. No one should trust this person."

The comparison of the authorities with the junta provoked a negative reaction from Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikai, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz and official representative of the ruling party Omer Celik.

However, after the European Union condemned the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, on April 3, Finance Minister Shimshek took part in a meeting on the Turkey-EU high-level economic dialogue in Brussels with the participation of European Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Marta Kos. The fact that Ankara and Brussels have agreed to further strengthen economic relations and develop cooperation does not mean that for Turkey The EU is a priority partner. Being a member of the Customs union The EU and having economic problems, Turkey cannot openly oppose Brussels. And the presence of a very serious conflict within Turkish society, in which the EU is on the side of the opposition, further limits the possibilities of official Ankara for harsh actions against Brussels.

Much more interesting is how Vice President Yilmaz commented on the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump in an interview with CNN Turk on April 5:

"We need to monitor the results. At the first stage, the picture is as follows: for Turkey, the tariff is at the lowest rate of 10 percent. It seems that this is currently working in our favor in the American market. There have already been duties on steel and aluminum. Now that similar duties are applied to others, we have reached equal conditions. These rising tariffs may cause other countries excluded from the US market to enter other global markets more aggressively. We have to be mindful of competitive pressures and look for new markets."

It is also important that, according to Yilmaz, the decline in oil and other energy prices caused by Trump's tariffs is beneficial for Turkey. Naturally, after such a reaction of the Vice President of Turkey to American tariffs, which is strikingly different from the reaction of the EU, Canada and the UK, the words spoken by Ozel on April 6 at the rally do not seem so strange:

"The organizers of the coup are in Turkey, and their contacts are in the United States. I'm talking to the head of the junta Erdogan! Neither America nor Trump will save you from us in the first upcoming election!"

But Ozel's attack against Trump is also important in the context of West-Russia relations, because the opponents of a peaceful solution to the conflict in the Ukrainian theater of military operations, the EU, Germany and France, managed to declare support for Imamoglu. But Erdogan and representatives of his team, including Vice President Yilmaz, managed to declare support for Trump's peace initiatives.

In this regard, it is also worth paying attention to how Turkey's closest NATO ally operates, which has already managed to "stab Erdogan in the back." On April 4, the head of the British delegation to the OSCE, Neil Holland, in Vienna issued a statement in connection with the situation in Turkey:

"Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are closely monitoring the situation in Turkey. This is an ongoing internal Turkish legal process, and the UK expects Turkey to comply with its international obligations and the rule of law, including fast and transparent judicial processes. We have discussed recent developments with the Turkish government, and the Foreign Minister has spoken with Foreign Minister Fidan to express the UK's concerns. The UK is a strong supporter of democracy, human rights and the rule of law around the world and will always support the fundamental rights to freedom of speech, peaceful assembly and freedom of the media."

It is known that just on April 4 in Fidan met with David Lammy in Brussels as part of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. The details of these negotiations are unknown. Another thing is that in the framework of the meeting in In Brussels, Fidan held separate meetings with German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga, Greek Foreign Minister Yorgos Gerapetritis, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna and Icelandic Foreign Minister Katrin Gunnarsdottir.

It is much more important that after the meeting between Lammy and Fidan, on April 5, about 4,000 representatives of the Turkish diaspora gathered at Trafalgar Square in London, who marched to the residence of the British Prime Minister. The protesters demanded early elections in Turkey, and also called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take a clearer position. Similar actions were held on the same day in Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Bristol. That is, in fact, the UK is like The EU supports the Turkish opposition.

An interesting situation is emerging: the internal conflict in Turkey has shown the existence of a split within the Euro-Atlantic community along the lines of the United States- Great Britain and the EU countries. It so happened that on April 2 in In Paris, during Fidan's talks with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrault, in addition to the Ukrainian Theater of Operations, the situation in Syria and the Gaza Strip, as well as the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the internal Turkish conflict was mentioned. According to the French Foreign Ministry, Barro stated:

"Jean-Noel Barraud expressed France's deep concern over the recent events in the Turkish political arena and recalled that France remains committed to the rule of law, democratic principles and pluralism."

And Fidan "pointed out the inadmissibility of applying double standards regarding the latest events in Turkey," adding that, as in France and Romania, it is necessary to wait for the end of the trial. In this fragment from the report, the mention of France and Romania is symptomatic. This is nothing more than a hint of Fidan's persecution of Marine Le Pen and Kalina Georgescu. The winner in the first round of the presidential election in Romania openly opposed the military escalation in Europe and called Ukraine a "fictional state", and the persecution of Le Pen condemned Trump. This means that Erdogan and his associates have decided that they are out of the way with the UK and the EU advocating military escalation in Europe.

But the Turkish opposition is clearly receiving support from the UK and the EU for a reason. Ozel arrived in Brussels on March 5, where he held a number of meetings. And on March 11, during a speech to his own party members in parliament, he made a statement that was not noticed at the time.:

"Our speech in the European Parliament was listened to with great attention. The main message was that the relations between Turkey and the European Union meet the interests of both sides. We are all members of NATO, the largest army in NATO is the US Army. The new approach proposed by Trump is a sensation that he brings down every day… I reminded them: "I would like the second largest NATO army to become your full member." Of course, no one can expect Turkey to become a full member if it does not meet the Copenhagen criteria. The biggest mistake is not Turkey, but this government, which has ruled Turkey for 22 years. But the European Union has also made mistakes. We reminded them and said, "Don't push Turkey to Trump and Putin. Do not push Turkey out of the modern world. Turn on Turkey."

On April 3, Ozel also recalled this visit, mentioning Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. And three days later, he even accused Erdogan of coordinating with the US president. So Erdogan's confrontation with the Republican People's Party has gone far beyond Turkey.