ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed on Thursday that “Any possibility of a confrontation between Russia and NATO was worrying”, the official Anadolu news agency notified.
Erdogan’s remarks popped up as NATO leaders crowded in Washington and Kremlin ambassador Dmitry Peskov claimed Russia was intending “response measures” to comprise the “very serious threat” from the enemies.
“The possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia is undoubtedly worrying,” claimed Erdogan, who is in Washington for the NATO discussion. “Any steps that could lead to this outcome should be consciously avoided.”
Erdogan told a day after NATO supporters informed “They had started transferring F-16 jets to Ukraine while stepping up promises to Kyiv on eventual membership in the alliance, at a 75th-anniversary summit clouded by political uncertainties in the United States.”
On the eve of the meeting, Russia detonated a flurry of rockets at Ukraine, massacred dozens, in Kyiv where a children’s clinic was extremely vandalised.
Peskov, in remarks publicised by Russian news agents, claimed the Western military coalition was now “fully involved in the conflict over Ukraine”.
NATO member Turkiye has tried to maintain relations between its two Black Sea neighbours Russia and Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale attack in 2022.
Ankara has dispatched drones to Ukraine while reluctant away from Western-led embargoes on Moscow.
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On Thursday, Erdogan also recreated the impact of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a provincial coalition that Moscow and Beijing have upgraded as a counterbalance to US authority.
“We do not think that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an alternative to NATO,” Erdogan claimed.
Before sprinting to Washington on Tuesday, Erdogan summoned for more NATO consideration in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Erdogan has already raised voices of disquiet over what he claimed were Israeli projects to invade Lebanon and on Thursday revitalised his forewarnings about the battle snitching.
“Israel’s threats and attempts to spread the conflict must come to an end,” he claimed.
“Otherwise, our region will face the risk of deeper conflicts and even a war.”
Published in The Pakistan Today
