Turks pay special attention to relations with Russia, Ivan Starodubtsev, an expert on Turkey, told Radio Sputnik.
This year, Turkey will hold general elections – presidential and parliamentary at the same time.
The international agenda will play a very prominent role in the election campaign, and the incumbent president intends to use it, said Turkey expert, author of the TG channel “Turkey is” Ivan Starodubtsev.
“People want national pride. I think normal Turks are sick and tired of talking to Europeans and Americans from the bottom up. Notice how (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan is emphatically trying to put some balance in the dialogue, even though the Americans are pushing and the Europeans are famous for their snobbery – but how he is trying to build a dialogue. The Turks need this national pride. Turks understand that their economy is going forward, that it is no longer yesterday’s Turkey, that they deserve more in the international arena. They have got a taste of voice in NATO, where they are blockading Sweden and Finland, and the whole world is dancing around them… This is what the Turks see and this is balm for them,” – this opinion was expressed by Ivan Starodubtsev in the program of Nadana Friedrichson on Radio Sputnik.
Turks pay special attention to relations with Russia, he continued.
“Turkey understands perfectly well that relations with Russia are built on the basis of leadership diplomacy. Putin and Erdogan somehow manage to agree – they have known each other for a long time and are ‘on the same frequency’… And it is clear that if the opposition comes to power, there will be a “frequency failure” and we will be looking at each other very, very long, just to talk about some issues that we used to easily agree on. We will look at each other for a very long time – and this is an optimistic forecast,” the expert believes.