One sentence explaining everything

Two statements, one after the other, came on the day the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the “Syria Summit” to be held together with Turkey and Iran. 

The first one was from the United States, which said economic sanctions applied to Russia after the Ukraine crisis were expanded, adding seven more Russian citizens and eight companies to the U.S. Treasury’s list. 

The second statement came from the European Union which said the deadline of the economic sanctions the EU imposed on Russia for destabilizing Ukraine would be extended six more months. 

We already know about the embargo against Iran. 

Iran reacted to the embargo decision coming from the U.S. on the day the Moscow summit was publicized. Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also warned the U.S. government of breaching the nuclear deal, saying the Islamic republic would definitely react to it. 

I would like to draw your attention to the fact that these statements arrived at a time when Turkey-Russia relations, which were severed with the downing of the Russian plane last year, were about to transform into peace talks in Syria. 

There is also another matter that calls for attention.

The common feature of Turkey, Russia and Iran that met in Moscow is that all these three countries have troops in Syria. In other words, their land forces are in war. Sixteen of our young men fell as martyrs just recently. 

When we look into the “meaning” of these diplomatic statements…  It disturbs the U.S. and the EU that Russia, by taking Turkey and Iran at its side, is trying to make peace in Syria according to the interests of these three countries. Because of this, “diplomatic cards” are being played. 

As a matter of fact, it was the other day, on Dec. 21, that the U.N. reached a decision to investigate war crimes in Syria. The story read, “The United Nations General Assembly has voted to establish an investigative body to ‘collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence’ as well as to prepare cases on war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the conflict in Syria. Russia and Iran spoke against the resolution.”  
Well, here is the sentence than explains everything. 

“Russia and Iran spoke against the resolution.” 

On the same day, Turkey, Iran and Russia took a successful step toward establishing peace in Syria. It is a historic decision to stop the bloodshed in this country. 

For this summit to fail, the last try was with the assassination of the Russian ambassador, but it did not work. 

Now, on the new world’s equilibrium formed over Syria, there is the Turkey-Russia-Iran trio. From that point of view, Turkey has taken this historic opportunity and made good use of it. 

Our third point to ponder this question: 

The West is imposing embargoes on Russia and Iran. The West is claiming that Russia and Iran are committing war crimes in Syria. Russia and Iran are non-NATO countries. Russia and Iran are developing an alternative diplomacy to the West. Well, would this situation split Turkey from the West? 

Of course not.

If Turkey uses this card well; if Turkey is able to maintain the balances with the U.S. and with the EU; if Turkey manages to make this summit in Moscow a continuation of the summit established before in Geneva; then Turkey will achieve tremendous success. 

In this case, Turkey will not split from the U.S. and the EU but become a “balancing bridge” between the two mega powers.