IIn the traffic light coalition, calls are being made for tough consequences for NATO member Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) with Russia and China.
“NATO and the European Union must ask themselves how long they will let Erdogan dance around on their noses,” said the foreign policy spokesman for the Greens parliamentary group, Jürgen Trittin, to the newspaper “Welt”. “Turkey is preventing NATO from monitoring the UN arms embargo on Libya. It is drilling in Greece’s economic zone. NATO member Turkey is doing more to circumvent European sanctions on Russia than China. Erdogan puts the brakes on Finland and Sweden joining NATO. And now he wants to join the SCO together with Iran.” It is time for a “robust Turkey policy.” Since nobody can be excluded from NATO, coercive economic measures against Turkey must be considered.
Nils Schmid, foreign policy spokesman for the SPD parliamentary group, sees Erdogan’s plan as a serious mistake and as a renewed attempt to distract from domestic political difficulties. “Foreign policy, this would be another symbolic step away from the West and its values - a serious political mistake for Turkey’s future.”
NATO member Turkey is already a so-called “dialogue partner” of the SCO. In addition to China and Russia, the group also includes India, Pakistan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
