Trump’s Russia Policy Denounced. Russia’s Turkey Policy Announced. Paralympics Bans Russia
Stephen F. Cohen, NYU, Princeton University.
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Trump’s
Russia Policy Denounced. Russia’s Turkey Policy Announced.
Paralympics Bans Russia. Stephen F. Cohen, NYU, Princeton University.
“…In
Europe, the Erdogan-Putin rapprochement has been seen as an attempt
by the Turkish leader to demonstrate that Russia can be an
alternative to the European Union, which has been critical of his
handling of the coup aftermath.
“In
the long term, however, their interests don’t converge at all,
especially on Syria, but also on economy and energy,” said one
senior EU official. “That’s why it’s important we keep our
channels to Ankara open.”
A
second EU official described Mr. Erdogan’s visit to Moscow as a
“demonstration of power that seems more than it is.” Officials
said that three-quarters of the foreign direct investment in Turkey
comes from EU countries.
EU-Turkey
relations have soured over the past weeks, since Mr. Erdogan’s
crackdown and call to introduce the death penalty, a move that would
halt Turkey’s EU membership bid.
“On
Monday, Mr. Erdogan took to French newspaper Le Monde to denounce
what he described as an “unacceptable” reaction by European
leaders to the coup attempt, as opposed to Mr. Putin, who didn’t
criticize him for cracking down on dissidents and coup plotters.
“The
Turkish leader also threatened to scrap a migration deal with the
EU—which lets the EU return migrants who have crossed illegally to
Europe from Turkish shores—if Turkish citizens aren’t granted
visa-free travel to the European bloc. That prospect that is on hold
as long as Turkey’s antiterror laws allow it to keep peaceful
government critics behind bars on terrorism charges….”
“Sochi
was corrupted,” he continued, referring to the Russian city that
hosted the 2014 Winter Games. “Russia had state-sponsored doping,
and the International Olympic Committee caved in, unlike the
International Paralympic Committee.”
The
I.O.C. did not apply a blanket ban on Russian athletes for the Rio
Games after the release of a damning report by the World Anti-Doping
Agency; the Paralympic committee did bar the Russians from this
year’s Paralympics, which begin next month.
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