TURKEY has signalled
plans tol ditch ties with the increasingly isolated European Union and instead
concentrate on a new global power alliance with Russia and China.
In a bombshell move president Recep Tayyip Erdogan strongly
hinted that the NATO member now prioritises closer relations with Asia as
Brussels continues to be engulfed in turmoil.
The prospect of Turkey joining such an alliance - known as the
Shanghai Five - will worry Europe at a time when it is set to lose the
unconditional support of the US under eurosceptic Donald Trump.
It leaves the Europe facing an increasingly isolated diplomatic
future, squeezed between a transatlantic alliance of Britain and America to the
West and Turkey and Russia to the East.
As relations between Ankara and Brussels continue to
deteriorate, Mr Erdogan yesterday dropped his strongest hint yet that Turkey
has now all but dropped its bid to join the EU.
Asked about the faltering accession talks, he said: “Turkey must
feel at ease. It mustn’t say ‘for me it’s the European Union at all costs’.
That’s my view.
“Why shouldn’t Turkey be in the Shanghai Five? I said this to
(Russian President) Mr Putin, to (Kazakh President) Nazarbayev, to those who
are in the Shanghai Five now.
“I hope that if there is a positive development there, I think
if Turkey were to join the Shanghai Five, it will enable it to act with much
greater ease.”
Mr Erdoğan made the remarks whilst speaking to reporters on his
plane on the way back from a visit to Pakistan and Uzbekistan, the latter of
which is part of the Shanghai Five and the former of which is about to join.
The security alliance actually has six members - China,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan - and will be
bolstered further by the additions of India and Pakistan in the coming months,
meaning it presents a significant challenge to NATO’s global dominance.
Mr Erdoğan’s remarks come as more and more countries turn their
backs on the troubled EU, with warnings that eastern European countries Moldova
and Bulgaria are now switching their allegiances to Moscow.
The developments will all provide a huge boost to Russian
supremo Vladimir Putin, who is already attempting to soften relations with the
US in a move which would further outflank Brussels.
In particular the EU could become increasingly isolated over its
regime of sanctions against Moscow, imposed after the annexation of the Crimean
peninsula, if Mr Trump pulls the plug on similar US measures.
Mr Erdoğan last week hinted that Turkey could hold a referendum
on its possible future membership of the EU amid growing frustration at the
snail-like pace of accession talks.
The country has never looked further away from joining the euro
club than at present, with moves including an attempt to legalise child rape
and calls to bring back the death penalty prompting outrage in Brussels.
However, despite offering severe criticism of its autocratic
leader, Europe still needs Turkey’s help if it is to stand any chance of
bringing the chaotic migrant crisis under control.
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