Turkish Advisor Insists There Must Be a New Security Architecture Between Russia and the West

March 20, 2022 (EIRNS)—Ibrahim Kalin, top advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spoke to the New York Times in an interview published yesterday. Kalin was speaking from the standpoint of having been present for Erdogan’s calls to Putin and Zelenskyy on March 17.

“Zelenskyy is ready to meet, but Putin thinks that the positions to have this meeting at the leaders’ level are not close enough yet,” Kalin said. The Turkish official said that Putin no longer advocated replacing Zelenskyy but

“now accepts the reality of Zelenskyy as the leader of the Ukrainian people, whether he likes it or not.” Kalin stressed that he believes there will be a meeting and a peace deal but thinks that Putin will want to do it from a position of strength. The Ukrainian side also wants a peace deal, even if some NATO countries are worried that Russia will be rewarded for its alleged “

aggression.”

The most difficult issues, like those of territorial control and sovereignty, will have to be left to the two Presidents, Kalin suggested, once lesser issues are resolved. Those include Ukraine agreeing to a form of neutrality barring NATO membership, which Zelenskyy already appears to concede. “The Russians are ready to move to another level of negotiations,” Kalin said.

But, Kalin stressed, it will also be important for Turkey and its fellow NATO members to start thinking seriously about how to manage relations with Russia once the war ends, Kalin said. “Even though we fully reject the Russian war on Ukraine, the Russian case must be heard, because after this war, there will have to be a new security architecture established between Russia and the Western bloc,” he said (emphasis added). “We cannot afford another Cold War—it will be bad for everyone and costly for the entire international political and financial system,” he said. “Every decision we make, every step we take now with regards to Russia militarily, politically, economically and otherwise, will have an impact on that new security architecture.”