German Press: Turkey again source of discord in NATO

Turkey’s “tripods” in Swedish and Norwegian NATO membership and the continuing deconstruction of Gerhard Schroeder’s prestige in the pages of the German press.

Erdogan’s “brake” on Sweden and Finland joining NATO is described in detail in articles and comments in most German newspapers, large and small. In Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung The columnists refer to yesterday’s official handover of the application at NATO headquarters, a process that ended ignominiously. “The historic step of abandoning neutrality by Sweden and Finland after decades is completed in a non-spectacular way, in a maximum of 3 minutes,” writes the Munich newspaper. On Wednesday morning (18.05) the Secretary General of the alliance, shortly after 8 in the morning, entered a room of the building, where next to the NATO were the flags of Sweden and Finland. He was followed by the two ambassadors to serve him on white papers for membership applications. Stoltenberg praised the two candidate countries as close partners (…) a little later the 30 ambassadors of the alliance countries met to process them quickly (…) but Turkey is slowing down, its ambassador does not have the necessary green light from Ankara “.

“And Greece remained a member of NATO during the junta”

Her columnist Brand name argues that Turkey is once again proving to be a source of discord in NATO. “Moving away from the rule of law is as worrying as violating Western European etiquette diplomacy to achieve its own goals, as is now the case with the exclusion of Sweden and Finland from NATO,” the paper said. “So would expelling her from NATO be a solution? There are many reasons to (closely) monitor Turkey. To expel it, which is technically almost impossible, would be a huge mistake. The alliance would remove its influence in Ankara. And Its military strength of 355,000 makes it an important pillar of NATO, in addition to its strategic position. military dictatorship “.

The newspaper Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitungargues that NATO will have to pay a high price to overcome all obstacles in order for the two countries to be admitted to the alliance. “Not only because of the threat of provocations from Russia, but mainly in the form of concessions to Turkey. The defense alliance will not be able to avoid approaching Turkey in relation to the Kurdish Workers’ Party PKK, which is banned in Europe.” President Erdoάνan accuses Sweden and Finland of failing to take decisive action against PKK activists, and criticizes US support for the YPG in Syria “Turkey is now in a better position to negotiate. And Erdogan knows that any failure to extend NATO north would be a disaster for her that she can not and does not want to afford.”

Gerhard Schroeder without office, respect, influence

Gerhard Schroeder is back in the news, although some say he never left. The former German chancellor insists on high-paying positions in Russian energy giants, does not renounce his friendship with Putin and continues to be a burden on the Social Democratic Party. Thus, the Budget Committee, in the context of a wider examination for facilities with offices and staff for former chancellors and Speakers of Parliament, will decide to remove the office it maintains in Parliament together with its employees. The newspaper Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung Considers, in principle, that the consideration of such an issue by a parliamentary committee conceals material for partisan conflicts. “The Christian Union would very much like to delete Schroeder’s pension, but on the other hand it has shown great generosity in regard to former Chancellor Helut Kohl, who shocked the country with the party sponsorship scandal,” he recalled. “You can not take anything more from Schroeder. Schroeder stole himself. Attention, respect, influence, all that once characterized him. This is the greatest punishment he has ever done to himself. of”.

H Augsburger Allgemeine Schroeder wonders why he’s to stay in office, but the columnist’s take on former Chancellor Merkel as well. “Schroeder critics rightly argue that the former chancellor is no longer fulfilling any obligations from the time he was chancellor, such as diplomatic appointments abroad, so what about the office with officials? But according to this logic, it is not only Schroeder who “Merkel’s staff is significantly larger and almost double its own, but so far it has not undertaken major missions in the service of the country. So why do it need 9 staff?” the newspaper wonders.

Irini Anastassopoulou

SOURCE: Deutsche Welle