Erdogan as a liaison measure. Why US and EU use the Turkish President to contact Putin

Many people talk about the meeting of Erdogan and Putin in Sochi as a failure-but this is not the case, says international expert, Elijah Kus. In fact, as planned, the Turkish President worked as a mediator of the event, who otherwise cannot contact the Kremlin concerning the meeting of Erdogan and Putin in Sochi. First, no agreements should be signed there. I don't understand where such expectations come from. For this reason, to evaluate the meeting as a "failure" for one of them is wrong.

Secondly, Erdogan played the role of a mediator in this history, not the subject of negotiations on a grain agreement. The decision to weaken sanctions against the Russian Federation as a compromise for the restoration of the grain treaty should be made not in Turkey or the UN, but in the EU and the US, and it is Putin through Ankara. Third, Erdogan is obviously preferred by the variant of the grain agreement that was.

Judging by his words, Turkey acts either for returning to the status quo or for expanding the agreement at the expense of participants and the nomenclature of goods. But this requires a compromise, and Erdogan played the role of messenger here, offering alternatives, agreeing them with Moscow, then with Washington/Brussels. The creation of corridors without Russia does not support Turkey, and Erdogan clearly stated it.