A Turkey in need of pragmatism

KUALA LUMPUR: These are heady days in many parts of the world. The war in Ukraine persists well beyond its first anniversary, with no end in sight. Peace proposals came and went, some more pragmatic than others, but they did not seem to catch on with the warring parties. With large parts of Europe seeming to be consumed or at least preoccupied with the armed conflict in Ukraine, there is also at least another sociopolitical development around the world which are of increasing concern.

Located not far away from Ukraine, Turkey may be said to have been somewhat dragged into the conflict as well. Straddling the Asian and the European continents, Turkey controls the main access into the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, and thus the major maritime egress of both Ukraine and Russia into a strategically crucial part of the world. Turkey remains essentially neutral in the conflict and famously brokered a deal whereby Ukrainian grains were allowed to be exported even during the conflict, thus ameliorating food shortages in some parts of the world, as Ukraine has long been one of the world's major food growers. It was a pragmatic deal partly proposed by a supposedly pragmatic Turkey, and so far it appears to have run smoothly. The wider peace proposal, if indeed there is one, and perhaps equally pragmatic, remains on the back burner.