Fatih Cekirge: Caucasian conflict signals a “cold atmosphere” between Turkey-Russia

Turkey, who recently played a mediator role between Israel-Syria, United States-Iran and in Lebanon, also wants to take the mediator role in this war.

In an attempt to achieve this aim, Turkey's Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Sunday.�

The Georgian leader responded immediately, but no reply came from Putin...

Why did Putin not respond immediately to Erdogan’s call? Maybe he would contact Erdogan after a while...

But since the war is progressing at a phenomenal rate, the impact of delaying the call weakens with every passing moment...

But, why does Putin not respond to Erdogan with the same urgency that Saakashvili did?

Turkey has for sometime established a different relationship with Georgia with the support of the United States...

This relationship has three branches...

First: Turkey boosts efforts to improve ties with Georgia since Armenia has close relation with Russia.

Second: The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline...

Last but not least, beyond diplomatic and trade relations; Turkey's military aid to Georgia, who is now in the middle of a military crisis with Russia over Ossetia and Abkhazia...

The level of military aid was clarified recently during the visit of Turkey's President Abdullah Gul...

Turkey has signed a military aid agreement, even if it was not expansive, which amounted to $1.8 million.

Prior to this agreement, Turkey provided training to the Georgian army, which the U.S. supplies with weapons.

This aid started an "invisible cold atmosphere" in the relations between Russia and Turkey...

And during the recent conflict, Russia indirectly pointed the finger at Turkey...

A Russian official frankly accused Turkey of giving excessive aid to Georgia.

Russia says it understands the trade relations between Turkey and Georgia, but also adds that Turkey supplying military aid is perceived as an unfriendly move.

This is why Putin does not respond to Erdogan with any urgency...

As I mentioned above, Putin will reply, even if it is late. But this will not have any impact on the conflict...

FOREIGN MINISTRY’S GAFFE

On the other side, a gaffe of the Turkish Foreign Ministry on the conflict created a new perspective on the issue.

Turkish Foreign Ministry said in its initial statement on Friday, saying “we want the conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia to come to an end.”

This statement perceived as the South Ossetia and Georgia are two different states.

Georgia harshly rejected the statement and Turkey’s Foreign Ministry corrected the statement as "the conflict between South Ossetians and Georgians".

But on Monday, this correction triggered another debate with some saying even this correction presents another mistake. Some say the expression of "the conflict between South Ossetians and Georgians" means that there is a civil war.

Georgia, which Turkey recognizes, accepts the acts in Ossetia as terrorist or separatist movements.

With this second statement, Turkey places South Ossetia into a diplomatic framework and legitimizes it internationally...

There are different opinions on the statement at the Foreign Ministry and some ambassadors and diplomats say that the second statement is also wrong...

They say the correct statement should not ask for the conflicts between Georgia and Ossetia to end, but ask for “the war between Georgia and Russia to end."

This type of blunder and a splitting of opinions are seen for the first time in the history of Turkey’s Foreign Ministry.