Commenting on the NATO war against Russia in Ukraine on Nov. 11, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the United States was doing everything to provoke Russia. “The West, and especially the U.S., is attacking Russia seemingly endlessly,” Erdogan said. “Of course, Russia is displaying great resistance in the face of all this,” he added. He indicated that Turkey is still trying to bring about peace talks. “We are working on how to create a peace corridor here, like we had the grain corridor. We think the best way for this is a path from dialogue to peace.” Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member, was addressing the Summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Nov. 11
Now, on Nov. 13, a major bombing in a busy pedestrian street in Istanbul killed 8 people and wounded at least 81. It is unclear at this point what the motivation was for the bombing, which no terrorist group has claimed. The frequented pedestrian street, which runs 1.4 km from the Taksim Square in Beyoglu toward the Golden Horn in in the European part of Istanbul, includes several diplomatic missions, including Russia’s consulate general. Erdogan, ready to board a plane for the G20 conference in Bali, Indonesia, vowed Turkey would bring the perpetrators to justice.
