Turkey pressured NATO allies to lower condemnation of Belarus

Turkey lobbied its NATO partners to soften the organisation's official reaction against Belarus over the arrest of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich and his partner after a commercial flight was forced to land, Reuters has revealed. Ankara insisted that both allusions to further sanctions and calls for the release of Belarusian political prisoners be excluded. Threats to suspend the organisation's cooperation with Belarus were also removed from the communiqué.

"The North Atlantic Council strongly condemns the forced diversion to Minsk of a Ryanair flight between Athens and Vilnius on 23 May, as well as the eviction of the diverted aircraft and the detention of Roman Protasevich, a prominent Belarusian journalist who was on board, and Sofia Sapega," contained the missive issued on Wednesday by the 30 NATO allies. The detention of the journalist "is an affront to the principles of political dissent and freedom of the press," the organisation said.

NATO also called for an "urgent independent investigation, including by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)" into the violation of "the rules governing civil aviation". The letter remarked that the Lukashenko regime "endangered the lives of passengers and crew", yet failed to contain any of the punitive measures demanded by the Baltic states and Poland.

The gravity of the events did not deter Turkey from dissuading its partners from taking action against Belarus. Diplomatic sources quoted by Reuters allege that Ankara's intention is to maintain its ties with Moscow at all costs, given that Lukashenko has the Kremlin's backing and is its closest ally. This, in turn, would allow Ankara to maintain economic relations with Minsk through the Ottoman carrier Turkish Airlines, with daily flights to Belarus.

Turkey's strategy also involves countering EU action. Brussels imposed a blockade on Belarusian airspace on Monday, meaning that European airlines have since been banned from flying over the country and Belarusian airlines are not allowed to use airports in EU member states. This decision has been a major economic setback for Minsk.

For its part, Russia has decided to cancel EU flights in support of its southern partner. Austrian Airlines and Air France were forced to cancel flights to Moscow after Russia failed to authorise new routes to avoid overflying Belarus. Ankara seems to be moving in this direction, as it needs to revive its tourism industry with the arrival of Russian tourists in the midst of the serious COVID-19 crisis.

Turkey's insistence on softening the message irritated several allies, in particular Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, who had demanded tougher wording. However, Turkey has an advantage over its partners, as it has NATO's second largest military and is strategically located between Europe and the Middle East, with coastlines on the Black and Mediterranean Seas. Ankara has reiterated its support for the organisation, although it has qualified that it has the right to maintain its sovereignty in foreign policy matters.

The Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has announced that it will investigate the case to determine whether international aviation standards have been violated. The UN-annexed organisation will produce an interim report by 25 June, according to Irish Transport Minister Eamon Ryan. In the statement, ICAO stressed "the importance of establishing the facts". However, the organisation - of which Belarus is a member - does not have the power to impose sanctions, and Moscow's support for Minsk makes it difficult for the UN Security Council to reach consensus.

The G7 world powers also demanded the release of Roman Protasevich from Lukashenko's regime. The group's foreign ministers made this known in a joint statement issued by the British government on Thursday. It also called for the release of all political prisoners held in Belarus. The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, joined the G7 in announcing proposals to target key sectors of the Belarusian economy.

The G7 is also considering imposing "targeted sanctions" on the 88 regime figures and seven companies blacklisted for the brutal crackdown in the country following last year's presidential elections. Opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya demanded an "economic boycott" of the regime from Lithuania, where she is in exile. However, the likelihood of the bloc agreeing to reject the transit of hydrocarbons through Belarusian pipelines is slim in the short term.

Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko is considered the last dictator of the old continent. After more than 26 years in office, his latest crackdown on dissent was the arrest of Roman Protasevich, 26, and his partner, Sofia Sapega, 23. The journalist is co-founder of Nexta, a Telegram channel with a presence on Twitter and YouTube, and almost 2 million subscribers, used to instigate mobilisations against Lukashenko's alleged election rigging, which he won with 80 per cent of the vote. International observers described the election as fraudulent.

Protasevich, who left Belarus in 2019, was then placed on the list of "persons involved in terrorist activities". Causing mass unrest can be punishable by up to 15 years in prison and, according to opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, being considered a "terrorist" can even lead to the death penalty. That was his first reaction when his flight to Vilnius was grounded. His latest reappearance was in a video released on Monday by the Belarusian authorities. In the clip, the journalist claims to be in good health and confesses to the crimes for which he is accused, although many suspect that Protasevich was under duress.