Istanbul
\nTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that any possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO was \u201cworrying\u201d, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
\nErdogan\u2019s comments came as NATO leaders huddled in Washington and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was planning \u201cresponse measures\u201d to contain the \u201cvery serious threat\u201d from the alliance.
\n\u201cThe possibility of a direct conflict between NATO and Russia is undoubtedly worrying,\u201d said Erdogan, who is in Washington for the NATO summit. \u201cAny steps that could lead to this outcome should be consciously avoided.\u201d
\nErdogan spoke a day after NATO allies announced they had started transferring F-16 jets to Ukraine while stepping up promises to Kyiv on eventual membership in the alliance, at a 75th anniversary summit clouded by political uncertainties in the United States.
\nOn the eve of the summit, Russia fired a barrage of missiles at Ukraine, killing dozens, including in Kyiv where a children\u2019s hospital was heavily damaged.
\nPeskov, in comments published by Russian news agencies, said the Western military alliance was now \u201cfully involved in the conflict over Ukraine\u201d.
\nNATO member Turkiye has sought to balance ties between its two Black Sea neighbours Russia and Ukraine since Moscow\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022.
\nAnkara has sent drones to Ukraine while shying away from Western-led sanctions on Moscow.
\nLast year, Erdogan, whose government is seeking to mediate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, said Ukraine \u201cundoubtedly\u201d deserved NATO membership when he met President Volodymyr Zelensky.
\nOn Thursday, Erdogan also played down the influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional bloc that Moscow and Beijing have promoted as a counterweight to US domination.
\n\u201cWe do not think that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is an alternative to NATO,\u201d Erdogan said.
\nTurkiye has been an SCO dialogue partner since 2012 and Erdogan, who attended the July summit, has suggested in the past he wanted full membership.
\nBefore flying to Washington on Tuesday, Erdogan called for more NATO involvement in the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
\nErdogan has already voiced concerns over what he said were Israeli plans to attack Lebanon and on Thursday renewed his warnings about the war spreading.
\n\u201cIsrael\u2019s threats and attempts to spread the conflict must come to an end,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cOtherwise, our region will face the risk of deeper conflicts and even a war.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Istanbul Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that any possibility of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO was \u201cworrying\u201d, the official Anadolu news agency reported. Erdogan\u2019s comments came as NATO leaders huddled in Washington and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was planning \u201cresponse measures\u201d to contain the \u201cvery serious threat\u201d from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282421,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-417920","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n