When the prisoners traded by Russia, the United States, Germany and other countries walked toward home and freedom on Thursday, they did so on increasingly familiar ground for prisoner swaps — in Turkey, a country that has molded itself into an important go-between for Moscow and the West since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It was unclear how important a role Turkey played in the many months of negotiations that led to Thursday’s swap. Still, the fact that the complex, multicountry exchange occurred on Turkish soil allowed the country to cast itself as a key player on the world stage.
It also allowed Turkey to try to put a positive spin on its sometimes tense relations with its NATO allies, many of which have been frustrated that the country declined to join Western sanctions on Russia and expanded economic ties with Moscow even as the West tried to isolate it.
A statement attributed to Turkish security officials and shared by Turkey’s government media office celebrated the moment of the prisoner exchange as historic, and President Biden, in remarks from the White House on Thursday, named Turkey among the nations that had “stepped up” to help bring the prisoners home.
The Turkish statement said the country’s intelligence agency, known by its Turkish initials, MIT, had overseen the physical exchange on Thursday as the prisoners left the Russian plane that had brought them to the Ankara airport and had performed health checks.
“As there is no other NATO ally that has political dialogue with Russia, in a way, Turkey was the only actor that could have accomplished this,” said Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, the director of the German Marshall Fund’s Ankara office.
Turkey is not the only country that can talk to both sides. The most high-profile recent prisoner swap between Russia and the United States, involving the American basketball star Brittney Griner, took place in the United Arab Emirates, another country with ties to both.
But Turkey stands out for how deliberately it has mapped out a middle ground, sometimes tacking toward what would benefit Russia, other times making concessions to Western interests. Turkish officials argue that it is only by forging a path independent of both that they can usher in breakthroughs such as Thursday’s exchange.
In April 2022, Turkey served as the venue when Russia and the United States swapped Trevor Reed, a U.S. Marine imprisoned in Russia, for a Russian pilot in U.S. custody. Later that year, Turkey helped broker a United Nations deal to ensure Ukrainian grain could be exported through the Black Sea, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and others credited with keeping poor countries supplied with much-needed wheat. (The agreement later fell apart.)
That September, Russia and Ukraine traded 215 Ukrainian prisoners of war, including fighters from the Azov Battalion famed in Ukraine for defending the besieged city of Mariupol, for a close friend of Russia’s president and 54 others. The Ukrainian fighters were released to Turkey, and Ukraine’s foreign minister and President Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, later thanked the Turkish government for its role as a facilitator.
A spokesman for Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that although the country disagreed with Russia on numerous fronts, it was able to compartmentalize those differences to keep cooperating on other areas and preserve trust with both sides.
Mr. Erdogan has condemned Russia’s invasion and offered aid to Ukraine, but he has repeatedly called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, whom he meets often, “my friend.”
For Turkey, that friendship has been a boon for an economy wobbling under the pressure of soaring inflation. Turkey has increased exports to Russia, while Russia has given Turkey a series of breaks on its purchases of Russian gas. And while Russians struggle to travel to much of Europe, Turkey has kept its doors open to Russian tourists and other travelers.
Mr. Erdogan has kept his NATO allies just happy enough not to fall completely from favor. Though he had vexed them for months by holding up Sweden’s bid to join the alliance, Mr. Erdogan suddenly dropped his objections last year, enabling the Nordic nation’s membership. He has also welcomed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to Turkey and gone against fiercely held Kremlin dogma by saying that Ukraine should also join NATO.
Two more slights to Russia came when Mr. Erdogan refrained from giving Mr. Putin his full-throated support as the Russian president faced a dangerous mutiny from Wagner mercenary forces, and then allowed Ukrainian commanders from the Azov Battalion who had been swapped in Turkey to return to Ukraine.
Mr. Erdogan has nevertheless made clear that he intends to keep Mr. Putin close. A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said on Thursday that a visit by Mr. Putin to Turkey was in the works, Russian state news media reported.
The trust that Turkey has built in Moscow has come “at the expense of” its Western allies’ trust in Turkey, Mr. Unluhisarcikli said. But, he added, “whether they trust or not, there was no alternative to Turkey” in matters such as Thursday’s swap.
Turkey has had far less success positioning itself as a mediator in Israel’s war in Gaza, where strongly pro-Hamas statements by Mr. Erdogan dented his credibility as a trustworthy go-between in Israeli and American eyes.
Mr. Erdogan has not only assailed Israel over its deadly campaign in Gaza, but has also called Hamas an “organization of liberation,” language that goes beyond even that of Qatar, the Gulf monarchy that has hosted the office of Hamas’s political leaders for years.
Last week, he hardened his rhetoric further, by saying that Turkey could even enter Israel in support of the Palestinians, although there is no indication that he actually has a plan to do so.
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