The war in the Black Sea must be prevented. The northern siege must be stopped. Turkey will be forced to make a deadly choice. We cannot be the West’s ‘eastern front.’

Will a Russia-Ukraine war break out in the Black Sea? Are the U.S. and NATO provoking this war? Will they use Ukraine as bait to have their showdown with Russia, and then abandon it?

So, what does the Black Sea crisis signify for Turkey? What should Turkey do?

Following issues in the north of Iraq and Syria, the crises in the East Mediterranean and Aegean broke out. While Turkey was fighting these battles, the Black Sea became a new area of conflict.

The military bases and buildups in the Aegean, in areas closest to Greece and Turkey have been expedited.

Preparations have been in the works in Romania and Bulgaria for the last decade. Though all this is being promoted as “defending Europe against Russia,” the most recent Greece-based preparations on land and sea have nothing to do with Russia.

All efforts are being made against Turkey. All preparations are aimed at sieging, stopping and cornering Turkey. They are entirely the West’s operations aimed at curbing “Turkey’s rise.”

This provided us with tangible proof that the U.S. and Europe have an extensive plan against Turkey on all land borders, in all seas, and in numerous corners of the region; that they are going to try to make Turkey pay the heavy price of detaching itself from the West and drawing its own path.

Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory, its plans to annex Crimea and detach eastern areas from Ukraine called the U.S. and NATO to the Black Sea.

Russia handed them the exact justification they wanted. Ukraine had no other choice but to request help from the West. As the country reached the verge of division and the Russian expansion was becoming unstoppable, it was already known that Kiev would knock on every door to protect its own territorial integrity.

However, the U.S. and NATO long had preparations and a plan for a Black Sea crisis that transcends a Russia-Ukraine crisis. This provocation has now culminated.

Besides Russia and Ukraine, it started to threaten Turkey as well. Turkey, cornered from the south and the West, will now again be cornered from the north by the U.S. and NATO.

In the event that a war breaks out in the Black Sea, all coastal countries will be affected. None will be able to remain outside this war. It will have shattering effects from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, from the Aegean to Poland. All intercepting points of the West-Russia influence map will be shaken by this.

As is, the crisis between Russia and Ukraine is not one limited to two countries. It is a crisis between the East and West, a crisis between Europe and Russia, and one that will include all countries that are under the influence of these two fronts.

The U.S. and NATO might be wanting to back Ukraine and corner Russia from the West. However, this will also push Turkey to make a deadly choice. They are going to increase tensions in the Black Sea to such an extent that Turkey is going to be asked, “Are you with us or Russia?”

They are thus going to drag Turkey, a country that has been making major geopolitical initiatives in every field from Karabakh to Libya, from Syria to the Aegean, into a dead-end. As much as the Ukraine crisis is aimed at cornering Russia, it is being escalated against Turkey to the same extent.

Turkey is a U.S. ally and a NATO member, but it is also friendly with Russia. Considering all the developments in the last two decades, we can see that all threats against Turkey are U.S. and NATO-based.

From Syria to the East Mediterranean and the Aegean, from terrorism to Libya and Karabakh, you will see NATO, the U.S. and its allies against us. We have to forget everything we know and construct new definitions in accordance with the new order of the world. This is the result we get in this case.

Turkey is very close allies with Ukraine. We have never taken the same position with Russia regarding Crimea, and never will. Of course we are going to defend Ukraine’s interests.

Yet, we stand in the same position with Russia concerning the West’s threats. Ending relations with Moscow will make Turkey vulnerable to the West’s threats.

There is no country other than Turkey that will undertake a more critical role with respect to finding a warless solution in the Black Sea. If we surrender the region to U.S. and NATO threats, Ukraine will pay a great price. Turkey and Russia will also be greatly harmed.

The U.S. and Europe are going to launch this war and step away. We are going to continue to fight among ourselves. This cannot be allowed. We are obligated to keep U.S. and European fleets and forces outside the Black Sea. If they are going to have a showdown with Russia, they can easily settle their accounts in the Baltic Sea, in the Pacific.

After meeting with Ukraine President Vladimir Zelinsky, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated Turkey’s position:

“As Turkey, we strongly defended Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. We confirmed once more our principal decision with respect to rejecting Crimea’s annexation. We believe that the existing crisis needs to be resolved through peaceful and diplomatic methods on the basis of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and international law. We hope that the concerning escalation we have recently been observing on the ground ends at once, and the ceasefire lasts.”

Turkey discovered rich natural gas resources in the Black Sea. Moreover, drill ships are conducting explorations to find more. Those who brought in natural gas-based multinational crises to the East Mediterranean are now doing the same in the Black Sea. Ukraine’s sensitivities and needs are being exhorted. Kiev is being encouraged while Moscow is being provoked.

But there is more than meets the eye. Those who have been sharing the world’s seas among themselves have now set their sights on the Black Sea. The U.S. and NATO’s settlement in the Black Sea will destroy Ukraine. It will drag Russia into conflicts that will last years. Meanwhile, Turkey will now be besieged from the Black Sea, as it was in Syria, the East Mediterranean and the Aegean.

This is a trap set against Turkey’s “great rise.” It is a bigger plan than the “terror corridor” project.

The plan is to siege from the north Turkey, a country that has made revolutions in the defense field, caught an extraordinary wave in technology, formed a spectacular air and naval force, developed a hybrid engine for rockets set to go to the Moon, reidentified its geopolitical objectives with a native mind, and shook the whole region with a new mission.

If the West achieves this, the next step will be to break out a crisis between Turkey and Iran. It will be suicide to be doomed to U.S. and NATO geopolitics once again while the world is discussing this miracle.

There is a great deal that Russian President Vladimir Putin can do. He can take steps to alleviate the crisis with Ukraine, and eliminate the justifications drawing the U.S. and NATO to the region as much as possible. If he does not do this, he will pave the ground to allow the U.S. and NATO to flow into the region, and thus be dragged into a long-lasting war in the Black Sea.

We have to figure out a way to stop this war. We must stop the Black Sea from turning into an American Lake. We are confident that Turkey, which neutralized all the sieges from Karabakh to the terror corridor in north Syria, from Libya to the East Mediterranean and the Aegean with its mentality, patience, and wisdom, can also foil the plans in the Black Sea.

We trust Turkey’s geopolitical mind.