Alongside its ramifications for international politics, the Venezuela crisis served as an interesting indicator of how Turkey’s left could be a useful auxiliary to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s foreign policy. From the day the last crisis erupted in the Latin American country where hundreds of thousands of people filled the streets of Caracas in protest to the autocratic regime of Nicolas Maduro, with the President Donald Trump’s recognition of Juan Guaido as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela, the Turkish left displayed a fierce solidarity with the Maduro regime.
Maduro’s best friends are Russia, China, Cuba and Turkey. Erdogan, in December 2018, visited Caracas, where he was received with great fanfare. The Venezuelan leader visited Turkey several times and socialized with all symbols of public life ranging from television talk show hosts, actors of soap operas, to steakhouses that celebrities frequent in Turkey.
