Very recommendable! Good overview of Turkey's current foreign policy ambitions in the Middle East and Central Asia! Get a better understanding of Pan-Turkism, Pan-Islamism, and Neo Ottomanism! How should NATO respond?
"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to be pursuing a strategy of balancing the West and Moscow against each other ...
Ankara probably presents more significant strategic challenges for Moscow than for the West. While Turkey is currently at odds with Greece and other NATO partners in the eastern Mediterranean, it is also pursuing a deliberate and nuanced strategy of engagement with countries across the Black Sea littoral region, the Caucasus and Central Asia. This strategy will provide it with a new sphere of influence and strategic partnerships independent of its traditional NATO ‘allies’, while also increasing the prospect of a confrontation with Russia by encroaching on Moscow’s traditional zones of influence and control. ...
The most obvious manifestation of this strategy was Turkey’s role in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan was already a critical element in Ankara’s plan to wean itself off dependency on Russian gas and in mid-2020 had overtaken Russia as Turkey’s main supplier of gas. ...
Turkey is arguably applying a similar calculus to its growing engagement with Ukraine. A mid-October presidential summit between the two countries advanced a defence cooperation partnership, bringing about a ‘new geopolitical reality in the Black Sea region’. The cooperation agreement signed by Ankara and Kyiv encompasses advanced defence industrial collaboration on aerospace engines and unmanned aerial systems, including the co-production of an unmanned fighter jet. In a direct challenge to Moscow, Turkey also agreed to sell its well-regarded Bayraktar armed drone to Ukraine and has purchased the Ukrainian-modernised S-125 (Goa-3) surface-to-air missile system. ...
Ankara also appears set on revitalising the idea of pan-Turkic solidarity to build an alliance across Central Asia and the Caucasus. Turkey was a founding member of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States that was formed in 2009 with the primary goal of deepening cooperation between Ankara and the Turkic-speaking states of the former Soviet Union. ... While it got off to a slow start, it appears to have gained relevance and momentum since late 2019 when Uzbekistan formally joined. ...."
Ankara probably presents more significant strategic challenges for Moscow than for the West. While Turkey is currently at odds with Greece and other NATO partners in the eastern Mediterranean, it is also pursuing a deliberate and nuanced strategy of engagement with countries across the Black Sea littoral region, the Caucasus and Central Asia. This strategy will provide it with a new sphere of influence and strategic partnerships independent of its traditional NATO ‘allies’, while also increasing the prospect of a confrontation with Russia by encroaching on Moscow’s traditional zones of influence and control. ...
The most obvious manifestation of this strategy was Turkey’s role in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan was already a critical element in Ankara’s plan to wean itself off dependency on Russian gas and in mid-2020 had overtaken Russia as Turkey’s main supplier of gas. ...
Turkey is arguably applying a similar calculus to its growing engagement with Ukraine. A mid-October presidential summit between the two countries advanced a defence cooperation partnership, bringing about a ‘new geopolitical reality in the Black Sea region’. The cooperation agreement signed by Ankara and Kyiv encompasses advanced defence industrial collaboration on aerospace engines and unmanned aerial systems, including the co-production of an unmanned fighter jet. In a direct challenge to Moscow, Turkey also agreed to sell its well-regarded Bayraktar armed drone to Ukraine and has purchased the Ukrainian-modernised S-125 (Goa-3) surface-to-air missile system. ...
Ankara also appears set on revitalising the idea of pan-Turkic solidarity to build an alliance across Central Asia and the Caucasus. Turkey was a founding member of the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States that was formed in 2009 with the primary goal of deepening cooperation between Ankara and the Turkic-speaking states of the former Soviet Union. ... While it got off to a slow start, it appears to have gained relevance and momentum since late 2019 when Uzbekistan formally joined. ...."
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