GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Turkey and Russia: A New Alignment?

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Sinan Ciddi
Board of Contributors

Nov 14, 2018 | 10:00 GMT

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 17, 2018, in Sochi, Russia.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Syrian civil war on Sept. 17 in Sochi, Russia. Turkey has moved closer to Russia while its relationship with the United States has suffered. But a Turkish realignment toward Moscow is not likely given their differing priorities and visions.

(ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Turkey has moved closer to Russia while its relationships with the United States and the European Union have suffered.
  • A Turkish realignment toward Russia is not likely to materialize given their vastly different strategic priorities and visions.
  • For practical reasons, Turkey will take additional steps over the coming months to rekindle its alliance with the United States and its partnership with the European Union.

Turkey's relationship with Russia is historically fraught with suspicion and friction. Since the end of the Cold War, however, the two countries have established an important economic relationship, and have set a bold, perhaps unreachable target of $100 billion in bilateral trade. Even so, this economic aspiration is counterbalanced by differing prerogatives in the strategic and geopolitical realm. Turkey, representing NATO's eastern flank, has partnered for decades with the United States and the European Union to contain Russian influence in Eastern and Central Europe, as well as the Caucasus. Recent developments in the Syrian civil war have resulted in a strange congruence of interests and seeming cooperation between Ankara and Moscow, but it would be a stretch to argue that this cooperation will deepen into an enduring strategic relationship....

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