The Erdogan-Putin ties… Assad is waiting… The Map of alliances is changing!
Foreign Affairs magazine published a report on Turkey’s departure from the United States and its proximity to Russia, warning of the impact of this development on NATO.
Turkey has begun to view the United States as a destabilizing force in the Middle East since the US invasion of Iraq, which created a vacuum filled by the regional government in Kurdistan.
The magazine said that US support for Kurdish armed groups in Syria reinforced this view, which pushed Turkey into the arms of Russia and raised questions about its commitment to “NATO”.
In this regard, the magazine referred to the crisis of the S400, considering that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who refused to bow to US warnings, made a political decision that Turkey is ready to abandon friendly relations with Washington in favor of functional relations with Moscow.
In analyzing the logic behind this approach, the magazine pointed out that Erdogan and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) are seeking, through adopting a more neutral foreign policy, to promote a narrower concept for Turkey’s national interest.
Erdogan and his party believe that closer cooperation with Russia on key economic and security issues serves this concept, the magazine said.
In contrast, the magazine ruled out Ankara’s full rapprochement with Moscow at the expense of Washington, stressing that Turkey no longer considers the United States “an indispensable ally”.
In parallel, the magazine pointed out that things had worsened with the outbreak of the Syrian war, a note of Ankara’s attempt to neutralize the Syrian Kurds who took control of the border areas in early 2012, the operations carried out by Ankara inside Syrian territory and the Washington alliance with the “Syria Democratic Forces” which Turkey regards as terrorist.
Ankara has begun to re-evaluate its acquiescence to Washington on other security issues as well, while disdaining US-Turkish interests in Syria, noting that “Justice and Development” has sought for more than a decade to reduce Turkey’s dependence on the United States and establish a country as an independent global power.
After the presentation of these data, the magazine dealt with the rotation of Ankara towards Moscow, explaining that the Turkish-Russian relationship is not an official alliance, and still until this stage weaker than Ankara’s relationship with Washington.
The newspaper added that Ankara realized that it must work with Moscow to manage the flow of displaced from conflict-affected areas, pointing out that Turkey has strengthened its relationship with Russia to pressure Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to reduce the scope of combat operations in those areas, as the fighting in the border areas It is difficult for them to manage this file.
The magazine added that Russia emerged at the same time as Turkey’s most reliable military partner in Syria, enabling Ankara to resume limited combat operations in border areas but without threatening the rule of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
As far as Russia is concerned, the magazine said it benefits from these operations because it fuels US-Turkish tensions, which in turn fuel global tensions, as both countries are members of NATO.
The magazine also saw Russia as the best way for Turkey to influence a final peace settlement in Syria, possibly in the new Syrian constitution.
These two elements could give Ankara an opportunity to thwart Kurdish self-rule ambitions in the northeast.
In conclusion, the magazine suggested that Turkey is obliged to supervise the surrender of armed opposition groups that support it as part of any peace agreement reached.
“This reality led to the birth of a Turkish-Russian symbiotic relationship in which the first party needs the second party to Settlement of the dispute”.
