• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Analysis: Turkey's Near Abroad

Council on Foreign Relations

September 19, 2008
Author: Greg Bruno

ISTANBUL – In the waning days of the conflict between Russia and Georgia last month, politicians in Turkey focused elsewhere—on Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, Central Asian players in regional energy markets. Turkey's energy minister visited the two former Soviet states to discuss longterm energy strategies (Today'sZaman), just three weeks after a tentative ceasefire was inked between Moscow and Tbilisi. The meeting, which came on the heels of a costly trade dispute (Today'sZaman) with Russia over Ankara's decision to authorize U.S. naval access to the Black Sea during the Georgia fighting, has been widely interpreted as a warning shot to Russia that Turkey "is not about to be pushed around" (Stratfor).

Looking east in troubled times comes naturally to Turkey, which was among the first countries to recognize the independence of Central Asian states (TurkishWeekly) when they split away from the disintegrating Soviet Union in the 1990s. Under former President Turgut Ozal (1989-1993), political and economic ties between Turkey and these Turkic-brethren states took off. Since 2002, when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) took office, a renewed focus on Central Asia has led to rising foreign investment and international trade with Turkey's eastern neighbors.

In the wake of the Russia-Georgia conflict, Turkish officials say, ties to newly independent former-Soviet states assume even greater importance. Ahmet Davutoglu, chief adviser to the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a meeting with journalists in Ankara, argues that Turkey has taken on an important role in keeping lines of communications open between antagonists—not only in the Caucasus but also in the greater Middle East where Turkey, uniquely, has good relations with Israel, Arab states, and Iran.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.