Valdai Club

Erdogan’s foreign policy exercises of late have led to various speculations both in the West and in the Global South, as well as inside Turkey. Many in the West initially acclaimed him when he declared that he would greenlight Sweden’s entry into NATO in return for some meaningless little assurances from Stockholm.

Turkey’s rapprochement with Russia does not seem to be circumstantial. It is true that, as its relations with the West and particularly the US are going through tough times Ankara turns to Russia for more cooperation but it is also true that Ankara would remain on this mutually beneficial track more firmly at a time of multipolarity just as it always sought good relations with the Soviet Union in the inter-war period, particularly in the 1920s and 30s, writes Hasan  Ünal, Professor at Maltepe University, Istanbul. This article was prepared for the 12th Middle East conference of the Valdai Discussion Club.