Yellow means it’s complicated, so… It’s complicated.
Positive relations are important to their national defense, and as a NATO member they’re way more likely to let in US bases, and historically have because of fear of the USSR.
Recently, they’ve been interested in close relations with Russia since they’re a nearby economic power, and the US hasn’t been entirely thrilled with that.
They also want close relations with Ukraine, and so have been pushing for a peace with expediency as the goal, which would result in Ukraine losing land. The US is less interested in brokering peace at any cost, and so there’s conflicting objectives.
The US supported Turkish operations in Syria, but has recently taken the stance that those operations pose the risk of destabilizing things further. Similarly for Iraqi operations.
Above all else, the US is committed to liking the positioning of that base in Turkey for the regional positioning it gives them, and Turkey is supremely appreciative of US assets making any attack on them hilariously unlikely.
Each party gets something out of the relationship, but it’s far from a given that they’ll be working towards the same goals outside of “the US should be positioned to protect Turkey”.
Turkey has a complicated political history but to color with a very broad brush, they were transformed from an Islamic state and former empire to a secular western aligned democracy by Kemal Ataturk. The Turkish army was politically aligned with Ataturk and would intervene to prevent Turkey from backsliding into an Islamic state. The current government executed a slow-rolling coup replacing military commanders and instituted a largely Islamic autocracy which for historical reasons remains a member of NATO but which would probably not join the alliance if the decision were to be made again today. They’re not a powerful nation militarily or economically by European standards, but seek to play both sides of international conflicts to magnify their influence. They cannot walk away from NATO without risking an existential threat from the military and economic fallout, but will get away with what they can.
I’m curious how the US and Turkiye are yellow but there’s literally military bases in Turkiye that house US troops
Yellow is labeled “It’s complicated” that kinda sounds like an it’s complicated relationship to me lmao
Yellow means it’s complicated, so… It’s complicated.
Positive relations are important to their national defense, and as a NATO member they’re way more likely to let in US bases, and historically have because of fear of the USSR.
Recently, they’ve been interested in close relations with Russia since they’re a nearby economic power, and the US hasn’t been entirely thrilled with that.
They also want close relations with Ukraine, and so have been pushing for a peace with expediency as the goal, which would result in Ukraine losing land. The US is less interested in brokering peace at any cost, and so there’s conflicting objectives.
The US supported Turkish operations in Syria, but has recently taken the stance that those operations pose the risk of destabilizing things further. Similarly for Iraqi operations.
Above all else, the US is committed to liking the positioning of that base in Turkey for the regional positioning it gives them, and Turkey is supremely appreciative of US assets making any attack on them hilariously unlikely.
Each party gets something out of the relationship, but it’s far from a given that they’ll be working towards the same goals outside of “the US should be positioned to protect Turkey”.
Turkey has a complicated political history but to color with a very broad brush, they were transformed from an Islamic state and former empire to a secular western aligned democracy by Kemal Ataturk. The Turkish army was politically aligned with Ataturk and would intervene to prevent Turkey from backsliding into an Islamic state. The current government executed a slow-rolling coup replacing military commanders and instituted a largely Islamic autocracy which for historical reasons remains a member of NATO but which would probably not join the alliance if the decision were to be made again today. They’re not a powerful nation militarily or economically by European standards, but seek to play both sides of international conflicts to magnify their influence. They cannot walk away from NATO without risking an existential threat from the military and economic fallout, but will get away with what they can.
At a Turk!