Turkey’s Rise as a Reluctant Ally Faced with the Russian Threat

PISM Policy Papers, No. 14 (116)  May 2015
The Polish Institute of International Affairs

by Pinar Elman *

While actively contributing to NATO exercises and operations that confirm Turkey’s commitment to the Alliance, Ankara has also actively avoided cooperating with the Western political and economic efforts to curb Russian aggression in Ukraine. Turkey’s low-level involvement, shaped by security concerns, economic needs, yet at the same time its consolidating dependence on Moscow, and its optimistic opportunism, increasingly raise concerns about possible prospects of a Turkish pivot away from the Euro-Atlantic community. But even while distancing itself from NATO, it may be in Turkey’s interests to rebalance its policy by supporting the stability of Ukraine and closer cooperation with the EU.

* Pinar Elman is an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs.

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