The Indispensable Partner? Turkey in the Evolving Triangulation with the United States and Europe

Policy Brief (German Marshall Fund of the United States) May 29, 2015

Emiliano Alessandri *

Turkey remains an indispensable partner of the United States and the EU in a strategically relevant region. On a host of issues, however, the reason why Turkey may be currently seen as “indispensable” is more often a negative calculation about the harm an increasingly vulnerable and dealigned Turkey could do if it became fully self-absorbed on issues like energy and security. European and transatlantic partners should support Turkey in reducing its negative exposure to Middle Eastern instability, so that it can become the fully-fledged partner it has the potential to be.

* Emiliano Alessandri is a non-resident senior transatlantic fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, based in Vienna, Austria.

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