By Denis Korkodirnov
Relations between Turkey and the United States are not stable. They are accompanied by sharp ups and downs, oaths of unbreakable friendship and hatred towards each others. This state of affairs is causing many problems that equally affect both Ankara and Washington.
The modern geopolitical system is based mainly on three interrelated actors: China, which through the “One Way – One Belt” project, seeks to gain direct access to European markets; Russia, leading an active foreign policy in the countries of the Middle East; the United States, which is still adhering to the ideology of Pan-Americanism. Meanwhile there are a number of serious problems in the world that threaten to provoke larger conflicts. This may include the American-Iranian confrontation, Arab-Israeli contradictions, military-political tensions in Syria, Lebanon, Libya and Yemen. Problems that directly or indirectly involve Turkey.
In contrast to the traditional practice of creating international alliances in order to neutralize the consequences of the deepest crisis, whether in the political or economic spheres, Ankara implements a completely unique geopolitical model of behavior. When a country is in a state of profound decline its international alliances, usually do not work. So, for this reason, Turkey is almost always in a position to search for alternative partners.
Russia has guaranteed almost unimpeded Turkish military participation in Syria And the Turks chose Moscow exclusively for the time of the Syrian theater of operations. And in order to strengthen its military potential, Ankara began to strengthen its military potential buying by the air defense system “S-400”. But outside Syria, the interests of the two countries are usually diametrically opposed, which does not allow them to set up a stable alliance.
On the other side the l disagreements between Turkey and the United States do not prevent these countries from periodically creating short-term joint alliances against Bashar al-Assad, the Libyan official government, and so on.
Currently, US-Turkish relations are undergoing free fall, which adversely affects Ankara’s economy and politics.Meanwhile the United States could take profit of the rapid deterioration of Turkey’s condition. The White House administration could subject Turkey to new sanctions, which could cause the collapse of the Turkey economy and consequently the US could easily take over the Turkish oil fields.
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).