Vestnik Kavkaza: Russia-Turkey: principles of tactical cooperation and strategic alliance

The sensational decisions by Putin on South Stream, which were voiced during his state visit to Turkey, and the gradual development of Russian-Turkish cooperation in various directions are positive results of Russian foreign policy. Political scientist Alexander Karavayev told Vestnik Kavkaza about Russian-Turkish relations today, whether they have an ideological element, and possible new turns.

Some think that the interests of the two countries are situational, due to the timely war of mutual sanctions between Russia and the West. In other words, some experts come to the conclusion that today Moscow and Ankara’s attitudes coincide, but tomorrow it won’t be so, and there is no long-term strategy.

I don’t agree with such a view. Relations between Russia and the West have worsened in the last two years, due to the EU’s pressure on the countries of the Eastern Partnership and the problem of longstanding smoldering expansion of the missile-defense system of NATO. At the same time, the productive character of Russian-Turkish relations has been seen for a decade in the context of such conflicts with the Western world. In December 2004 Putin made his first visit to Turkey and Erdogan, who had been the Prime Minister for a year at that moment. It was the first presidential visit in the history of modern Russian-Turkish relations.
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