Turkey and Russia Growing Closer Despite Cool History

Perhaps the most profound strategic movement in Turkey’s foreign policy has been engineered toward Russia. This paradigm shift has occurred relatively quietly, but in the end may prove to be among the most momentous. Russia and Turkey are post-imperial rivals who find themselves in a new era of linkages and transformation. Given the deep ambivalence and treatment felt by Russia and Turkey towards Europe and the West more broadly, recent warm relations between Ankara and Moscow have ensured a more multipolar and Eurasian world order. By minimizing its rivalry with Russia in the Balkans, Caucasus, and Central Asia, Turkey has neutralized its greatest threat while creating a historic opportunity. The antagonistic tones of Turkish-Russian relations in the past have been replaced by pragmatic dealings between the two countries.