Fidan’s Talks in Russia Confirm Turkish Tactics of Manoeuvring

The two-day working visit of Turkey’s Foreign Minister to Russia, which has now concluded, proved noteworthy both for the number of meetings held and for the nature of the discussions. What, in the end, did Hakan Fidan bring that was new?

The Overall Dynamics of Turkish-Russian Relations

On highly favourable terms, Russia built Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, Akkuyu, in Mersin, and constructed the second TurkStream gas pipeline, with two branches and an annual capacity of 31.5 billion cubic metres of gas, one of which (15.75 billion cubic metres) transits Turkish territory to countries in Southern Europe. After the well-known sanctions imposed by the Western coalition, the Russian trade market has welcomed numerous Turkish companies and goods.

A particularly notable aspect of our bilateral relations has been active cooperation in geopolitics and security. First and foremost, Turkey throws its support behind the Russian course towards the formation of a multipolar world order, which aligns with Turkish national interests. The Turkish Republic, as the heir to the Ottoman Empire, does not rule out for itself a strategy of revanchism and of reducing its total dependence on the West. In the new century, Ankara has, in fact, revived, in coordination with its oldest ally London, the geopolitical project of ‘Turan’ as an integral part of the British ‘Great Game’ in Asia. In the context of a multipolar world strategy, Turkey lays claim to leadership in the Turkic........

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