Turkey’s Rapprochement with Russia: Assertive Bandwagoning

ABSTRACT

Despite Russia’s increasing clout and assertiveness in its region, Turkey has chosen to improve its relations with Russia, rather than balance against it through its Western allies. Turkey’s unexpected strategic partnership with Russia is best seen as an example of bandwagoning for profit. It is an assertive bandwagoning with the objective of countering Kurdish separatism, an imminent problem in the Turkish ruling elite’s ranking of threat perceptions. The empowerment of Syrian Kurdish groups under the protection of the United States has moved Turkey closer to Russia. A long-term alliance between the two, however, depends on reconciliation of their differences which are deeply rooted in historical and geo-political factors.

KEYWORDS:

• Turkey
• Russia
• the United States
• Syria
• Kurds
• assertive bandwagoning

Notes

¹ The total number of Syrian refugees eventually reached 3.5 million by 2018 (McKernan 2018).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ajdin Đidić

Ajdin Đidić is a graduate student at Istanbul Sehir University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Email: [email protected]; Twitter: @Dzidix1

Hasan Kösebalaban

Hasan Kösebalaban is Associate Professor at Istanbul Sehir University, Istanbul, Turkey.