The difficult choice Turkey might have to make between USA and Russia

Turkey has been experiencing one of the most difficult periods in its history in terms of foreign policy as well as developments in economy for quite a while now. It is no secret that Turkey has already been involved in the Middle East swamp and to be even worse the days it will be forced to choose between the US and Russia may not be very far.

We believe President ERDOGAN who is used to overcoming almost all obstacles he has encountered in the country with ease so far, will be going through the hardest days of his political life in the coming period. The interesting point is that the picture will become even more difficult after the local elections end of March 2019.

The results of the local elections to come on one hand and very hard measures to be taken after elections to put the economy on the right track again on the other hand, must have certainly been major headaches for the president, for a while.

However, a bigger issue which could be considered directly relevant to the perpetuity of Turkey would be waiting to be resolved in the coming days. This major issue could have to do with Turkey’s choice between the US and Russia as future partners on the international arena.

Turkey is almost being drifted towards such a preference point. Actually, the crisis which began because the US government refused to deliver Turkey the Patriot missiles as agreed earlier, obliged Turkey to establish closer relations with Russia – also partly due to cooperation in Syria conflict – and sign an agreement to buy S-400 missiles from this country.

It would certainly be unfair to blame Turkey for this move as the US has once again displayed its usual slippery tactics to impose Turkey strategies against the national security and benefits of this country. Indeed, the US has clearly shown it is ready to discard Turkey to be able to implement its designed plans for the Middle East (Greater Project of the Middle East) if need be. It goes without saying a great country like Turkey would not tolerate being played upon much longer and it did not. Thus President ERDOGAN decided to sign the agreement for S-400 missiles some of which are supposed to be delivered in 2019.

It seems that the United States is thoroughly surprised by this move and has started making a series of threats again. The issue now is if ERDOGAN would give way to such unacceptable threats to be put into effect by the US in case Turkey bought S-400 missiles.

Because if Turkey submits, the picture will be like Turkey has given up on its partnership with Russia which would certainly be a very unfavorable situation for PUTIN, a major partner for ERDOGAN in Syria in particular, recently. A Turkey that has not managed to keep its close relations with Russia would no doubt be weaker in its relations with the US and ERDOGAN would most likely not prefer this either.

On the other hand however, it would not be easy for Turkey to ignore its close relations with the US, its several decades long ally in the NATO, as well simply because both countries have had a close cooperation in the fields of trade, technology and military for ages.

These are the reasons why Turkey will have to  face one of the most important milestones ever in its history, in the coming months.