IS TURKEY LOSING ITS STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE? BY SAMI KOHEN

With the end of the Cold War, international circles spent a lot of time discussing whether Turkey had lost its strategic importance. In the 1990s, however, critical developments in the Balkans, the Caucasus and the Middle East again increased the importance of our location. Then the Iraq war broke out…

It has always been the United States which placed the highest premium on Turkey’s geostrategic location. Washington established a strategic partnership with Turkey after the Cold War. However, European countries (specifically European Union members) no longer put emphasis on Turkey’s strategic importance. As a matter of fact, we all see that the EU attaches more importance to political and economic criteria than our country’s geographic location.

It is a fact that in the wake of the Iraq war, Turkey’s strategic importance for the US has also been diminished. Here are three reasons why: 1) The Bush administration has realized that it could reach its goals without Turkey’s support. 2) Ankara’s strategic importance card gambit failed this time. 3) Iraq has become a strategically important country for the US. According to recent rumors, the US is planning to establish military bases in Iraq. Let’s recall that after the Afghanistan war, the US expanded its military presence in the Caucasus and Middle East and reinforced its control over these regions. In addition, Incirlik Airbase is no longer indispensable for the US.

Although I believe that the US will never completely give up on Turkey, I still think that our government should develop new strategies to adopt itself to these new developments. We can no longer consider strategic importance to be our trump card.”