Turkey’s resistance to Swedish and Finnish NATO membership is an outward sign of a more profound shift in Turkey’s geo-strategic position, writes Nick Williams. Fast becoming a “semi-detached ally”, NATO members are hoping that Turkey will return to a more moderate stance after the country’s May elections. If not, the consequences could be calamitous.
On 27 October 2022. the European Leadership Network (ELN) convened the Contact Group on Russia-West relations via Zoom to discuss Turkey’s positioning on the war in Ukraine and resulting foreign policy relations.
In some western circles, there has been a question mark over Turkey’s position on Russia’s war in Ukraine, writes Ambassador Tacan Ildem. Here he outlines the long history of Turkish-Russian relations, and how Turkey’s policy on Ukraine today is a balancing act informed by the geopolitics of the region.
At a time when war rages at NATO’s doorstep, and collective defence coupled with rising defence spending is at the centre of everyone’s attention, ELN Policy Fellow Katarina Kertysova writes that managing to get 30 capitals to agree to an ambitious programme on climate security deserves applause.
The significance of NATO’s June Summit is in the adoption of a tougher and more robust approach to security through a renewed emphasis on defence, deterrence and, whenever necessary, confrontation, write ELN Senior Associate Fellows Nicholas Williams and Simon Lunn.
As the 10th NPT RevCon continues, the Head of the Philippine Delegation to the RevCon, Carlos D. Sorreta, warns that NATO’s plans to increase defence spending ignore Russia’s diminished military capabilities. As Russia cannot keep up with the West’s conventional arms build-up, it will rely more heavily on its nuclear force which will lead to a new arms race and increased tensions.