Andreas Matzakos: USA-Turkey: Real allies?
With the end of World War II (WWII), a new security architecture was created in the world centered on Europe. On the one hand, the Euro-Atlantic alliance led by the United States, known as NATO, and on the other, the Warsaw Pact, led by the then USSR. NATO was established out of necessity due to the Soviet threat against mainly European states, but also to US interests on the European continent.
Over the course of the alliance, the member states also shared common values that were based on democratic governance, free trade and economic interdependence. Turkey is also a NATO member, which, on the one hand, did not belong to the victorious powers of World War II, and on the other hand, was not inspired by liberal Western values, having a peculiar system of governance. Until the emergence of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the country's political affairs, the military leadership pulled the strings from behind the scenes, manipulating the country's political system.
The question therefore arises: since the Soviet threat ceased to exist, does the US-Turkey alliance have solid foundations? Is it a sincere alliance, or an opportunistic relationship that continues to exist for purely functional reasons?