... Georgia, in addition to Ukraine, into NATO membership? Could the 2008 Turkish proposal for a “Caucasian Stability and Cooperation Platform” be revived for the Caucasus and the entire Black Sea region — if the questions of the Russian annexation of Crimea and issues surrounding the Black Sea and eastern Ukraine can eventually be addressed? Could the U.S. and EU, as well as Ukraine, likewise participate in the creation of a new Caucasus peace and development community?
Can Turkey assist the Europeans, Ukraine and Russia to find a way to cooperate over
pipelines
and energy disputes? Or what can be done to unleash the tremendous economic potential of the Black Sea region?
Could peacekeeping forces be deployed in Nagorno-Karabakh,...
... Russia’s desired outcomes being achieved in the US, the UK, Italy, Bulgaria, and Moldova, while seeing trends favorable to its interests significantly increased in places like Germany and Austria. Furthermore, U.S. and NATO “ally” Turkey has taken a decidedly sharp anti-democratic and anti-Western plunge and is clearly cozying up to Russia.
2017 may be even better for the Kremlin, and even worse for what is still referred to as the West.
This is the new face of warfare, one ...
... mission” similar to the one NATO runs to protect the sky of the Baltic states (Baltic air policing mission). However, for Turkey, what is the concrete interest to green light the creation of a permanent NATO flotilla in the Black Sea? As we have demonstrated,... ... Actually, Western navies’ activity in the Black Sea basin sharply increased in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea with an almost permanent presence of 1 or 2 units all along 2014. Moreover, if Ankara was prompt to request the Alliance’s ...
... Turkey has reasonably broad economic ties with Ukraine, of which Crimea formed a significant part (suffice it to say that there are more than 5,000 Turkish businesspeople working in Crimea). Finally, against the background of acute political struggle in Turkey, the Crimean Tatar factor has external as well as domestic significance (the total number of people of Crimean origin living in Turkey is, according to different sources, between four and six million)
[1]
. These circumstances may seem overly opportunistic ...
...
The participants focused on problems in Russian-Turkish relations and their solutions, including measures fit for the second track.
The debate inevitably covered the current situation, i.e. Ukraine. Ambassador Sezgin acknowledged that the status of Crimea is a sensitive issue for Ankara, since Turkey is home to five million Tatars. Mr. Apakan underlined that his country is interested in full-fledged cooperation in the Black Sea area and ready to participate in the Ukraine settlement.
Mr. Karakullukçu underlined the importance of the ...
... War II deportations and mistrust Russians. There are some Tatar politicians who still dream of the re-emergence of centuries-old Tatar statehood/autonomy in the Crimea.
From Moscow’s angle, it is also essential to achieve an understanding with Turkey about the Ukraine-Crimea crisis. It would like Ankara to either be supportive of the plans of the Crimean present-day government to hold a referendum and secede from Ukraine, or at least remain neutral and not join actions hostile to Moscow as planned by the West in case ...
