Μake us preferred on Google In international relations, appealing to emotion is inherently and fundamentally futile. Hence, recounting to our Allies the injustices inflicted from the East upon our homeland, although it serves to theoretically substantiate our positions, does not alter theirs, which are shaped rationally through the prism of narrow national interests. Consequently, it seems more prudent—aiming to serve our homeland while simultaneously benefiting our friends and allies—to focus on our neighbour’s clashes with their vital interests and the potential solutions, as highlighted below.
First, Turkey opted for the Russian S-400 missile systems over the Western-favored American PATRIOTs, injecting $2.5 billion into the Russian defense industry, with the resulting lost U.S. revenue estimated at around $3.5 billion. Furthermore, knowing full well that the coexistence of the S-400s with advanced Western technology would lead to the leakage of classified technological data to the Kremlin, Turkey consciously precluded its future acquisition of the F-35s, willingly accepting its consequent, de facto, geopolitical re-alignment. Additionally, Turkey has ceded 80% of its telecommunications market to China’s Huawei, as well as a key role in developing its 5G infrastructure, risking Chinese interception of any classified technologies it acquires. In the words of Erdogan, “I trust Russia just as much as I trust the West.”
Second, on September 2, 2024—the very same day that a Turkish nationalist mob attacked two American Marines in Izmir—Turkey officially requested, and continues to pursue, full membership in BRICS . This bloc, which holds the declared goal of de-dollarization (namely, the dismantling of U.S. global economic dominance), counts Russia, China, and Iran among its members. As Erdogan said, “If they have their dollars, we have our people, our God.”
Third, Turkey actively assists Hamas—officially designated as a terrorist organization by the EU and the US—by hosting its offices in Istanbul and providing a flexible framework for its financing through Turkish NGOs, banks, and companies. Furthermore, Ismail Haniyeh, the late political chief of Hamas—who was wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and for orchestrating the October 7th attacks against major U.S. ally Israel, wherein 46 Americans and over 130 European citizens were murdered—was naturalized as a Turkish citizen in 2020 following a decision by the competent authorities, thereby facilitating his activities. Erdogan’s position is clear, “Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a battle to protect its lands and people.”
Fourth, Turkey forcefully obstructs projects officially designated and funded by the EU as Projects of Common Interest (PCIs)—namely the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI) cable, which also enjoys U.S. support, and the EastMed pipeline. Both projects contribute to Europe’s energy independence from R.T. Erdogan’s “dear friend,” Vladimir Putin. On the one hand, in July 2024, Turkish warships violated Greek—and by definition, NATO and European—territorial waters off Kasos, surrounding the Italian research vessel Ievoli Relume and forcing it to halt its work for the GSI. On the other hand, the Maltese research vessel Nautical Geo faced radio harassment by Turkish warships in September-October 2021, and in January 2022, it was threatened with ramming, violently terminating its work for the EastMed pipeline in both instances, giving Erdogan’s famous 2017 quote, “If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets.”, new meaning.
Fifth, Turkey hosts the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, currently under construction and valued at $25 billion. It is funded, owned, and managed by the Russian state energy company, Rosatom. Once completed, this project will radically increase Turkey’s dependence on Russia while simultaneously boosting the Kremlin’s war economy, with projected net profits exceeding $180 billion over 69 years of operation. Additionally, Turkey acts as a hub for circumventing sanctions against Russia, supplying it with dual-use technology through triangular transactions; for instance, the Turkish firm Enutek Makina sent over $7 million worth of semiconductors to Russia’s Promtech in 2023. To quote Erdogan, “Russia and Turkey need each other in every field possible.”
In light of the above, it would be prudent for our western allies, to enter a new phase of dialogue with the Republic of Turkey, by explicitly tying Turkey’s continuing integration in our collective security architecture, to its active disengagement from hostile blocs and its rules-based, long-term, tangible rapprochement with key NATO/EU partners in the region such as Greece, Cyprus and Israel. Until such goodwill is displayed by our eastern neighbors, the sale of F-35s to Turkey, as recently floated, or its inclusion in SAFE, would incentivize the continuation of its current course, to the benefit of China, Russia and Hamas and ultimately, to our collective detriment.
Lest we forget, it is not for us to dictate the policy, foreign or domestic, of other sovereign nations. It is, however, entirely legitimate, to present the avid reader, as well as the international community, with a synopsis of publicly available, undisputed facts, to utilize, among others, at their own free will, in order to come to their own conclusions.
* Alexandros Chasaneas was a Greek delegate to NATO Youth Summit 2025 and a youth delegate to the 70th Congress of the Atlantic Treaty Association. He writes on IR and is a former intern at the European Parliament and was admitted to Athens Law School with the highest panhellenic exam score among all diaspora candidates in 2023.
