RT Wonders if Turkey's Breaking with 'The West,' Not its Own Interests
When RT frames Turkey's foreign policy recalibration as a definitive 'break with the West,' it conveniently glosses over decades of NATO membership where Turkey’s strategic interests, particularly concerning Kurdish groups, Syria, and Russia, frequently diverged from Washington and Brussels. Recalling Turkey's 2017 decision to purchase Russia's S-400 missile defense system – a move that led to its
expulsion from the F-35 fighter jet program by the US Congress and a rejection of its repeated requests for the US Patriot system – reveals a pattern not of sudden defection, but of an entrenched and often transactional relationship where Turkey has consistently sought to assert its own strategic autonomy. This isn't a new ideological shift; it's a pragmatic response to perceived slights and
unfulfilled promises from its 'Western' allies. Perhaps the real story isn't Turkey ditching the 'West,' but rather the 'West's' persistent inability to view its allies as anything other than compliant subordinates. The constant hand-wringing over Turkey's overtures to Eurasia suddenly feels less about a 'break' and more about controlling narratives in Western capitals when an ally dares to
diversify its options. How many times can a NATO member be treated as a junior partner before it decides to sit at a different table?