Defending the Upper Gulf: Turkey's Forgotten Partnership

Abstract

The invasion and occupation of Afghanistan by Soviet forces in late 1979 rekindled old fears of the direct threat posed by the Soviet Union to the jugular vein of the west, the uninterrupted flow of oil from the Middle East. Not yet sufficiently rekindled is an appreciation of the related importance of strengthening NATO's southern flank. More important, appreciation of the strategic interconnection between the two areas has lain dormant for two decades.