Putin and Erdoğan – A “Beautiful Friendship” of Illiberal Presidents

Abstract

Putin and Erdoğan’s “beautiful friendship” has been defining Russian–Turkish political, diplomatic and economic relations on the one hand, and the handling of many conflicts, including the Syrian civil war, for nearly two decades on the other. It can be said that in many cases, when the interests of the Russian and Turkish states clash with each other or there are conflicts of principle and values, it is the two presidents who, because of their similar habitus and political character, find solutions to the problems. One thing is for sure: without the personalities of Erdoğan and Putin, the recent history of the two nations would not be so diverse and full of twists and turns. This article would like to give an analytical journey into the common history of the Turkish and Russian nations, as well as to the souls of the two politicians to look at the reasons and motivations behind the often contradictory political moves. As relatively little work has been done on the topic in Turkish, but more in English, the study is based on scientific papers and Internet publications written in the latter language. It aims at disclosing the role of the two regional powers in a global framework.