Turkey and NATO: the Biden’s Factor. Part 2: Afghanistan

Abstract

The first part of the article examined the reasons for the deterioration of relations between Turkey and its Western partners, the European Union and the United States, which has progressed over the past four years. According to the author, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan managed to avoid aggravation of conflict situations fraught with the possibility of their solutions, including by force (for example, in the confrontation between Ankara and Nicosia and Athens). All this largely thanks to his personal relationship with the then US President Donald Trump. A priori, the arrival of Joseph Biden to the White House promised little to Erdogan and the prospects for the development of US – Turkish relations in general. In the second part of the article, the author focuses on the attempts, first of all, by the Turkish leader to normalize his country's relations with the United States and the EU – in the absence of the former factor of mutual personal sympathy between him and the head of the White House (under Trump). Erdogan made the main stake on demonstrating the usefulness of Turkey as a NATO member. The calculation partially justified itself against the background of the growing and aggravated problem of Afghanistan due to the accelerated (by August 31) withdrawal of US and NATO troops from there.