Turkey and Russia in Central Asia after 2003: The Shift from a Strategy of Competition and Conflict to a Strategy of Cooperation and Partnership

Abstract

After the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the emergence of newly independent states in the Caucasus and Central Asia, forced Turkey and Russia to restructure the their regional and international security policies. Since the Erdogan took power in 2002 and Putin took power in 2000, Turkey and Russia have been interacting with this transitional geography, with a complex set of economic, political, and cultural relations, each trying to take a proactive stance in the regional political approach to solving the problems between them. This study discusses the principles of Turkey's grand strategy in the Central Asian region from a descriptive and normative point of view and then proceeds to define and compare it with Russia's main strategies in the same region. While there are some clear conflicts between Turkey and the Russians in Central Asia and beyond, there are no military conflicts between the two powers. In addition, we will discuss through the study the need for both Turkey and Russia to develop a new, practical, and realistic plan regarding the Central Asian region, in order to combine their normative viewpoint with the reality of the region. The study asserts that in order to strengthen cultural, economic, and political relations with the region, the necessary structural and institutional conditions must first be created.