Washington Institute: "United States has revised Turkey’s role in NATO"

The publication of the Washington Institute Research Center wrote about the nature of relations between Turkey and the United States. Despite the persistence of bilateral cooperation in security matters, 13 years of disagreement between Washington and Ankara have left their mark.

In 2002, the US Department of Defense was one of the best friends of Turkey, and the Pentagon, in turn, considered to be a staunch ally of the Republic, a partnership with roots that go back to the 1990s, during the joint operations in the Balkans. Today, America's military department is not so disposed towards Turkey. This change of mood is due to the fact that the United States has revised Turkey’s role in NATO. Formally, there is no hostility between the two countries, and Turkey is still an ally of Washington.

Relations between the US and Turkey blossomed when the US government needed a moderate Muslim ally after the terrorist attack on September 11th, and Turkey in turn seized on this situation. However, in 2003 the leadership of the Republic disappointed their US partners by refusing to participate in the Iraq campaign. According to many analysts, it was then that the relationship between Ankara and Washington began to burst, but over the next 10 years Turkey was actively assisting the US military in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the fight against al-Qaida. In exchange, the United States provided intelligence on the position of Kurdish rebels in the Republic.

But in 2010, Turkey again ‘disappointed’ Washington. The crisis in Turkish-Israeli relations put the American leadership in an ‘uncomfortable’ position, forced to choose one of the two US allies in the Middle East. Since then, Ankara has tried to restore the old friendship, but even joint opposition to ISIS in the current year has little effect on the position of the Pentagon. The fact is that both states have too many contradictions in the further future of Syria, and although their interests have not intersected yet, in the future such a divergence of views can lead to serious conflict.

To date, the Republic of Turkey is still a member of NATO, however it is not perceived as a reliable ally, but as a country which is tolerated as long as it is beneficial for the United States. One way or another, experience shows that any country cooperating with the United States does not receive the benefits it hopes for when becoming a partner of the leader of the West.

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The British publication The Guardian writes that Iran is making every effort to ensure that Western sanctions against the state are lifted by January next year. European companies are lining up to get the opportunity to invest in the Iranian economy.

France's Bouygues and Aéroports de Paris are already in talks with Tehran on the construction of a second terminal at the Iranian international airport. The Maltese firm Mandalay Capital has announced that it has invested in a number of banks and holding companies of Iran, believing that the Iranian stock market will become more attractive in the near future.

However, despite the desire of European companies to cooperate with Iran, the US is in no hurry to name deadlines for the lifting of the Iranian sanctions. According to analysts, lifting the sanctions will take at least six months from the start of Iran meeting its obligations under the nuclear program, which means that the green light to foreign investors will be given no earlier than April 2016.