Turkey-Russia Relations in the Twenty-First Century

Muhammet Koçak received his PhD in International Relations from Florida International University.

• List of FiguresAcknowledgments Abbreviations and AcronymsIntroductionChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4ConclusionList of ReferencesIndexAbout the Author

Much has been written about recent Russian foreign policy – toward the U.S., toward the EU, toward the “Near Abroad.” But much less is available about Russian policy toward and with the countries of the Middle East, including Turkey. Muhammet Koçak has made a superb and comprehensive contribution to that limited literature with his new study. He details how relations between Turkey and Russia gradually evolved and generally improved appreciably over the period 2001-2022, beginning with trade, but expanding to political and security support, such as that to President Assad of Syria against his domestic opponents. A major strength of the analysis is Koçak’s noting events that shaped Important shifts in relations between the two countries in the first two decades of the century -- the U.S. invasion of Iraq, then the civil war in Syria, and finally the failed coup in Turkey itself. Central, as well, is the extensive treatment of the growing importance of the two states in regional and even global politics.