How did the mercurial Recep Erdogan get himself into the milit | Strategic Culture Foundation

How did the mercurial Recep Erdogan get himself into the military geopolitical wrangle that he’s in both with the Pentagon and Russia?

April was quite a month for Ankara-based foreign correspondents who were kept busy with what seemed to be a never-ending stream of news stories about Turkey’s role in the world. After the dust has settled, many analysts might conclude that #Turkey is now more isolated than ever. The new rogue state in the Middle East. The question is whether the region is better off and more stable and – critically – if the thawing of relations, as a consequence, with both Egypt and Saudi Arabia is sustainable.

From an analyst’s point of view, Turkey’s geopolitics was always a moving target which no one could entirely understand. The opaque nature of Mr Erdogan’s strategy even baffled Turkey’s own best hacks and at times made him look almost Trump like with his serendipity.

The geomilitary strategy of buying Russia’s S-400 missile system and imagining that the U.S. would allow Turkey to also have U.S.-made F-35s was always going to be a brain teaser.

Initially, Turkey pledged to purchase 100 F-35 fighter jets. In 2018, six were meant for Turkey with some conditions about pilot training, but the actual delivery of the jets was postponed after the start of the S-400 crisis between the U.S. and Turkey kicked off.

But by July 2020, things were looking increasingly shaky as eight jets initially intended for Turkey were instead purchased by the U.S. Air Force which was followed by the cancellation of the supply of parts for the jets, from Turkey. Read more by Martin Jay

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2021/05/03/turkey-new-enfant-terrible-baffles-even-regions-experts/