Over the past two years, Russia and Turkey went from a state of confrontation to restoring their partnership. They are working side by side in Syria and have relaunched strategic energy projects. The prospective sale of Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missiles to Turkey has raised fears about Ankara’s pivoting away from NATO at a time when its relations with both the U.S. and the EU are at a historic low. Such fears, though not groundless, often discount that Moscow and Ankara are also rivals, divided by a host of contentious issues. While pursuing greater autonomy within NATO, Turkey is also balancing against Russia. Russia, for its part, is seeking to co-opt but also constrain Turkey. What makes their marriage of convenience work is the shared opposition to the West along with the partial overlap of security and economic interests.
 
Please join us for a talk by Dimitar Bechev that will explore the dynamics of Russian-Turkish relations on a range of issues including the war in Syria, security affairs in the Black Sea and the post-Soviet space, energy and trade, as well as the implications for the U.S. and Europe. 
 
Speaker:
Dimitar Bechev, director of the the European Policy Institute, research fellow at the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies at the University of North Carolina, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council

Seats available on a first come, first serve basis.