EditThe West’s strategic rethink puts Turkey back in focus
Washington, Brussels and the Alliance are placing growing emphasis on Turkey's defence industry, geography and regional influence
Turkey is set to use the NATO Summit in Ankara on 7–8 July to reinforce its position as an indispensable security actor at a time when the United States, NATO and the European Union are recalibrating their approach towards Ankara amid an increasingly volatile geopolitical landscape.
The gathering comes as the war in Ukraine, instability across the Middle East and renewed great-power competition reshape Western security priorities. While longstanding disagreements over democracy, the rule of law and human rights remain unresolved, recent diplomatic developments suggest that Turkey is once again being viewed primarily through the prism of its strategic value.
The summit follows a series of developments pointing in the same direction. U.S. President Donald Trump has intensified contacts with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Washington recently approved the export of General Electric F110 engines for Turkey’s fifth-generation KAAN fighter programme, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has publicly praised Turkey’s growing defence industrial capacity, while EU High Representative Kaja Kallas has expanded dialogue with Ankara beyond migration and accession issues to include defence, regional security and industrial cooperation.
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Taken together, these developments illustrate a gradual shift rather than a sudden political rapprochement. Western governments increasingly see Turkey as a crucial partner in managing a security environment stretching from the Black Sea to the Middle East.
The change has accelerated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and has gathered additional momentum amid instability in Syria, tensions between Israel and Iran, and Europe’s efforts to strengthen its own defence capabilities.
Turkey occupies a unique geographical position, controlling the Turkish Straits that connect the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, bordering Syria, Iraq and Iran, and maintaining NATO’s second-largest military. Over the past two decades, it has also invested heavily in developing a domestic defence industry that now produces unmanned aerial vehicles, armoured vehicles, naval platforms, missile systems and advanced electronics.
This industrial capacity has become increasingly valuable for NATO as the Alliance seeks to increase defence production following lessons learned from the war in Ukraine.
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Speaking recently, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte highlighted Turkey’s defence sector, noting that around 3,000 companies operate in the country’s defence industry and describing cooperation with European and American manufacturers as increasingly important for the Alliance’s collective deterrence.
His remarks illustrate how NATO’s priorities have evolved. As Dutch prime minister, Rutte frequently clashed with Erdoğan, particularly during the diplomatic crisis of 2017, when Dutch authorities prevented Turkish ministers from campaigning in the Netherlands. At that time, relations were dominated by disputes over democratic standards, the Eastern Mediterranean and later Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defence system.
Today, however, NATO’s operational needs increasingly shape the conversation.
The same pragmatic approach is becoming more visible within the European Union.
Recent visits to Ankara by EU High Representative Kaja Kallas, Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos and Internal Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner reflected a broader agenda that now includes European defence, Ukraine, Syria, energy security, transport corridors and industrial cooperation alongside the traditional issues of accession and migration.
Brussels has not abandoned its concerns over judicial independence, media freedom, Cyprus or Greek-Turkish disputes in the Aegean. Rather, these issues are increasingly being discussed in parallel with growing strategic cooperation driven by Europe’s changing security environment.
Washington’s approach also appears to be shifting.
The approval of General Electric F110 engines for Turkey’s indigenous KAAN fighter programme is widely viewed as a sign that the United States is seeking to restore practical defence cooperation after years of strained relations following Ankara’s acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile system, which led to Turkey’s exclusion from the F-35 programme.
The United States also increasingly sees Turkey as an essential interlocutor in Syria, where Ankara maintains a direct military presence and significant influence over developments following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
This does not mean that disagreements have disappeared.
Turkey’s relations with Russia, its position on the S-400 system, disputes with Greece in the Aegean, tensions over Cyprus and differences regarding Kurdish groups in Syria continue to complicate relations with Washington and several European capitals.
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Instead, Western governments increasingly appear to believe that maintaining functional cooperation with Turkey serves their broader strategic interests better than allowing relations to deteriorate further.
The NATO Summit also provides President Erdoğan with an opportunity to strengthen Turkey’s international standing at a time when his government faces growing criticism over its domestic political record.
Analysts say Ankara hopes the summit will underline Turkey’s role as an essential bridge between Europe, the United States and the wider Middle East, reinforcing its image as a country that cannot be excluded from decisions affecting regional security.
According to foreign policy analyst Serkan Demirtaş, Erdoğan aims to establish Turkey as an “indispensable actor” in shaping Europe’s evolving security architecture and broader geopolitical developments.
The summit comes as Turkish authorities continue to face criticism over measures targeting political opponents ahead of the country’s next presidential election. Critics argue that recent judicial decisions against opposition figures reflect a broader pattern of democratic backsliding.
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Western governments, however, have largely separated these concerns from cooperation on security and defence.
As analyst Aaron Stein argues, NATO membership remains Turkey’s strongest strategic guarantee, enabling Ankara to manage its complex relationship with Russia while remaining firmly anchored within the Alliance.
For the West, the challenge now is to deepen cooperation with Turkey without undermining its commitments to democratic principles or creating new tensions with other allies in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Ankara summit is therefore likely to symbolise not a reconciliation between Turkey and the West, but the emergence of a more pragmatic relationship in which strategic necessity increasingly outweighs political disagreements.
Sources: EUalive’s partners IBNA and BGNES
IBNA’s article by Spiros Sideris in Greek can be found here.
Caption: A handout photo made available by the Turkish Defence Ministry Press Office shows Turkish Defence Minister Yasar Guler (R) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Mark Rutte (L) shaking hands during a meeting in Ankara, Turkey, 21 April 2026. EPA/TURKISH DEFENCE MINISTRY
Updated: July 2, 2026 - 05:47
