Turkey and Ukraine outline plans for greater security cooperation at high-level dialogue
Today, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will hold talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. This is the seventh high-level bilateral meeting between the countries since 2011.
The Turkish-Ukrainian relationship has been close over the last decade. In support of Ukraine, Turkey refused to recognise Crimea as Russian territory and also played a significant role in helping release two Crimean Tatar leaders Ahmed Chiygoz and Illmi Umerov. Recently, they have also been finalising the details for a joint project to produce a 188 military aircraft capable of landing on a 600-metre runway. Security issues and co-operation in the military industry will be discussed at the meeting.
On the other hand, Turkey’s strengthening relationship with Russia may hinder Ukraine’s influence in its relationship with Turkey. Russia is more critical to Turkey than Ukraine as Russian soldiers are positioned around Turkey’s border and the Turks rely on Russia for energy.
Expect further co-operation on security between Ukraine and Russia. However, in the long term, this relationship could cool.
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