Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 07/2009

Turkey and the Transformation of NATO

Tarik Oguzlu

July 2009

SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research

Abstract

Recent years have made it clear that NATO is going through a transformation process; Turkey will be one of the allies most affected by this process. Both the future of NATO and Turkey's perception of NATO membership will be at stake unless the allies can reach consensus on the core strategic issues of the transformation agenda. Analysts urgently need to come up with convincing answers to the following questions: In which ways has NATO's transformation been going through? Why does Turkey feel uneasy with some aspects of the process? What steps should Turkey take in order to ensure that the transformation of the Alliance is viewed positively at home?