Türkiye-U.S. Cooperation in the South Caucasus Security: Success or Unsuccess?

Abstract

Throughout the Cold War, mainly within NATO, Türkiye and the United States enjoyed friendly relations and strategic cooperation. However, multidimensional American-Turkish relations have undergone changes with the collapse of the Soviet Empire. In the post-Cold War period, from time to time, there were some ups and downs in Türkiye-U.S. relations, mainly over regional issues. While Türkiye’s strategic importance in containing the Soviet Union was questioned by the end of the Cold War, both parties continued cooperating against new security challenges in different regions. At the beginning of the 1990s, Türkiye became a reliable strategic ally of the United States with its pro-Western foreign policy and military, economic, and cultural capacity to affect developments in neighboring regions. The then American administration gave the green light to Ankara to establish a sphere of influence in the post-Soviet territories, particularly in the South Caucasus. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.