Abstract: The Khashoggi case showed that Turkey’s role and leadership in the MENA region cannot be outsourced to other powers like Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which means both the US and Turkey need to acknowledge and address each other’s key concerns. There are some core issues in the contemporary Turkey-US relations, such as the perception of the July 15th coup attempt and the role of YPG and PYD in Syria, which need to be resolved for Turkey and the US to lead long term policies in the Middle East. The two NATO members also need to find a roadmap to coexist as NATO allies in the region, including on territories that extend beyond NATO soil. Khashoggi murder was an assault on a NATO country, and the inadequate response from NATO brought to surface how it chooses to distance itself from Turkey’s regional security concerns. The US needs to assist NATO to acknowledge Turkey’s concerns and respond to its security needs.
About the Author:
Zeynep Koç is a research fellow at Al Sharq Forum, and she currently leads the research on the US - Middle East Relations and the political economy of regional integration at the Forum. Prior to joining Al Sharq, she was a Dr. Herchel Smith fellow at the University of Cambridge conducting Economic and Anthropological research about the MENA region. Zeynep has an MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A. from Williams College in Economics and Arabic Studies.