Turkey and the ESDP: towards enhanced cooperation?

Participants at the second Turkey and the ESDP Seminar on 11 December 2009 were of the view that there is room for a stronger Turkish involvement in ESDP operations, especially since the strategic interests of the EU and Turkey have already converged. But for some Turkish participants, a stronger cooperation between Turkey and CSDP cannot be considered prior to a resolution of the pending institutional issues between Turkey and the EU. Others were more optimistic, saying that such enhanced cooperation would correspond with Turkey’s strong historical commitment to multilateralism, which recently entered a new phase with its participation in the G20.
 
Turkey should develop a more flexible approach to EU-NATO relations in order to guarantee the full cooperation between the two institutions in different operational theatres according to some. Others agreed that the harmonisation of the European Security Strategy with NATO’s Strategic Concept is the only way to cope with the change of paradigm in global security issues currently taking place, a theme that will be considered in more depth at the third Seminar.