ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Turkey's relations with Iran and Syria, concentrating on the period 2005 to 2010. However, Turkey's disillusionment with the West and its weakening transatlantic relations at the international level has had a direct impact on Ankara's efforts to build interdependent relations at the regional level. The softening relations peaked with the Turkish president's visit to Aleppo and Damascus and with Turkish Syrian military exercises using ground forces in a border area that has been the focus of a 25-year conflict between Turkey and separatist Kurdish rebels. Turkish Foreign Minister Davutolu stated that economic interdependence was the most important tool allowing Turkey to gain stature in its neighborhood: the priority was Turkey's civil economic power. In the context, Turkey's support for Syria has been of vital importance because Turkey, being an ally of the West and having institutional relations with the US and the European Union (EU).
