The Turkey, Russia, Iran Nexus: Driving Forces and Strategies
Featuring:
Dr. Bulent Aliriza
Senior Associate and Director, Turkey Project
Dr. Jon B. Alterman
Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy
Director, Middle East Program
Dr. Andrew C. Kuchins
Director and Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program
Chaired by:
Dr. Stephen J. Flanagan
Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Diplomacy and National Security
CSIS scholars will present the key findings of their 18 month project that has examined the forces and interests driving relations among Turkey, Russia, and Iran and the strategies that these governments are pursuing to manage differences and sustain economic and energy cooperation. They will also discuss how complex and often contradictory interactions among these three countries are shaping regional dynamics in the Eastern Mediterranean, Caucasus, and Central Asia, as they have for centuries. The nexus of the three pairs of relations are also influencing each country’s dealings with the other two as well as with the United States, and are being whipsawed by recent events. Starkly differing policies toward the Syrian civil war and the Arab Spring have strained Ankara’s relations with Moscow and Tehran. Understanding these dynamics is essential to avoiding a wider war in the Middle East, renewed conflict in the Caucasus, and instability in Central Asia following the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan.
