Turkey to Amend Security Doctrine, Dropping Russia From Threat List

ANKARA (UPI)–In a sign of changed relations, 19 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Turkish National Security Council intends to drop Russia from the list of potential national security threats, Today’s Zaman reported Wednesday.

Over the last three centuries Turkey has fought 11 wars with its northern neighbor Russia. The decision is the result of the ruling AKP party’s foreign policy of “zero problems with neighbors.”

The country’s military strategy, revised every five years, is a classified document that is called as the “secret constitution” or the “red book.”

According to Today’s Zaman, which quotes anonymous sources close to the issue, this is the first time the National Security document has included provisions on energy security. The sources say the change came in view of Turkey’s multi-billion-dollar energy contracts with Russia, which supplies Turkey’s with nearly two-thirds of its natural gas through the Black Sea Blue Stream pipeline.

Iran, Iraq and Greece will also reportedly be removed from the updated red book at the upcoming National Security Council’s next meeting in October, Zaman said.

In revising the document’s primary Cold War direction, Turkey regards international terrorism and fundamentalism as its primary external threats, Today’s Zaman said.

The national security document was last revised in 2005, when Islamic fundamentalism and Kurdish separatism were considered the greatest threats to Turkish security, the latter a particular concern due to the Turkish military’s ongoing conflict with Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

In recent years Turkey has been steadily increasing its cooperation with countries it formerly considered “security threats” and now regards them as new regional partners, particularly in the sphere of energy cooperation.

Turkey’s relations with Russia, for example, have improved substantially since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party came to power eight years ago.

The new draft document, Zaman said, highlights close bilateral economic cooperation with Russia, the potential for increased cooperation in both trade and energy and “a shared vision of stability in the Caucasus.”

In the region, Turkey’s relations with Armenia have been problematic for decades, while Russia’s relations with Georgia have been strained since a brief conflict between them erupted over Abkhazia and South Ossetia in August 2008.

Washington will undoubtedly view the revisions with interest as Turkey is among its largest NATO partner and improved relations with Iran could interfere with U.S.-led sanctions over Tehran’s civilian nuclear energy program, which Washington and Jerusalem say they suspect is a facade for a covert effort to develop nuclear weapons.