Conflict and Cooperation in Turkish-Russian Relations within the Framework of the Plane Crisis

The relationship that exists between Turkey and Russia has always been characterized by conflict, cooperation and competition.The rise of Vladimir Putin in Russia and the emergence of the Justice and Development Party into state power in Turkey in the early 2000s, signaled a positive shift in relations as cooperation increased between the two countries. This paper reveals that, the November 2015 plane crisis which rocked their relations was intensified by differences in their geopolitical outlook over Syria. The reactivist Russian sanctions which followed the shooting of their military jet that violated Turkish airspace, indicated the extent to which Russia can go in exploiting its economic and military comparative advantage over Turkey. Turkey must draw a strong lesson from this crisis and diversify its export and energy needs from Russia, if it must remain resilient to assert itself as a strategic regional power and balancer in Middle East politics.