Ahval

Turkey and Ukraine are continuing to seek deeper ties even as some of the complications in the relationship slowly surface. For the last several years, both countries have quietly deepened their relationship through trade, investment and military cooperation. In Ukraine, Turkey finds a ready partner interested in acquiring its much touted military hardware and a foothold for developing a deeper presence in the Black Sea region. For Kyiv, Ankara is an all too eager investor for its still maturing economy and a major power who can help hasten its national development agenda. The closeness between Turkey and Ukraine has attracted some attention of late amidst last month’s crisis with Russia in the Donbass. Ilya Kusa, an author and analyst of international affairs at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv, explained that the flare up in the Donbass showed Turkey was not yet ready to change from a geopolitical bystander to participant in that conflict.