Security questions regarding U.S. military support to Turkey - Essay Example

In the recent crisis between Syria and Turkey the following problem has appeared: does NATO approve the initiatives of Turkey, so far, in regard to the military conflicts within Syria? The answer seems to be positive. This view is based on the statement of the Secretary-General Rasmussen that ‘obviously Turkey can rely on NATO solidarity’, a statement made on the 9th of October (NATO 2012). Of course, as a member of NATO, Turkey has right to ask for such support. Still, the intervention of NATO in the conflict between Turkey and Syria would have certain implications that can be reflected in a series of security questions. 2. U.S. military support to Turkey – Security questions In order to refer to an issue as being related to security it is necessary for certain terms to be met.

The common form of security questions is described in the study of Everts (2001). According to the above researcher, a security question can be related to different issues. Reference can be made, for example, to the ‘democratic government’ (Everts 2001, p.44), as a security question. It should be noted that through the decades, the form of security questions has been changed. Energy, environment and allies’ security are common security questions in countries worldwide (Everts 2001, p.44). . een Turkey and Kurds – Democratic question as a security question The claim of Kurds for the creation of their own state within Turkey is quite old (Brauch et al. 2003). However, since the beginning of the crisis between Syria and Turkey, the efforts of Kurds to promote their geopolitical interests have become quite strong (Dannreuther 2012).

On the 3rd of October a Syrian attack on a Turkish town resulted to the death of five civilians (BBC News 2012). Turkey responded with attacks on targets near the borders (Guzel & Frazer 2012); the UN Council supported the specific initiative of Turkey (Guzel & Frazer 2012). The provision of military support by NATO to Turkey would allow the latter to develop extensive military operations against Syria. However, in case that the conflict between Turkey and Syria would be further expanded, then Kurds would possibly take the chance to develop more dynamic operations against the Turkish militants.

In such case, the political stability of Turkey would be set in risk, a fact that would negatively affect the popularity of Turkish government. The stability of the country’s polity, as this stability would be threatened by the expansion of armed conflicts within Turkish territory, can be characterized as one of the most important security questions related to NATO’s intervention in the conflict between Turkey and Syria. 2.2 The geopolitical stability of European Union – Supporting the allies’ safety as a security question The political and social stability in Turkey can highly affect the geopolitical stability of European Union.

The potential involvement of Turkey in a war would threaten the security of EU, even if Turkey is not a member state. Moreover, the cooperation between Turkey and the EU is close, especially in terms of