The National Interest: Can Europe and Turkey work together in building a new European security architecture?

Against a backdrop of the mayhem caused by the first 100 days of the Trump administration, Europe is faced with a number of awkward choices. First and foremost, it needs to create a European security architecture in the event that America withdraws from or substantially diminishes its presence in NATO, The National Interest writes.

As noted, American Vice President JD Vance made it plain in his address to the Munich Security Conference in February when he told participants that in the coming years, Europe must step up in a big way to provide for its own defense.

At the beginning of March, British prime minister Keir Starmer, with the support of French president Emmanuel Macron, convened a meeting in London of eighteen leaders, including Canada’s Justin Trudeau, NATO’s Mark Rutte, and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. The intention was to form a “coalition of the willing” to ensure a just peace in Ukraine.

Members of the “coalition” agreed it was a good idea to form a peacekeeping force for Ukraine, but when it comes to providing troops, there is some reluctance. However, the idea of creating a European security structure was born, and what remains is its implementation.

Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan was also invited to the London conference and included in the family photo. At the same time, in an interview with The Financial Times, Fidan stated that President Trump’s actions were “a wake-up call for us to unite and design our own centre of gravity.” He added that Turkey would want to be part of any new European security architecture if NATO falls apart.

However, the question arises as to whether Turkey’s move towards becoming a fully fledged autocracy, as well as its occupation of northern Cyprus and ambivalence towards Russia (Russia is one of Turkey’s largest trading partners), constitute a barrier. After all, Europe claims to be a values-based community.

There is also the question of internal dissent. While Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Poland, together with the UK, France, and now Germany, stand firm against Russia, unity is undermined by, for example, a far-right group in the European Parliament, “Patriots for Europe,” led by Hungary’s Victor Orbán.

The May 10 visit to Kyiv by British, French, German, and Polish leaders to reiterate their call for an unconditional thirty-day ceasefire is a demonstration of European solidarity in answer to Moscow’s Victory Day parade on Friday.

Now, Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Vladimir Putin to a face-to-face meeting in Istanbul on Thursday so we can all see which way the cat is going to jump.