Joint Turkish-Uzbek military exercises end today

Joint military exercises between Turkish and Uzbekistani forces will conclude today in the southern Uzbek city of Tirmiz.

The exercises are parts of a Turkish-Uzbekistani military cooperation plan signed after Turkey concluded a similar agreement with Kazakhstan in 2020. By expanding military relations with Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the two largest Central Asian states, Turkey has intensified its “Looking to the East” policy. Central Asia has traditionally been considered Russia’s backyard and has been influenced by China’s economic rise, but the contested space is also of interest to Ankara, New Delhi and Washington.

Turkey has trod carefully in its relations with Moscow and Beijing. A growing beneficiary of Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative, Ankara does not want to risk this major source of investment given the Turkish economy’s long-term reliance on foreign inflows. Moscow is Turkey’s third-largest gas supplier, and the country has positioned itself in the past as a major transit route for Russian gas. However, Turkey’s recent military cooperation with regional states may challenge Beijing’s and Moscow’s toleration of Turkish influence. Both Beijing and Moscow are subject to EU and US sanctions over human rights abuses, and so the pivot towards Central Asia by Turkey, a NATO member, could be seen as fishing in troubled waters. The joint exercises may cause Russia and China to strengthen their military and economic ties in the region to counter Turkey’s ambition.

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