The minimum you must know

Turkey is an important member of the U.S. and European NATO alliance. The country has remained at peace though decades of tremendous conflict in surrounding countries, most notably in Syria and Iraq. Turkey has had to allow U.S. military to pass through without upsetting surrounding nations, which leadership did by participating in countless peace talks. Turkey protected United States and European Union military within its borders almost without provoking Arabic-speaking countries. Turkey only very occasionally had to defend itself from Syrian-Kurdish opposition as a result.

Turkey is also important to NATO for sharing the Black Sea with Ukraine and Russia.

Turkey is just as advanced and is culturally very similar to Europe. You feel like you’re in Europe there. It’s currently being considered for European Union membership as a result, which it may very well imminently receive. 

Europe waited for a few years to grant full membership to Turkey for two reasons. Europe wanted Turkey to maintain credibility with bordering Syria, without getting drawn into a decade of NATO conflict there. And Europe kept its borders closed that way to countless Syrian refugees. These are no longer considerations. Now that Syria has evolved substantially, and sanctions have been fully and historically lifted, a vast amount of reverse migration developed, with countless people flowing from Turkey into Syria and Iraq.

Turkey could well receive its long sought after full integration into the open European marketplace as a result.

Turkey has participated in more peace talks than almost any other country in the world.

Turkey's foreign policies are fully and completely aligned with NATO's except in two notable ways. Turkey has withheld support for alignment with Israel. Turkey has also withheld agreement over alignment with E.U. membership Cyprus, where Israel is very influential.

This writer views Turkey as exceedingly well led because the country has made greater efforts for peace and selflessly housed more refugees than almost any country on earth.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a tremendously talented diplomat who led perhaps the most compassionate effort to house refugees in history. Turkey burdened a stunning exodus from neighboring Iraq and Syria over the past two decades, while maintaining internal stability. Refugees remarkably stayed in Turkey instead of continuing into Europe as a result. There is reverse migration now. Countless people started returning to Syria and Iraq in 2025, when sanctions were lifted there.

Many extraordinary Syrians in Turkey lost everything when NATO sanctioned their banking system two decades ago. A non-financial culture of sharing developed because people had no other choice. A society-wide expectation of helpfulness developed that benefitted Turkey culturally. Syrians are very sensitive people there. But there is a palpable sadness in southern areas of Turkey about decades of punitive restrictions on their homeland.

To give you a sense of the sentiments in the region, Syrians avoid taking from each other as a very strict matter of moral decency. You can sense hurt emotions when the possibility of taking surfaces in conversation or western media. Syrian antique stores are very beautiful - like exquisite museum art exhibits - because they filled with prized possessions people parted with to save themselves. Syrians in Turkey are far more careful with what they have than people in other cultures.

Turkey correctly led one of the most vast and successful humanitarian efforts in the past century to house, cloth and feed Syrians. Turkey also participated in close to a hundred peace talks for the region.

If peace continues developing for the region, this writer believes that Europeans are going to move into Turkey in large numbers, especially when Turkey receives E.U. membership. Syrians are returning to their homeland, and may vacate residences there. Turkey has desirable weather, safe streets, a very ethical government, and safe, enjoyable neighborhoods with lower than European costs. Probably Turkey will become a well integrated widely appreciated European state.