Journal of International Studies

The Turkish government’s  recent decision  to award its high-altitude missile defense contract to China conjured images of the residents of Troy rejoicing the large, Greek-made wooden horse near the end of the Trojan Wars. That story did not have a pleasant end for the Trojans. It is not clear how this one will play out for Ankara and its NATO allies. Turkey’s decision to choose the Chinese-made FD-2000  over the U.S.-made Patriot PAC-3 , the Russian-made S-400, and the French-Italian EUROSAM SAMP/T may seem odd for a country that has been a member of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) since 1952. 22 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, commitment to NATO and good relations with Washington remain the cornerstones of Ankara’s foreign policy calculus. That calculation seems irreconcilable with the fact that the manufacturer of the FD-2000, CPMIEC (China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation),  is under U.S. sanctions  for doing busin...

NATO member states are strongly opposed to Turkey’s decision to purchase a Chinese-built missile defense system, with one NATO official calling the missile system a “virus,” according  to a report  in the Turkish newspaper, the  Hurriyet Daily News . “NATO’s own command and control system that ‘mashes’ input from allied networks is far more important than a Chinese air defense system in Turkey,” an unnamed defense attaché from a NATO member state was quoted as saying by  Hurriyet Daily News.  “There is no place for China within this critical system. We would not wish to see a virus in a complex system.” An unnamed NATO ambassador in Ankara, Turkey’s capital city was even blunter, telling  Hurriyet : “I have no idea why the Turks do not see the simple fact that the alliance’s security threat perception in the next 20 years is based on China. Air and missile defense will be the top defense issue in the foreseeable future, wit...