Trump and Erdoğan: Pragmatic Partnership and a New Architecture of Türkiye-U.S. Relations

Abstract

Using a synthesis of role theory and the concept of asymmetric alliance, this article studies the transformation of Türkiye-U.S. relations during Donald Trump’s presidency. It identifies structural and ideological reasons behind the strategic alliance’s evolution into a transactional personal partnership amid role conflict. These reasons include the contradiction between Türkiye’s aspirations to become an autonomous ‘central power’ versus the instrumental role that the U.S. assigns to Ankara and the ambivalent effect of the leaders’ personal contacts. The personalistic approach has relaxed tensions and ensured tactical flexibility, but also generated high volatility, yielding conflict with institutional constraints. The present stage of Türkiye U.S. relations can be characterized as ‘competitive cooperation’: Türkiye’s assigned role as stabilizer in Syria, and the situational convergence of the parties’ interests, have helped to avoid acute crises, but not eliminated fundamental disagreements over the regional order.