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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe Chairman Keith Self delivered opening remarks at subcommittee hearing titled, “Bridging the Gap: Turkey Between East and West.”

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-Remarks-

I welcome everyone to the first Europe subcommittee hearing. It is an honor to chair this subcommittee that deals with a dynamic and potentially dangerous environment in a crucial region for U.S. national interests. I look forward to our work as a subcommittee.

Today, our objective is to examine Turkey’s roles in NATO and necessarily the Middle East, even though this is the Europe Subcommittee.  It will be necessary to look at Turkey’s track record in NATO and the Middle East, in order to gain perspective on their role going forward in both regions. As a NATO member, historically Turkey has operated as a member of the NATO alliance, often aligning their foreign policy interests with the goals of NATO, but in the last decade there have been some actions that don’t line up with the NATO goals.  

Take for example the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the barbaric October 7th attacks on Israel in 2023. While Turkey supports most of the agenda within the NATO alliance, it did operate as NATO’s lone member refusing to condemn the actions of nefarious players in the Middle East. The world is changing quickly and Turkey’s geographic location places it at the epicenter of the most tumultuous regions as conflicts rage in Europe and the Middle East. Turkey has also assumed the position of power broker in the vacuum created by Syria’s regime change but is vexed by their unresolved issues with the Kurds going forward. The world, particularly the United States, is watching closely as Turkey decides rather or not to ease tensions with the Kurds.  America has relied on the Kurds partnership in the region and opposition to their success will be a major sticking point in Turkey’s relationship with the United States. 

Turkey is also unique in that geographically it straddles both Europe and Asia.  It is a prominent member of the Minerals Security Partnership and could be a strategic partner for the West by operating as an alternative to Beijing. Recently, Turkey laid claim to one of the largest rare-earth element reserves in the world with a rare earth 694-million ton deposit.

Historically, Turkey was the anchor for NATO’s Southeast corner against the old Soviet Union, but over the past decade Turkey’s commitment to anchoring that region has begun to crack. They have the second largest military in NATO – only behind the United States – which makes Turkey a key asset to the alliance, but their geographic location also makes them vulnerable to bad actors in the region. 

I look forward to hearing testimony from our three experts today as they share their views on Turkey’s role in both Europe and the Middle East.

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