Defence

Despite the deployment of the G5 force with the backing of France, the Sahel region continues to suffer from regular jihadist attacks. Although France and its allies participated in the G5 summit last week, they appeared to be pursuing diverging courses of action for combating threats from insurgents. 

"The US needs Turkey to counter Russia in the Black Sea region, the Middle East, and the South Caucasus. Turkey can also be useful in the US strategy to contain China", argues Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed. However given the number of problems between the two countries US-Turkey relations may normalise, but they will continue to develop in the cooperation/competition framework, he argues.