Georgia-Turkey Relations in a Georgian Dream Era

Abstract

As one of the quieter subplots of South Caucasus geopolitics, ties between Georgia and Turkey have traced a sharply upwards trajectory since the turn of the century. To Georgia, Turkey has been a strong trade partner, a source of defense materiel and training, and an advocate for its Euro-Atlantic aspirations. While promising under the Kemalist Republican People's Party (CHP) in Turkey and Eduard Shevardnadze’s rule in Georgia, the relationship has especially grown since the 2004 Rose Revolution that brought Mikheil Saakashvili and his United National Movement (UNM) to power. However, the surprise victory by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's Georgian Dream Coalition in the October 2012 parliamentary elections has cast the future of bilateral relations into question. Yet despite these questions, national interests are likely to keep Georgia-Turkey relations on a positive direction.