Turkey has so far been able to block a US-led proposal to stage NATO maneuvers in the Black Sea out of fear that such a presence from the West may lead to attempts to revise the 1936 Montreux Convention, risking Turkish sovereignty over the strategically important Bosporus and Dardanelles straits.
Russia, for its part, has supported Turkish policy mainly because it has prevented the US, in particular, from raising its flag freely whenever it wishes in the Black Sea.
To alleviate US concerns, however, Turkey has been passing on all the information that it has obtained on the Black Sea through "Operation Black Sea Harmony," which was initiated by Turkey to report any smuggling of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear materials and human trafficking. So far, Russia and Ukraine have agreed to take part in these operations while other Black Sea coastal states have also been invited to join.
The Georgian crisis, which culminated with the Russian military invasion in the summer, has revived the old debate over whether the US can sail freely in the Black Sea in violation of the Montreux Convention.
Turkey allowed US warships carrying humanitarian aid to Georgia through both straits, deeming it within the limits of the convention, even though Moscow claimed that this was a violation of the convention.
Nevertheless, to promote their own national interests, Turkey and Russia have smooth relations when cooperating on the Black Sea.
Lately, the two countries have also begun to forge military procurement ties, but this has been overshadowed by malfunctions occurring on Russian Mil Mi-17 helicopters that Turkey bought together with BTR armored vehicles in the early 1990s.
A dispute over the Russian helicopters appears to have been solved only recently when both sides reportedly reached a compromise to deal with the problem.
As a sign of forging cooperation in arms procurement, while also demonstrating restored confidence in the Russian arms business, this year Turkey awarded Russia a project worth around $80 million dollars that involves the purchase of 800 medium-range anti-tank missiles.
In addition, Russia is currently among the candidates of Turkey's long-range missile defense acquisition project worth about $4 billion.
Recently, Turkey has engaged in secret talks with Russia's Rosoboronexport for the purchase of 32 Mil Mi-28 "Havoc" attack helicopters as a stopgap measure, urgently needed in the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The cost of the acquisition is about $1 billion.
Turkey has been encouraging Russia to compete in Turkish military acquisition tenders.
This signals that Turkey's current political leadership does not seem to be too concerned about any problems of interoperability with hardware that might occur with other NATO countries, especially when it buys military technology from Russia.
Or it is possible that Turkey, in particular with its missile and attack helicopter acquisitions, has been using its old tactic of playing Russia against the US just as it did in an earlier attack helicopter tender that was cancelled in 2004.
The outcome of the long-range missile project as well as the direct purchase of Russian attack helicopters will tell us what Turkish decision makers have in mind.
But one thing is for sure, Turkey and Russia have restored trust amongst themselves, paving the way for greater cooperation in the arms trade.
