Edelman, Erdemir: US ‘counterweight’ needed in the Eastern Mediterranean

A joint call for an urgent recalibration of US strategy in the Eastern Mediterranean is made by former US ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman and Aykan Erdemir, a former MP with Turkey's Republican People's Party (CHP) and current director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank, in a newly published report on the region.

The two former politicians co-authored the chapter "American Interests in the Eastern Mediterranean" for the think tank's report "Defending Forward: Securing America by Projecting Military Power Abroad" - published Wednesday and shared in advance with Kathimerini - in which they express strong concerns about Turkey's interventionist approach and the expansionist policies of Russia and Iran in the region.

"The Eastern Mediterranean's strategic location at the nexus of Africa, Asia and Europe has...