It seems like Türkiye is a big winner of Europe's attempts to rebuild its defense industry and decouple from the U.S.

The joint venture earlier this month between drone giant Baykar and Italy's leading defense contractor, Leonardo, seems like the most obvious example.

But France's deal last month to sell Meteor missiles to Türkiye, Poland's Donald Tusk calling for Ankara to play a bigger role in Ukraine negotiations, and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan calling for closer defense ties all point in one direction.

One interesting (and predictable) counter current: Greece, which is lodging formal protests.

Türkiye is definitely playing its cards well in the shifting defense landscape. Strengthening ties with European defense players while maintaining its own strategic autonomy is a smart move. The Greece pushback was inevitable, but it’ll be interesting to see how much influence it actually has over these deals.