Turkey and Britain represent two key NATO allies with crucial importance in the security sphere on contrasting ends of the European Union. Not so long ago, Britain was perceived as one of the leading countries in the EU along with Germany and France, and Turkey was maintaining full accession negotiations trying to meet the bloc's sophisticated membership criteria. Radical developments that shook the EU and changed the mood in these two countries carry crucial insights into the final state of the European integration project.

Britain decided to opt out of the EU via a poorly designed and poorly executed referendum, which cost Prime Minister David Cameron his political career. The new prime minister and Conservative Party leader, Theresa May, who emerged from the Tory ranks, set the tone of the new era by appointing strong proponents of the Brexit strategy to her cabinet: Liam Fox became international trade secretary, David Davis undertook coordination of exit negotiations and most surprising of all, Boris Johnson became foreign secretary. Most specifically, May and Johnson represent leading figures of the Eurosceptic and isolationist creed among the Tories, who are likely to shift the center of gravity in British politics to the right on the spectrum. The coming months and years might witness Britain's relative retreat from both European and big power politics.

May eliminated a potential source of internal disharmony by appointing Johnson foreign secretary, which is reminiscent of U.S. President Barack Obama's appointment of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. More seriously, however, Tory Britain no longer seems to aspire to be a leading Western power, as Johnson is not taken seriously across the Atlantic and has crystallized as a hated figure in Brussels with little respect for democracy, human rights and rule of law. Instead of Britain's traditional alliances with the United Stated and Europe, Johnson was interested in "Putinism" and pragmatic alliances with China and old-style autocrats, including Bashar Assad. His offensive political rhetoric was awarded for a limerick he wrote that insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

What the British Conservatives have in mind for the future of Britain - or simply England - seems to be a small trading and financing nation acting as an offshore center for global oligarchs with little regard for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. In this compressed vision, there is no meaningful room for regions with substantial development needs such as Scotland and Northern Ireland, let alone any novel rights for refugees. Therefore, the post-Brexit period is very likely to be characterized by tougher policies against refugees and asylum seekers aimed at rejuvenating the image of "fortress Britain," the seeds of which were laid when the country stayed out of the Schengen agreement.

While Britain started to drift away from European values and institutions at an ever increasing pace, Turkey maintained its foreign policy adjustment by improving relations with neighbors and regional powers. Steps to normalize relations with Israel, Russia and Egypt were followed by statements from Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on normalizing relations with two nations engulfed in civil wars, namely Iraq and Syria. The latter especially might require quite a lot of time and energy because of what has been caused by Assad's brutal regime, but at least the expression of intent shows the probable direction that relations might evolve in in the future. In the meantime, the crucial statement from Erdoğan concerning the possibility of granting Turkish citizenship to around 300,000 qualified Syrian refugees starting with doctors, engineers and technical experts created a vibrant debate among the public concerning the pros and cons of such a decision. Notwithstanding technical details, the fact that Turkey decided to open up citizenship to Syrian refugees who have not been involved in crimes and carry the potential to contribute to Turkish society conveys a progressive political outlook on the part of policymakers. At a time when ultra-nationalism, xenophobia and Islamophobia are gaining ground in major European countries, including Britain, Turkey's inclusive attitude toward Syrian refugees should be applauded. As for Ankara's relations with Britain in the coming months, there might be a cool reception given to the political outlook of the new cabinet, and Johnson especially may have to work hard to make up for his previous insults and start a meaningful dialogue.