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Syria to top Erdogan's Washington agenda

May 16, 2013  •  CNN Global Public Square

This week's summit between President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reflects the extraordinary development of relations between the United States and Turkey.

Ankara faces a civil war in Syria that is forcing Turkey to contend with a weak and divided state on its borders. This disintegration brings the dangers of chemical weapons proliferation and al Qaeda infiltration on Turkey's doorstep. Coping with these challenges will be near impossible without U.S. support, particularly after the May 11 bombings that devastated Reyhanli, a Turkish border town near Syria. Erdogan is therefore sure to make the Syria issue one of his key "asks" during his conversations with Obama on Thursday.

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Turkey's Future

May 14, 2013  •  Diplomatic Courier

Can Turkey continue its phenomenal economic rise, and also becomes a democratic power?

Turkey is often bent and torn by its deep societal fault lines. Philosophical divides enflame secularists and Islamists, and political divides pit supporters against opponents of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP). Adding to the broil, ethnic divides lead to violent clashes between the Kurds and the Turkish state.

Despite these many cleavages, simple arithmetic suggests Turkey has what it takes to thrive as a democracy.

None of Turkey's disparate halves is large enough to dominate the others. Demographically and politically, these blocks are destined to counter-balance each other, and find a modus vivendi.

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Erdogan Visits Washington

May 7, 2013  •  PolicyWatch

As President Obama prepares to receive Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on May 16, Ankara is casting the visit as an historic opportunity to build on the personal relationship between the two leaders. Four Middle East issues -- Iraq, Syria, Turkish-Israeli relations, and Iran -- will likely dominate the agenda. To ensure that the discussion is as productive as possible, the president will need to absorb Erdogan's views on these issues, which are not necessarily in tune with Washington's views.

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Tempered Islamism

April 30, 2013  •  Majalla

Turkey became a true multi-party democracy in 1950, and it has been holding free and fair elections ever since. Not counting the four years spent under military leadership following coups d'etat, this means the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has effectively run Turkey for nearly a quarter of the country's democratic history, thus becoming the longest-governing party in the history of the Turkish Republic.

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Turkey's foreign policy gambit

April 29, 2013  •  Hurriyet Daily News

Ankara's policy of targeting the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus is Turkey's most brazen foreign policy gambit ever. Modern Turkey rose from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire as a post-imperial and, therefore, inward-looking state in 1923. Now, for the first time ever, Ankara is pursuing a policy of regime change in a neighboring country. In the past two years, Turkey has positioned itself as the chief regional opponent of the al-Assad regime, supporting the Syrian uprising with all available means, including direct aid to the rebels.

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Soner Cagaptay's Book

Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism in Modern Turkey Who Is a Turk? by Soner Cagaptay Routledge, 2006. 256 pp. $43.60 January 13, 2006 Details and Reviews...