Turkish Hubris: Has the AKP Government Overreached in its Foreign Policy?
By Svante E. Cornell (vol. 3, no. 11 of the Turkey Analyst)
Ostentatiously seeking zero-problems with neighbors, Turkey has ended up taking on an erstwhile strategic partner in the region. Its growing economic clout does indeed legitimate Turkey’s aspiration to have a decisive say in Middle Eastern matters. Ultimately, Turkey’s new, assertive – indeed aggressive – foreign policy is predicated on the notion that the West is on the decline. Yet as they rather carelessly wield their newfound power, the Turks seem curiously oblivious to the risks of overreaching.
Kılıcçaroğlu Jettisons the Jargon of Secularism but Surrenders to Nationalism
By Halil M. Karaveli (vol. 3, no. 11 of the Turkey Analyst)
Kemal Kılıcçaroğlu, the new leader of Turkey’s main opposition party CHP, is reaching out to religious conservatism. Yet while he is jettisoning the jargon of secularism, he does not deviate from his party’s traditional nationalism. Thus he is able to offer little new hope of transcending Turkey’s existential Turkish-Kurdish divide.
With New CHP Leader, Turkish Politics Enter a New Era
By Gareth H. Jenkins (vol. 3, no. 10 of the Turkey Analyst)
The abrupt resignation of Deniz Baykal as leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) has radically transformed the Turkish political landscape and triggered a surge in the party’s popularity. It is still too early to predict whether or not the momentum can be sustained until the next general election in 2011, but – for the moment at least – the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) appears to be facing the first credible threat to its grip on power since it first took office in November 2002.
Turkey Joins Brazil in Gambit to Avoid Iran Nuclear Sanctions
By Richard Weitz (vol. 3, no. 10 of the Turkey Analyst)
Months of diplomatic efforts by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey and President Lula Ignacio da Silva of Brazil to mediate the Iranian nuclear dispute appeared to achieve results when they announced an agreement in Tehran on May 17. In their trilateral statement, the three leaders declared that Iran was prepared to “deposit” 1,200 kilograms of its low-enriched uranium in Turkey in return for the delivery within one year of 120 kilograms of uranium enriched to the higher level needed for Tehran’s medical research reactor. Erdoğan and Lula urged other countries to accept the accord, arguing that the trilateral deal was sufficiently promising as to make further sanctions unnecessary. Although expressing thanks for their efforts, the permanent members of the UN Security Council reached a preliminary agreement on the content of another sanctions resolution the following day.
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