When, after Turkey voted at the UN against new sanctions on Iran, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates harshly criticized Europeans for having contributed to this estrangement, his undiplomatic frankness caused quite a stir in Paris and Berlin. But Gates hit the nail on the head.
BERLIN -- Turkey’s “no” last month (a vote cast together with Brazil) to the new sanctions against Iran approved in the United Nations Security Council dramatically reveals the full extent of the country’s estrangement from the West. Are we, as many commentators have argued, witnessing the consequences of the so-called “neo-Ottoman” foreign policy of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which is supposedly aimed at switching camps and returning to the country’s oriental Islamic roots?
I believe that these fears are exaggerated, even misplaced. And should things work out that way, this would be due more to a self-fulfilling prophecy on the West’s part than to Turkey’s policies.
In fact, Turkey’s foreign policy, which seeks to resolve existing conflicts with and within neighboring states, and active Turkish involvement there, is anything but in conflict with Western interests. Quite the contrary. But the West (and Europe in particular) will finally have to take Turkey seriously as a partner – and stop viewing it as a Western client state.
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Sergei Guriev
assesses the strength of the Russian president’s grip on power, predicts that Xi Jinping’s embrace of personalist rule will lead to policy missteps, urges the West to pursue a strategy of “adversarial engagement” toward modern dictators, and more.
Artificial intelligence is being designed and deployed by corporate America in ways that will disempower and displace workers and degrade the consumer experience, ultimately disappointing most investors. Yet economic history shows that it does not have to be this way.
worry that the technology will be deployed to replace, rather than empower, humans.
BERLIN -- Turkey’s “no” last month (a vote cast together with Brazil) to the new sanctions against Iran approved in the United Nations Security Council dramatically reveals the full extent of the country’s estrangement from the West. Are we, as many commentators have argued, witnessing the consequences of the so-called “neo-Ottoman” foreign policy of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which is supposedly aimed at switching camps and returning to the country’s oriental Islamic roots?
I believe that these fears are exaggerated, even misplaced. And should things work out that way, this would be due more to a self-fulfilling prophecy on the West’s part than to Turkey’s policies.
In fact, Turkey’s foreign policy, which seeks to resolve existing conflicts with and within neighboring states, and active Turkish involvement there, is anything but in conflict with Western interests. Quite the contrary. But the West (and Europe in particular) will finally have to take Turkey seriously as a partner – and stop viewing it as a Western client state.
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Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.
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