Turkey

Erdogan chooses the ayatollahs over the Iranian people

While Iranian protesters are being beaten, imprisoned, and killed by the Islamic Republic, Turkey’s government is busy running diplomatic interference for the mullahs. Ankara’s effort, marshaled by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, is not an aberration or a miscalculation. Rather, it is a revealing confirmation of Turkey’s long-standing ideological sympathy for …

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The Jihadis and the Turkish Elections

One of the unifying themes of the Sunni jihadi movement as it has developed over the past half-century has been the view that Western-style democracy is an affront to Islam. Even worse, it is a religion fundamentally incompatible with the faith, a version of polytheism (shirk) in which authority is …

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Turkey’s Dangerous Defense Pivot

Is the new Turkish-Saudi-Pakistani defense pact an attempt at an Islamic NATO or a strategic self-sabotage? The idea of a budding “Islamic NATO” under Turkey, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia might seem bold and fresh in a period of Middle Eastern “realignment.” But don’t dismiss it out of hand as the …

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France, Turkey, and a Reset in the Black Sea

A renewal of relations between France and Turkey is vital to strengthen European strategic autonomy. To make this détente a reality, Paris and Ankara should move beyond personal friction and jointly engage with questions of Black Sea security. Europe’s push for greater strategic cohesion and autonomy in an uncertain world …

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