Turkey Initiative

Legislating Autocracy? Recent Legal Developments In Turkey
April 3, 2014

Turkey’s government has undertaken a legislative campaign to vastly increase the state’s power and insulate it from accountability.

Back to Zero Problems? Recent Developments in Turkey’s Foreign Policy
April 3, 2014

American policymakers should squarely face the challenges confronting Turkey, as well as their implications for greater U.S.-Turkish cooperation.

Misztal, Edelman and Abramowitz in The American Interest: The U.S. Should Unfollow Turkey
March 21, 2014

Turkey’s Local Elections: Actors, Factors, and Implications
March 14, 2014

On March 30, 2014, Turks will vote in municipal elections amid an ongoing political conflict within the Islamic conservative movement between two former allies turned bitter foes. Though sharp divisions within Turkish society are hardly new, the fault line along which the current clash is being contested opened up only within the last three years. These elections, however, are unlikely to speed its resolution.

Bipartisan Policy Center and Other Foreign Policy Experts Collectively Urge President Obama to Address US-Turkey Relations
February 20, 2014

Co-Chairs Morton Abramowitz and Eric Edelman and Acting Director of Foreign Policy Blaise Misztal in The Washington Post: The United States needs to tell Turkey to change course
January 23, 2014

Staff Commentary

The Roots of Turkish Conduct: Understanding the Evolution of Turkish Policy in the Middle East
December 18, 2013

In the past decade, Turkish foreign policy has gone through a considerable transformation. Where it had often been status-quo-oriented and reactive, it is now increasingly activist. Whereas Turkey was previously focused predominantly on its ties with Europe and the United States, it has now turned its attention primarily to the Muslim Middle East.

From Rhetoric to Reality: Reframing U.S. Turkey Policy
October 23, 2013

The Middle East remains a major foreign policy challenge for the United States, despite attempts to pivot away from it. A cooperative and strong Turkey could be an important partner in helping rebuild the Middle East. Indeed, there is no other country in the region that the United States can turn to that could potentially play as constructive a role as Turkey might be able to. But for now the reality is different.

Event details l Report: From Rhetoric to Reality: Reframing U.S. Turkey Policy

Blog Series

After large protests erupted in Istanbul’s Gezi Park and Taksim Square at the end of May, quickly spreading across the country, Turkey dominated the news. But as that unrest died down and as the rest of the Middle East grew even more chaotic Turkey disappeared from the headlines. In the last several weeks, however, we have witnessed the Turkish government beginning to react to the summer’s events. While not as captivating as the earlier protests, several events, ranging from the cautiously hopeful to the slightly peculiar, are noteworthy for what they indicate about the careful balance Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) are trying to strike in their politics, both foreign and domestic.

The Road to Damascus: U.S.-Turkish Cooperation Towards a Post-Assad Syria
May 2, 2013

Ridding Syria of President Bashar al-Assad has been the goal of the United States for almost two years. Should this objective be achieved, however, an enormous challenge will still remain: stabilizing and rebuilding Syria in a way that advances U.S. strategic goals and values. However, this will require the cooperation of Turkey—a U.S. ally with keen interests in Syria. Ankara’s interests, however, do not perfectly match Washington’s, posing the challenge for policymakers of finding the right tools to align more closely the two countries’ visions of Syria’s future.

Event details l Report: U.S.-Turkish Cooperation Toward a Post-Assad Syria

Co-Chairs Morton Abramowitz and Eric Edelman in The Wall Street Journal: Needed: A Turkish-American Plan for Syria

Task Force Members

Henri Barkey
Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor of Internal Relations, Lehigh University

Svante Cornell
Research Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program

Ambassador Paula Dobriansky
Former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs

John Hannah
Former Assistant for National Security Affairs to the Vice President

Ed Husain
Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations

David Kramer
Executive Director, Freedom House

Aaron Lobel
Founder and President, America Abroad Media

Admiral (ret.) Gregory Johnson
Former Commander of U.S. Naval Forces, Europe; Senior Advisor, Bipartisan Policy Center

General (ret.) Charles Wald
Former Deputy Commander, U.S. European Command; Bipartisan Policy Center Board Member

Activate settings: active

Support Research Like This

With your support, BPC can continue to fund important research like this by combining the best ideas from both parties to promote health, security, and opportunity for all Americans.

Donate Now