A Risky Gamble: Official Turkish Delegation to Inspect Troubled Xinjiang

An official Turkish visit to the troubled northwestern Chinese province of Xinjiang to assess reports of a brutal crackdown on the region’s Turkic Muslims could shape Turkey’s challenge to conservative Gulf states’ leadership of the Islamic world and complicate Muslim silence about the most frontal assault on their faith in recent history.

US Nuclear Weapons Deployment in Turkey

The American nuclear weapons that remain on European Turkish soil – an anachronistic reference to the Cold War – are tactical only. This raises questions, not only because of the deterioration in relations between Washington and Ankara, but because of security and safety risks at the Turkish base where the weapons are stored – close to the Syrian border.

Putin’s Turkish Gambit

Burak Bekdil
June 9, 2019
Paper No. 1195

The first-ever NATO member state to shoot down a Russian military jet has willingly fallen in line with Vladimir Putin’s “Turkish Gambit,” a strategy designed to drive a deep crack into the NATO alliance.

Turkey and the EU: A Doomed Engagement

Burak Bekdil
April 28, 2019
Paper No. 1155

The March 31 elections, which blended victory with defeat for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, put a further brake on Turkey’s de facto stalled membership talks with the EU. The Islamist strongman appears to be the willing political hostage of Turkey’s grey wolves.

Crafting a Regional Policy to Contain Erdoğan

Turkey poses a long-term threat to the security of the Middle East. Containing Neo-Ottomanism requires a defensive policy that integrates Greece, Cyprus, Israel, and the Kurds into a regional alliance.

A New EastMed Friendship, with US Support

The prospective EastMed pipeline would be the flagship project of the Cypriot-Greek-Israeli collaboration, a developing friendship that enjoys deep foundations. The US has now made its support for that partnership official.

Turkey Plants Its Flag in Christchurch

When, two days after the mass shooting in New Zealand, Turkish VP Fuat Oktay and FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu became the first high-level foreign government delegation to travel to Christchurch, they were doing more than expressing solidarity with New Zealand's grieving Muslim community. They were planting Turkey's flag as part of a global effort to expand support for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's style of religiously packaged authoritarian rule – a marriage of Islam and Turkish nationalism – beyond the Turkic and former Ottoman world.

Erdoğan’s Dangerous Ambitions Threaten India and Beyond

The age of empire has come and gone, but in some quarters, the imperialist dream is alive and well. Leaders continue to appear on the world stage from time to time to style themselves in this fashion. The latest entry in this category is Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is promoting himself as leader of the Muslim world to his coreligionists around the globe – particularly in India.

Turkey’s Bizarre Approach to Missile Defense

The US administration has offered to sell $3.5 billion worth of Patriot missiles to Turkey, apparently in an effort to stop Ankara from going ahead with a planned S-400 deal with Moscow. The Turks will probably shrug off the offer (after making sure it’s not an offer they can’t refuse). For reasons largely unrelated to its military requirements, Ankara has no intention of scrapping the S-400 deal and risking its geostrategic bonds with Moscow.

Indian Muslims: A Valuable Prize for Regional Rivals

The hearts and minds of Indian Muslims would be a valuable prize for Saudi Arabia and Turkey as they vie for leadership of the Muslim world. This is particularly true in the wake of the October 2 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, which catapulted the rivalry to center stage.