Turkey: Questioning the Future

Soner Cagaptay examines the seven years of AKP rule in Turkey for the Washington Institute.  He writes that the AKP started out as a moderate Islamist movement indifferent to Turkey’s E.U. hopes, but with European Court of Human Rights decision to uphold the Turkish ban on headscarves and the military’s failed attempt to unseat the party, the AKP has eroded its E.U. aspirations and moved towards an authoritarian regime based on orthopraxy.  The AKP has also worked to undermine liberal principles, including free speech, and continues to align itself with anti-Western and Islamist regimes, resulting in an “a la carte moralistic foreign policy.”  Cagaptay believes the AKP “demonstrates that Islamists distort Islam, re-imagining it as inherently illiberal at home” and proves that “Islamism may not be compatible with the West, after all.”

David Schenker argues that Turkey has moved away from the West and towards Syria for two reasons: first, Turkey is no longer dependent on Israel to pressure Syria into not providing a safe haven for Kurdish extremists and, second, the Islamist shift in Turkish politics has shifted the country’s foreign policy paradigm. Damascus has naturally embraced rapprochement because the new face of Turkey is more amenable and Turkey can provide an avenue to facilitate diplomatic relations with Europe.

Michael Rubin writes that PM Erdogan is the new Vladimir Putin in his disdain for the free press and Rubin laments President Obama‘s decision to turn a blind eye towards journalist abuses.  Rubin, then, advertises a meeting of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Thursday morning at 10:30 on Turkey.

The Daily Star reports that Negar Azizmoradi, the head of the Iranian branch of the Rael sect, a group that rejects the “existence of any god and believe extraterrestrials created the earth,” faces deportation from Turkey to Iran, where she faces execution.

In other news, The Daily Star reports that Turkey has signed a free-trade agreement with Jordan that “is key to enhancing bilateral economic cooperation and boosting trade as well as investments between Jordan and Turkey.”