Turkey

Ankara's efforts to become a regional power player have backfired. It's time to renew old partnerships instead.

The world came to the rescue of the refugees on Mount Sinjar, so why does it continue to ignore thousands more Iraqi minorities who face imminent threat of extermination by jihadists?

Erdogan has the political and constitutional wherewithal to transform Turkey into a presidential system, and he will likely do just that.

Erdogan's strategy in the August presidential polls envisions strong support among European Turks in the first round of voting, and backing from nationalist Kurds in case of a second round.

By maintaining close ties with Iraqi Kurds, continuing the peace talks with Turkish Kurds, and developing security relations with Syrian Kurds, Ankara can help stave off the threats now looming on its southern borders.

Soner Cagaptay is the author of the new book The Rise of Turkey: The Twenty-First Century's First Muslim Power . His other work includes the book Islam, Secularism, and Nationalism in Modern Turkey: Who is a Turk? He is the Beyer Family Fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program

If Erdogan hopes to become Turkey's first directly elected president, he will need to continue courting Kurdish voters and burnishing his economic and populist credentials.

Turkey has risen over the past decade thanks to Erdogan, but liberals are becoming the country's new agents of change.