Turkey

Two former U.S. ambassadors to Ankara joined the head of NATO LANDCOM and the author of a new book on Turkey to discuss the AKP government's foreign and domestic policies. Read a summary or watch video.

Issues such as energy dependence, deep-rooted fears of the Russian military, and Black Sea navigation policy all offer clues to Prime Minister Erdogan's vacillating response to Russian activities in Crimea.

Changes in the leadership of the Kurdistan Workers Party suggest preparations for a return to a more hardline stance toward Turkey should the peace process between them break down. They also signal that the PKK is likely to take a more active military role in Syria, potentially in alliance with

Washington Institute Turkey expert Soner Cagaptay explains the lessons of the last decade of transformative growth and change in Turkey and charts a course for the country to continue its rise.

Turkey will hold local and presidential elections in 2014, both of significant import. The AKP, in power since 2002, has lasted longer than any other government since the country became a multiparty democracy in 1950. Likewise, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey longer than any other democratically elected

Prime Minister Erdogan's increasingly autocratic rule has alienated the Gulen movement.

The dominant power in Syria's Kurdish regions, the PYD, is deeply problematic but shares some common interests with the United States.

The Institute's Soner Cagaptay was a featured expert on BBC2's documentary series on Turkish history. Watch his contribution to episode three.

Ankara would view an Iran nuclear deal and a negotiated settlement in Syria as Washington turning a blind eye to the emerging Shiite axis along Turkey's southern border.