Skip to main content

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Main navigation

Analysis
Experts
About
Support
Maps & Multimedia

Trending:

Democracy & Reform
Terrorism

Lebanon
Iran
Israel
Syria

Regions & Countries

Egypt
Gulf States
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Middle East
North Africa
Palestinians
Syria
Turkey

Issues

Arab & Islamic Politics
Arab-Israeli Relations
Democracy & Reform
Energy & Economics
Great Power Competition
Gulf & Energy Policy
Military & Security
Peace Process
Proliferation
Terrorism
U.S. Policy

TWI Arabic: اللغة العربية Fikra Forum

Search Policy Analysis

Breadcrumb

Policy Analysis

Turkey

Policy Analysis on Turkey

Filter by:

Keyword

Issue

Type

Articles & Testimony

Turkey's New Political Balance:

Old AKP and New Kemalism

Turkey's protracted political battle between the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and its opponents reached a crescendo this month with the Turkish Parliament's vote on proposed constitutional amendments. The battle over the amendments represented the zenith of the country's dangerous polarization between two broad political camps congregated around

Articles & Testimony

AKP, Alcohol, and Government-Engineered Social Change in Turkey

Since the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, rose to power in Turkey in 2002, special taxes on alcohol have increased dramatically, making a glass of wine or beer one of the most expensive in Europe, and for that purpose anywhere in the world. The AKP leadership is known for

Articles & Testimony

New U.S. National Security Strategy and Implications for Turkey

On April 21, President Obama's National Security Advisor General (Ret.) Jim Jones gave a rare public speech on U.S. Middle East Policy at The Washington Institute's 2010 Soref Symposium. During his address, he focused on the new U.S. National Security Strategy that will be unveiled in the coming weeks. What

What is the Purpose of the U.S. Foreign Terrorist Organizations List?

The United States maintains a range of "terrorist lists," of which the Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) list is one of the better known. But in two recent court cases, the U.S. government has offered arguments that raise questions about the purpose of the list. FTO List vs. State Sponsors List

Patrick Clawson

Articles & Testimony

Republic of Fear

Last week's arrests in Turkey of dozens of high-ranking military officers mark the country's latest step toward authoritarianism. Neither Europe nor the United States can afford to ignore Turkey's transformation. Since coming to power in 2002, the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the ultra-conservative Fethullah Gulen

Articles & Testimony

Who Lost Ergenekon:

The View from Washington

When the Ergenekon case started in 2007 based on allegations of a coup plot against the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government, Washington agreed: "this is serious stuff." Three years, two hundred arrests, hundreds of house raids and wiretaps and a 5,800-page indictment later, with no verdict in sight

Articles & Testimony

Turkey's Republic of Fear

Last week's arrests in Turkey of dozens of high-ranking military officers mark the country's latest step toward authoritarianism. Neither Europe nor the United States can afford to ignore Turkey's transformation. Since coming to power in 2002, the ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) and ultra-conservative Fethullah Gulen Movement have

Articles & Testimony

Endangered Democracy

All bets are off in Turkey. Its Islamist ruling coalition faces the secular courts and the military in a final showdown for Turkey's soul. In the balance hangs Turkey's immediate future. Will it move closer to the liberal democracies or away from them? Turkish politics have been riven by tension

Articles & Testimony

What's Really behind Turkey's Coup Arrests?

For the last several decades, the Turkish military was untouchable; no one dared to criticize the military or its top generals, lest they risk getting burned. The Turkish Armed Forces were the ultimate protectors of founding father Kemal Ataturk's secular legacy, and no other force in the country could seriously

Articles & Testimony

Turkey's Turning Point

Turkey's Islamist ruling coalition faces the courts and military in a showdown for the nation's future. Will Turkey move closer to the liberal democracies or away from them? This tension has riven Turkey since its founding as a secular state by Ataturk. But the strains are peaking now. The ruling

Articles & Testimony

Assessing Turkish Foreign Policy under AKP

The AKP's handling of foreign policy is one of the areas that generates most intense domestic debate and international scrutiny of Turkey's ruling party. Turkey's traditional allies have been somewhat neglected as the AKP has pursued a more enthusiastic policy toward anti-Western states. Soner Cagaptay examines what this policy has

Articles & Testimony

What Could Erdogan Learn from Obama?

Today, most Turks agree that their country needs a new Constitution. There is disagreement, however, on how this Constitution should be drafted. The governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP, needs 367 of the 550 votes in Parliament to pass a new Constitution. It currently has 337 deputies. A referendum

Articles & Testimony

Women's Work Is in the Home?

Critics of Turkey's ruling party fear that its conservatism is going too far, leading, among other things, to exclusion of women in the workforce. Soner Cagaptay and Rueya Perincek assess the implications, both domestically and with regard to the country's accession to the European Union. © IHS (Global) Limited, Jane's

Articles & Testimony

Defeating Islamists at the Ballot

Whenever the United States pushes for elections in the Middle East and Muslim countries, Islamist parties often perform well -- better than liberal, nationalist, and secular parties -- a phenomenon that has occurred even in secular Turkey. Are U.S. efforts to promote democracy in Muslim countries as well as block

Articles & Testimony

The AKP's Hamas Policy

Why are Turks turning anti-Western and why do they view themselves in conflict the West? Examining the development of Turkish policies toward Israel and Hamas since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002 can provide many lessons.

Articles & Testimony

The Diyanet and Laicite:

New Turkish Exports to Europe

European secularism, or laicite, practiced in France and other European countries, is distinct from American secularism. While the United States is secular, providing for freedom of religion in education and politics, European societies are laique, providing for freedom from religion in education and politics. Secularism, however, is not a standardized

Articles & Testimony

No Women, No Europe

The first president of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy, is a known opponent of Turkey's EU membership. Mr. Van Rompuy may find it easy to stick to his position: seven years after the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, rose to power in Ankara, Turkey is sliding away from

Articles & Testimony

Turks vs. Kurds

Turkey's Kurdish problem, a long and bitter conflict, has taken a vicious new turn in recent weeks as ordinary Kurds and Turks have started fighting in the streets. That might sound like nothing new, but it is: although Ankara and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have fought each other since

Articles & Testimony

Offending the Turks

This article also appeared in Hurriyet Daily News on January 15, 2010. The diplomatic spat between Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and the Turkish ambassador Oguz Celikkol on Monday was the worst thing that could have happened to the already strained Ankara-Jerusalem ties. Relations between Turkey and Israel have

Articles & Testimony

Dangerous Violence:

Turkey's Emerging Ethnic Fault Line

Rising social violence between Kurds and non-Kurds in Turkey, with daily incidents occurring, is an unusual, and therefore alarming, phenomenon. This violence has been spurred as much by the recent Kurdish opening, which has created a backlash against Kurdish nationalism, as it has been by the closing of the Kurdish

Pagination

Previous page
First page
…
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Current page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
…
Last page
Next page

Supported by the

Turkish Research Program

Since its inception in 1995, The Washington Institute's Turkish Research Program has established itself as the most influential center in Washington for research and information on Turkey -- a predominantly Muslim, secular, and democratic U.S. ally.

Sign Up for Email Updates from The Washington Institute

Never miss a breaking event on U.S. policy interests in the Middle East. Customize your subscription to our expert analysis, op-eds, live events, and special reports.

Featured experts

Soner Cagaptay

Soner Cagaptay is the Beyer Family Senior Fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute.

1111 19th Street NW - Suite 500
Washington D.C. 20036
Tel: 202-452-0650
Fax: 202-223-5364

Footer contact links

Contact
Press Room
Subscribe

The Washington Institute seeks to advance a balanced and realistic understanding of American interests in the Middle East and to promote the policies that secure them.

The Institute is a 501(c)3 organization; all donations are tax-deductible.

Footer quick links

About TWI
Support the Institute
Alumni

Social media

The Washington Institute on Facebook
The Washington Institute on X
The Washington Institute on YouTube
The Washington Institute on LinkedIn

© 2025 All rights reserved.

Footer

Employment
Privacy Policy
Rights & Permissions