Past Events
US-Turkey: Model-Partnership for the 21st Century?” with Joshua W. Walker
Given the headline-grabbing actions of Turkey this summer concerning both Israel and Iran, a powerful narrative is emerging in which Washington has already “lost” Ankara. The rise of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and its conservative world view as the dominant and unrivaled force in Turkish politics as demonstrated by the successful passage of the September 12 constitutional referendum that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan won has only heightened fears among many in Washington. Rather than seeing further democratization in Turkey and the domestic pressures facing a populist AKP government, they see a final nail being placed in the coffin of the military and the secular elites that once protected American interests and have concluded that Ankara has already “switched sides” and turned its back on the historic U.S.-Turkish alliance. In light of the November 2nd Midterm Elections, domestic issues in both Ankara and Washington are causing pessimism on both sides of the Atlantic. The speed with which U.S.-Turkish relations have gone sour after over six decades as NATO and strategic allies have caught many off-guard and deserves further scrutiny.
The MAFTAA is proud to present a discussion with Dr. Joshua W. Walker on these issues and offer further perspectives on the US-Turkish relationship. Dr. Walker is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Crown Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University, research fellow at the Belfer Center International Security Program at Harvard University and a fellow at the German Marshall Fund.
This event is organized collaboratively with Rumi Forum www.rumiforum.org/