Western Leaders’ Discomfort With Turkey — and Vice Versa

The West used to see Turkey as a reliable ally. From the height of the Cold War to the heyday of the country’s EU accession negotiations in the late 2000s, the Turkish republic was seen as a strategic partner.

But since the first direct presidential election in August 2014 and the two legislative elections in June and November 2015, when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) successively lost and regained its parliamentary majority, Western perceptions of Turkey have darkened. Internally Turkey is in crisis, and externally it is at odds with almost every country of importance. This is a discomforting situation for Western leaders. Yet such will be the reality on both sides for the foreseeable future.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: European Council, Brussels, 17 - 18 March 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/european-council-brussels-17-18-march-2016/

ESO: Background information: An end to isolation? http://www.europeansources.info/record/an-end-to-isolation-2/

Spiegel Online International, 08.04.16: [Essay]: Erdogan's Tightrope Walk: How Turkey's Reform Project Ended in Isolation http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/erdogan-and-the-isolation-of-turkey-a-1086114.html

Spiegel Online International, 07.04.16: With Friends Like These...: Erdogan's Assault on Freedom and Democracy http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/merkel-ally-erdogan-moves-closer-to-autocracy-in-turkey-a-1085497.html

Carnegie Europe: Strategic Europe, 26.04.16: Honoring Turkey’s Voice of the Voiceless http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=63439

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