INSIDE
TURKEY
New reforms on the onset of AK Party’s third period
By Yahya BostanTurkey to renew governing mechanisms after referendum
By Kılıç Buğra KanatMILITARY
AFFAIRS
Fight against Terrorism and the National Defense Industry
By Murat YesiltasTurkey’s Domestic Surveillance Balloons vs. the US Persistent Threat Detection System
By Merve SerenFOREIGN
POLICY
The Obama Administration’s decision to form an alliance with the terrorist PYD/YPG against DAESH in Syria was a turning point for Turkey
Former US President Barack Obama had designated Turkey as a model partner in his first term. However, regional priorities of the Obama administration shifted drastically after 2012. The attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi in September 2012, which resulted in the death of the US ambassador, is thought to be one of the main reasons behind this shift. After 2014, a new US foreign policy approach led to the containment of Turkey from all sides. The Obama Administration’s decision to form an alliance with the terrorist PYD/YPG against DAESH in Syria was a turning point for Turkey.
The US political and military support for PYD encouraged the PKK and other terrorist organizations to target Turkey. The PKK ended the reconciliation process in the summer of 2015 and commenced its terror attacks against the country. Simultaneously, DAESH started to increase the frequency of its attacks against Turkey. The US’s clear stance against Turkey might have been a factor behind the failed coup attempt by FETO (the Fetullah Gülenist Terror Organization) in the Summer of 2016. The leaders of FETO had probably calculated that given the Erdoğan administration’s unpopularity in Washington policy circles, not many actors in the US would resist such a coup attempt. They were right in the sense that not so many people among the Obama administration clearly and vociferously condemned the putschists that tried to topple the democratically elected government of Turkey. However, FETO leaders miscalculated the Turkish people’s own resistance and strong reaction to the coup attempt.
Obama’s foreign policy approach was not just directed against Turkey. Although the second term of the Obama administration was a nightmare for traditional US allies including Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Ukraine, Obama’s policies produced a favorable environment for the US’s rivals like Iran, Cuba, and Russia. The containment…
TERROR
& INTELLIGENCE
ISIS: Geopolitical Management Of Terrorism
By Murat YesiltasDAESH after Mosul
By Murat YesiltasCONFLICT
ZONES
Qatar Crisis: Who is it good for?
By Ufuk UlutasTurkey and US ‘mission creep’ in Syria
By Ufuk UlutasINSIDE ANKARA
The dizzying developments that have been unfolding in Turkey during the past couple of weeks are hard to digest, not only for foreign observers, but also for Turkish citizens. It is thus understandable that one may have difficulty in making full sense of the coup attempt and the horrifying nature of its perpetrators, the Gülenists. On the one hand, the extent of the Gülenist infiltration into state institutions including the armed forces, the level of violence they were prepared to resort to and their hideous involvement in organised crime, assassinations, sabotage and terrorism unearths many previous unknowns in modern Turkish history. On the other hand, the heroic resistance by ordinary Turkish people against the coup plotters, their sheer will to protect their democratic rights, the unprecedented show of unity and solidarity among different segments of Turkish society, President Erdogan’s unifying role, and the wide consensus around the eradication of undemocratic elements in state institutions have created tectonic shifts in how Turkey should be analysed.
This is not a country where simplistic explanations can make any real sense. Turkey’s intricate politics, unique political history and social background, and its ever-rising geopolitical significance have rendered making apt analyses of Turkey a Herculean task. Analysts have been falling victim to self-righteous and politically-biased approaches often shaped by wishful-thinking. Selective bias, political motivations, vulgar Orientalism and Islamophobia have combined to determine both the content and style of Turkey-related pieces published in Western media. One does not even require…