1Center or American Progress | Ater Turkey’s June Elections
After Turkey’s June Elections
A Review of Avenues for U.S. and Turkish Foreign PolicyCooperation in the Wake of Turkey’s Parliamentary Elections
Michael Werz,Caroline Wadhams,Matthew Duss, andSarah MargonJune 2011
Introduction
urkey’s parliamenary elecions earlier his monh se he sage or how urkish leaderspursue reorm a home and approach he many challenges and opporuniies in hecounry’s umuluous neighborhood. How his all plays ou will have imporan implica-ions or U.S. oreign policy in he region. Why? Because U.S.-urkish relaions as hey relae o he many conics in he region may well be key o addressing hese conicseecively o he bene o boh counries. As expeced, urkish Prime Miniser Recep ayyip Erdogan and his Jusice andDevelopmen Pary, or AKP, is urkish acronym, will say in charge wih a solid major-iy in he urkish parliamen. Bu because he and his pary were unable o mee he wo-hirds requiremen needed o change he consiuion, Erdogan will need he supporo he opposiion o pursue he key reorms o he consiuion, such as changing o apresidenial sysem.Te opposiion consolidaed is posiion. Te social-democraic Republican People’sPary, or CHP, expanded is voer base by over 3 million compared o he dismal resulso he las elecion in 2007 when he pary garnered he voes o only 19 percen o heelecorae. And imporanly, he Kurds dramaically increased heir represenaion inhe parliamen due o a srong showing o he Kurdish candidaes in he souheas o he counry; he Kurdish Peace and Democracy Pary, or BDP, will now have 36 seasand a voice in wha will be a core issue o he consiuional reorm debae: heKurdishminoriy conic.Te recen elecion carries inernaional implicaions, oo. urkey’s success on heglobal sage over he pas decade has brough added responsibiliies or is leadership. As a regional power urkey has o wresle no only wih a rapidly changing environ-men in he Easern Medierranean bu also wih accusaions o double sandards because o is srong criicism o Israel and is iniial silence when i came o arociiescommited in Libya and Syria.
2Center or American Progress | Ater Turkey’s June Elections
Tese predicamens challenge urkish oreign policies, which have already undergone aremendous conversion over he pas eigh years, mainly driven by urkey’s economicoureach o is Arab neighbors, o norhern and sub-Saharan Arica, and o he Balkans.Tis economic success sory alongside increasing civil liberies a home—independeno coninuing concerns abou press and religious reedom—have raised he visibiliy o urkish poliics in he region and beyond. A recensurvey by he urkish Economic and Social Policies Foundaion , or ESEV,documens hese changing percepions in he region. urkey’s approval raing in seven Arab counries is above 75 percen, and is role as a mediaor is seen posiively, evenhough—or, some would say, because o—is relaionship wih Israel coninues isdownward spiral.Percepions o he U.S.-urkish relaionship by urks are murkier. While less han onehird o he urkish populaion see he Unied Saes as being “riendly oward urkey,”hree quarers believe ha urkey is riendly oward he Unied Saes and urkey’sregional neighbors. Ye in an apparen conradicion rom he rs resul, over hal o heurks see he U.S. bilaeral relaionship in a posiive ligh, and an impressive 67 percenhink ha he Obama adminisraion is conribuing posiively oward inernaional sa- biliy. I hese numbers are correc, i appears ha here is public suppor or a srongerU.S.-urkish relaionship.Tese daa indicae ha regional percepions o urkey are an imporan key o under-sanding urkey’s emerging inuence in inernaional relaions in he wake o hismonh’s elecions. Sabiha Senyücel Gündoğar, who direcs ESEV’s oreign policy program, argues ha based on isregional survey urkey is no only he mos popularcounry in he region bu also “he only counry ha gained ground while all he ohercounries were losing populariy.”Te rebellions in Norh Arica and he Middle Eas have only increased urkey’ssraegic relevance or he inernaional communiy. And he ac ha many saes inhe region see inernaional poliics mainly hrough he prisms o he Israeli-Palesinianconic and he nuclear armamen o Iran urher enhances he counry’s sanding givenhe recurring populis atacks agains Israel by members o he Erdogan governmen.By becoming a regional acor, urkey eners he realm o realpoliik and he world o double sandards, even hough he oen moralizing ofcial rheoric may say oherwise.urkey’s hesiancy o urn on Syrian Presiden Bashir al-Assad and his bloody crack-down on democracy proesors is jus one o a growing number o dilemmas urkey willace piting is sraegic ineress and poliical values agains one anoher.In he long run, his developmen may open up more opporuniies or pragmaic cooper-aion wih he Unied Saes. Policymakers in boh counries oen say ha in 90 perceno he cases U.S. and urkish sraegic ineress overlap, bu in realiy he wo govern-
3Center or American Progress | Ater Turkey’s June Elections
mens look a he world rom quie dieren angles. Tis issue brie will explore he mosimporan opporuniies or U.S.-urkish cooperaion in he region o demonsrae how imporan Presiden Obama’s renewed eors o improve U.S.-urkish relaions are osabiliy and securiy in he region.
Turkish economic expansion in the region
Economic growh is an imporan acor in deermining inuence abroad. urkey’seconomic growh and increasing expors, especially ou o cenral and easern Anaolia, where he rapidly growing ciy o Gazianep is a hub in he cener o he new Levan,have inuenced and shaped is oreign policy.In cenral and easern urkey over 20 ciies now generae over $1 billion o rade each, andemerging small- and medium-sized businesses in ormerly negleced pars o he counry are aggressively developing new markes abroad. Teir producs, many o which are inconsrucion and semi-advanced indusries, such as exiles, are hugely successul in hegreaer Middle Eas. urkish companies are managing a subsanial par o he reconsruc-ion work in norhern Iraq. Syria is anoher major ronier o urkish rade expansion, ashe 2004 Free rade Agreemen preceded a quadrupling o urkish expors since hen.urkey has also quadrupled rade wih sub-Saharan Arica in he pas hree years. All o hese developmens are a clear indicaor ha urkey’s evolving oreign policy hasa lo less o do wih “neo-Otoman” desires han wih very pracical economic ies ohe region. Inernal shis wihin urkey have conribued o he emergence o a middleclass in pars o he counry where i has no exised beore, and his ransormaion hasdirec consequences or he way he counry posiions isel in he region.Tese imporan inernal changes aciliae and drive urkey’s new oreign policy, whichis “boh a blessing and a curse or he counry” as Mensur Akgün direcor o he GlobalPoliical rends Cener in Isanbul noed during a recendiscussiona he Cener or American Progress. Te new oreign policy is a blessing because i grealy enhancesurkey’s regional inuence and economic ies, bu hose policies can become a curse because no regional acor can mainain consisen sandards and moral high ground ashe urkish governmen oen preends.
Distant cooperation: Afghanistan and Pakistan
urkey is an imporan parner o he Unied Saes in is eors o sabilize Aghanisanand creae peace in he region. Is long-sanding hisorical ies o Aghanisan andPakisan and urkey’s membership in NAO enables i o serve as rused inerlocuor beween he NAO coaliion and Aghanisan, and beween Aghanisan and Pakisan, whose relaionship remains srained.
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Turkish Elections
Michael Werz, Caroline Wadhams, Matthew Duss, and Sarah Margon on what Turkey's June elections mean for for U.S. foreign policy in the region.
612
Reads
0
Readcasts
0
Embed Views
More From This User
Notes
Load more
