A Changing Turkey The Challenge to Europe and the United States

by Kramer, Heinz

• ISBN13: 9780815750239
• ISBN10: 0815750234
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-03-01
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Summary

Turkey is a longstanding ally of the United States and Europe. After the demise of the Soviet empire, Turkey's strategic importance has changed but not diminished. Today Turkey is facing a completely different foreign and security policy environment. However, Turkey is also undergoing extraordinary internal change. Many established political truths of the Republic's seventy-five-year-long tradition are increasingly questioned by a growing part of its people. Above all, there is the rise of political Islam and the ensuing clash of ideologies between "secularists" and "Islamists" as well as the debate about Turkey's "Kurdish reality." Turkey's allies will have to respond to this development by adapting their policies. Nothing less than a re-evaluation and, eventually, a re-orientation in relations with both the United States and Europe is required if Turkey is to remain anchored in the West. This book undertakes a comprehensive overview and analysis of Turkey's internal and external changes and provides elements of a new European and American policy toward a key strategic partner.

Author Biography

Heinz Kramer is a senior research analyst at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin, Germany.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
PART ONE The Erosion of the Kemalist Model	1	(92)
The Kemalist Model of Shaping Politics and Society	3	(8)
The Awakening of Society: Between Tradition and Modernity	11	(13)
The Slow Adaptation of the Political System	24	(13)
The Myth of National Homogeneity and the ``Kurdish Reality''	37	(18)
The Revival of Political Islam	55	(30)
Toward a New Sociopolitical Synthesis	85	(8)
PART TWO Turkish Foreign and Security Policy after the Cold War	93	(128)
Central Asia and the Caspian Basin: Energy, Business, and Kinship	97	(20)
The Middle East: Between Involvement and Active Engagement	117	(29)
The Balkans: Old Challenges, New Opportunities	146	(17)
Relations with Greece and the Cyprus Problem	163	(18)
Europe: Still the ``Desired Land''?	181	(21)
Turkey in the Western Security System: Asset or Liability?	202	(19)
PART THREE European and American Policy toward Turkey	221	(28)
The Current Situation: Policies, Motives, and Limitations	223	(13)
The Challenge: Anchoring Turkey in the West	236	(13)
Notes	249	(46)
Index	295