21 July 2010 - IISS-US Discussion Meeting - ‘Turkey’s Moment of Inflection’

On 21 July 2010, Henri Barkey, Bernard and Berta Cohen Professor of International Relations at Lehigh University, and Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, spoke on his article, ‘Turkey’s Moment of Inflection’, in the June-July issue of Survival. Andrew Parasiliti, Executive Director of the IISS-US and Corresponding Director of the IISS-Middle East, moderated the discussion.

 Survival - Turkey’s Moment of Inflection

by Henri J. Barkey

Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, vol. 52, no. 3, June–July 2010, pp. 39–50

Turkey today imagines itself as a major contender on the global scene. It is the world’s seventeenth-largest economy and has used its geostrategic position and active diplomacy to assume membership in the UN Security Council for the first time in almost 50 years, to become a member of the G20 and to take on a visible role in international disputes. But it faces daunting obstacles at home and abroad, the two most important being the Kurdish problem and the state of civil–military relations. How the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) handles these two challenges will determine whether the current improvement in the Turkish political economy proves to be fleeting. Turkey is at an inflection moment. If it can resolve these problems it will find that many of the obstacles to European membership and continuing development will rapidly recede. Failure will mean a return to nationalist and autarchic policies as well as continual violence and instability. Read More