By Halil M. Karaveli (vol. 3, no. 22 of the Turkey Analyst)

After having overturned the regime of military-bureaucratic tutelage, Turkey is discovering that democracy means struggling with differences and conflict, and that democracy in turn cannot be sustained without an accompanying sense of community. Reconciling diversity and community is never easy, and the fact that Turkey was built on the denial of diversity renders such an endeavor all the more difficult. Yet unless civic virtue is nurtured and the polarizing tendency to assume the worst about others in society is overcome, the new, post-Kemalist Turkey will prove to be a disappointment.

By Richard Weitz (vol. 3, no. 22 of the Turkey Analyst)

Turkish foreign policy was more visible in 2010 than ever before. If one is optimistic, one can hazard that we will see a “regression toward the mean” in Turkey’s relations with the West. If 2010 was generally a bad year for that relationship, the situation should improve in 2011, partly on the principle that things could hardly get any worse. While the events that drew the most attention were those that involved Iran and Israel, Turkey’s ties with Russia and China developed under the radar and could in fact prove even more momentous.

By Halil M. Karaveli and M. K. Kaya (vol. 3, no. 21 of the Turkey Analyst)

U.S. power still matters in Turkey, and the revelation that the AKP does not enjoy universal American support is unwelcome news for the ruling party. The perception that it enjoyed full U.S. support was instrumental in the AKP’s ascendancy. The dissemination of the U.S. diplomatic correspondence from Ankara has called that myth into question, indeed effectively depriving the AKP of its cherished American cover. The reactions of leading AKP representatives to the Wikileaks publication are suggestive of a significant uneasiness. They speak of an anxiety that the U.S. could turn against the AKP, that it has indeed already done so.