James Kitfield, Breaking Defense: Has Turkey Gone Rogue?
When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Ankara on Thursday, he will find Turkey unrecognizable as the ostensibly Muslim democracy and close ally that U.S. officials once held up as a model for the Islamic world. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is poised to complete his long transformation of Turkey from a raucous -- if imperfect democracy -- to an autocracy, one ruled by caprice and fear.
The once solid U.S.-Turkish relationship has foundered on miscalculations, grievances, and increasingly divergent worldviews.
When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Ankara on Thursday, he will find Turkey unrecognizable as the ostensibly Muslim democracy and close ally that U.S. officials once held up as a model for the Islamic world. After a controversial constitutional referendum last year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is poised to complete his long transformation of Turkey from a raucous — if imperfect democracy — to an autocracy, one ruled by caprice and fear. Across a wide boulevard from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Tillerson will find that the Turkish parliament building still bears the scars of the 2016 attempted military coup that pro-government media blame squarely on the United States, a narrative that Erdogan has used to whip up nationalism and anti-Americanism to unprecedented levels.
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WNU Editor: Turkey has been on a different path since the coup-attempt in 2016. And as long as Erdogan remains in power .... and he is going to make sure that he stays in power .... they are going to go down that independent path.
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