Describes the impact on Turkey of events in Europe since 1989, the transformation of the country's place in the international order, domestic and foreign policy changes in response, and changes in the country's identity. Considers the new European order, the cultural dilemma, the troubled region, relations with the European Union, and the Customs Union. Distributed in the US by St. Martin's Press. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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.

Reflections on the Ataturkist origins of Turkish foreign policy and domestic linkages / Andrew Mango -- Economic issues in Turkish foreign policy / William Hale -- Turkey and the Muslim Middle East / Kemal Kirişçi -- Turkish policy toward Israel / Meliha Benli Altunişik -- Turkish policy toward the Balkans / Şule Kut -- Turkish-Russian relations: from adversity to 'virtual rapprochement' / Duygu Bazoğlu Sezer -- Turkish policy toward Central Asia and the Transcaucasus / Gareth M. Winrow -- Turkish policy toward Greece / Tozun Bahcheli -- Turkey and the Cyprus question / Clement H. Dodd -- Turkey and the European Union / Atila Eralp -- U.S.-Turkish relations / George S. Harris -- Beyond 'bridge or barrier': Turkey's evolving security relations with the West / Ian O. Lesser.

This book discusses and analyses the dimensions of Turkey’s strategic rapprochement with the Eurasian states and institutions since the deterioration of Ankara’s relations with its traditional NATO allies. Do these developments signify a major strategic reorientation in Turkish foreign policy? Is Eurasia becoming an alternative geopolitical concept to Europe or the West? Or is this ‘pivot to Eurasia’ an instrument of the current Turkish government to obtain greater diplomatic leverage? Engaging with these key questions, the contributors explore the geographical, political, economic, military and social dynamics that influence this process, while addressing the questions that arise from the difficulties in reconciling Ankara’s strategic priorities with those of other Eurasian countries like Russia, China, Iran and India. Chapters focus on the different aspects of Turkey’s improving bilateral relations with the Eurasian states and institutions and consider the possibility of developing a convincing Eurasian alternative for Turkish foreign policy. The book will be useful for researchers in the fields of politics and IR more broadly, and particularly relevant for scholars and students researching Turkish foreign policy and the geopolitics of Eurasia.

Title first published in 2003. In this insightful book, the authors explore Turkey's role within a globalizing world and, as a new century unfolds, examine a nation at the crossroads of both time and space within the international political order. Chapters consider Turkey's policy history, its prospects and policy issues and discuss them with positive alternatives outlined for Turkish policy-makers and the academics who examine them.

Altunisik and Kavli have produced a general introduction to contemporary Turkey that focuses primarily on recent developments in politics, economics and international relations set against the formation and ideology of the Turkish state.

This edited volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformations in Turkey's transatlantic connection including political, economic, and security relations. The book concentrates on the question of how these transformations in conjuction with several other factors are reflected over Turkey's foreign policy behavior and new alignment preferences. Contributors especially delve into regional affairs of Turkey seeking to show how the transatlantic frame alternatively impact Turkey's policies in different neighborhoods, arguing that Turkish foreign policy cannot be understood without careful analysis of multiple international pressures and changing dynamics at the domestic political scenery.

Turkey's Enagement with Modernity explores how the country has been shaped in the image of the Kemalist project of nationalist modernity and how it has transformed, if erratically, into a democratic society where tensions between religion, state and society continue unabated.

While Turkey has grown as a world power, promoting the image of a progressive and stable nation, several policy choices have strained its relationship with the East and the West. Providing social, historical, and religious context for Turkey's singular behavior, the essays in Democracy, Islam, and Secularism in Turkey examine issues relevant to Turkish debates and global concerns, from the state's position on religion and diversity to its involvement in the European Union. Written by experts in a range of disciplines, the chapters explore the Ottoman toleration of diversity during its classical period; the erosion of ethno-religious diversity in modern, pre-democratic times; Kemalism and its role in modernization and nation building; the changing political strategies of the military; and the effect of possible EU membership on domestic reforms. They also conduct a cross-Continental comparison of "multiple secularisms" as well as political parties, considering the Justice and Development Party in Turkey in relation to Christian Democratic parties in Europe. The contributors tackle central research questions, such as what is the legacy of the Ottoman Empire's ethno-religious plurality and how can Turkey's assertive secularism be softened to allow greater space for religious actors. They address the military's "guardian" role in Turkey's secularism, the implications of recent constitutional amendments for democratization, and the consequences and benefits of Islamic activism's presence within a democratic system. No other collection confronts Turkey's contemporary evolution so vividly and thoroughly or offers such expert analysis of its crucial social and political systems.