Niklas Anzinger: Turkey’s success story of combining moderate Islam and democracy is being challenged by the ruling AK Party’s power grab. In this game, the struggle for power trumps ideology, but the religious resurgence remains an element of unpredictability in foreign policy. Regarding Syria, reality mugged the ill-guided Middle Eastern adventures of Turkey.
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Marc William Zedler: The Arab Spring has left the Middle East with a power vacuum. Three regional players, Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, will be the region’s deciders for the next decade. As a global middle power, Turkey should take a principled stance in a region that needs its leadership now more than ever.
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Ulf Gartzke: The West assumes that Turkey’s Islamist AKP government plays a constructive role in the Middle East, promoting “universal values.” This view is dangerously mistaken. Instead of full EU membership, a far more cautious “privileged partnership” between the EU and Turkey should be pursued for now.
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