Pro-Erdogan supporters wave flags and banners in Brussels, Belgium, March 9, 2020 (AP photo by Olivier Matthys).
How Erdogan Muscled Turkey to the Center of the World Stage
Henri J. Barkey Friday, Oct. 30, 2020
Over the past decade or so, Turkey, a critical NATO member and once-aspiring candidate for membership in the European Union, has refashioned itself as a revisionist power openly challenging not just its regional neighbors but also treaty allies like France and the United States.
Currently, Turkey’s military—NATO’s largest after the U.S.—is actively involved in a number of theaters, including Syria, Iraq, the South Caucasus, Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean, with the intention to either steer the outcome of a dispute in its favor or alter the existing order. This behavior represents a radical change from Turkey’s earlier predilection for a foreign policy that embraced the status quo and that mostly eschewed foreign adventures. ...