What Turkey’s Political Changes Mean for U.S.-Turkish Relations

Source:Center for American Progress Date:01Aug2018

Some startling conclusions:  Still, such a change in perspective—from viewing Turkey as a democratic ally to viewing it as an authoritarian state important to U.S. foreign policy—inevitably will have consequences in terms of the quality and durability of bilateral ties; fundamentally, the United States should no longer be shy about bringing leverage to bear on Turkey. Furthermore, it is difficult to predict how far Turkey’s autocratic drift and anti-Western nationalism will go, how long it will endure, or how close Ankara’s relations with Moscow will become. It would be prudent for the United States and its fully democratic NATO allies to begin insulating their shared security architecture from the potential worst-case scenario. This effort should be both iterative and reversible, responding to Turkey’s actions, but it should begin now.