Foreign Affairs has a post up about Turkey leaving the West. To some extent it is not surprising. While people in the West and even previous Pakistani dictator Musharraf praised the Turkish model of secularism as a guide of the Middle East, it has always had an air of artificiality to it. The aggressive elimination of religion from the Turkish public sphere was influenced by the admiration of the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his fellow officers for the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. It was also made possible by his iconic status as the defender of the Turkish state following World War I. As a result it has not been easy to replicate.
The Foreign Policy article however seems excessively alarmist. For a different tone see here. In recent years Turkish attempts to engage with the West and to join the European Union have been repeatedly rebuffed. It is not surprising that Turkey would want to reorient its foreign policy that has it stuck between Asia and Europe and yet a member of neither.
It is hard to see how a democratically elected Turkish government can totally ignore domestic opinion, which after repeated rebuffs by Europe and outraged by George W. Bush’s unilateral invasion of Iraq, turned very hostile to the United States in the last decade. The Turkish reaction is yet another example of just how big was the public-relations disaster created by the Israeli military action in Gaza at the beginning of the year. Turkey’s recent actions also demonstrate the folly of an approach to foreign policy that eschews active diplomacy. Countries will follow what they deem to be their best interest and the support, even of allies, should not be taken for granted.
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