Can the U.S.-Turkish Relationship Be Repaired?

Over the past two years, relations between Ankara and Washington have cooled. The Iraq war bolstered anti-Americanism in Turkey, while many Americans reassessed their relationship with Ankara after Turkey's parliament voted to prohibit American forces from entering Iraq via Turkey. More recently, Turkish officials say Washington ignores anti-Turkish terrorism and allows the Iraqi Kurds a free hand in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk. Public debate in Turkey has grown particularly shrill, with one parliamentarian having even accused the United States of genocide in Iraq. Is it possible to overcome the distance that has grown between the two nations since the Iraq war began?

Robert Pollock, senior editorial writer at the Wall Street Journal, Murat Mercan, founding member and deputy chairman of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and AEI scholars Richard Perle and Michael Rubin will address irritants in the U.S.-Turkish relationship and how both countries might rebuild their relationship.

About the Author

 

Richard
Perle
  • Richard Perle served as chairman of the Defense Policy Board, assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, and a staff member to Senator Henry Jackson (D-Wash.). Mr. Perle is coauthor of An End to Evil (Random House, 2003) and author of Hard Line, a political novel. He codirected AEI's Commission on Future Defenses.
  • Email: rperle@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Gay Gill
    Phone: 3016560390

 

Michael
Rubin
  • Michael Rubin is a former Pentagon official whose major research area is the Middle East, with a special focus on Iran, Syria, Arab Politics, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Turkey. Rubin regularly instructs senior military officers deploying to the Middle East on regional politics, and teaches Iranian history, culture, and politics onboard U.S. aircraft carriers. Rubin has lived in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. He is currently completing a history of U.S. diplomacy with rogue regimes.
  • Phone: 202-862-5851
    Email: mrubin@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Ahmad Majidyar
    Phone: 202-862-5845
    Email: ahmad.majidyar@aei.org
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