Although U.S.-Turkish ties stretch back to the early Cold War era, one cannot describe them as warm today. From Ankara’s purchase of Russian missiles, to Washington’s cooperation with Syrian Kurdish armed groups, to President Erdogan’s autocratic policies at home, the long list of friction points will likely compel the Biden administration to adopt a cautious, realistic approach to the relationship. This may mean striving for less than complete restoration of ties and accepting that the ride with Erdogan will sometimes be bumpy.
To discuss the pitfalls and areas of potential cooperation in such an approach, The Washington Institute is pleased to announce a virtual Policy Forum with Alan Makovsky, Asli Aydintasbas, and Soner Cagaptay, author of the recently released Transition 2021 memo, Defining a Realistic Policy Toward Erdogan’s Turkey: Advice for the Biden Administration. The event will be moderated by Institute executive director Robert Satloff.
Watch a live webcast of this event starting at 1:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 16, 2021.
Soner Cagaptay is the Beyer Family Fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute. His widely cited works on Erdogan’s strategic and historical impact include the books Erdogan’s Empire: Turkey and the Politics of the Middle East and The New Sultan: Erdogan and the Crisis of Modern Turkey.
Asli Aydintasbas is a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, focusing on Turkish foreign policy and the external ramifications of its domestic politics. A columnist for the Washington Post, she formerly worked for the Turkish newspaper Milliyet, and her work has been featured in numerous major media outlets worldwide.
Max Hoffman is the director of National Security and International Policy at the Center for American Progress, where his work focuses on Turkey and the Kurdish regions, U.S. and European defense policy, and the Middle East. Prior to joining American Progress, Hoffman worked on disarmament and security issues for the United Nations and the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. He received his M.A. in history from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Jenny White is a professor, writer, and social anthropologist based at Stockholm University’s Institute for Turkish Studies. She has published a number of books on contemporary Turkey, including Money Makes Us Relatives, Islamist Mobilization in Turkey, and Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks. Her latest monograph, Turkish Kaleidoscope: Fractured Lives in a Time of Violence, published in 2021, is a graphic novel that traces the political violence, which swept through Turkey in the 1970s.
The Policy Forum series is made possible through the generosity of the Florence and Robert Kaufman Family.