Allies at a Crossroads: Turkey and the United States

Over the years, Turkey has proven to be one of America’s strongest allies, but with the war in Iraq raging on and changing attitudes toward secularism in Turkey, the country is reevaluating its relationship with the U.S.

857322fa01bfbb19e0343489a81652ab
You need to upgrade your Flash Player

Program Extras

Share

Program Overview

  • Hosts: Ray Suarez and Mithat Bereket
  • Original Airdate: Nov 2007

Since the onset of the Iraq War, the U.S. and Turkey have walked a tight rope to maintain their strained relationship. Turkey’s reluctance to allow the U.S. to transport troops through the country and Turkey’s growing annoyance with America’s inaction against rising violence from the PKK, a Kurdish terrorist group now working out of Iraq, have added to the fray. Turkey’s unique history of secularism since the days of famed leader, Kemal Ataturk, is also slowly eroding with the new government. AAM’s Ray Suarez and CNN Turk’s Mithat Bereket report in Allies at a Crossroad.

In the first segment, Mithat Bereket explores the debate over religion in public life in Turkey today.

Ray Suarez examines the history of the U.S. – Turkey relationship over the years from Ataturk to the Gulf War in segment two.

Ray Suarez looks back at the dispute over the transport of U.S. troops through Turkey in the lead-up to the Iraq War in segment three.

Mithat Bereket examines the Kurdish issue and the PKK in Turkey and how they impact the US-Turkish relationship in segment four.

Guests on this program include:

Mustafa Akyol, deputy editor of the Turkish Daily News

Egemen Bagis, vice chairman of the AKP

Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Ahmet Kuyas, professor of history at Istanbul’s Galatasaray University

Attila Askar, president of Istanbul’s Koc University

Bruce Kuniholm, professor of Turkish history at Duke University

Faruk Logoglu, Turkish ambassador to the US

Marc Grossman, US under secretary of state

John Taylor, under secretary for international affairs at the US Treasury

General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Egemen Bagis, vice chairman of the AKP

Hilmi Aydogdu, head of the Democratic Society Party (DTP) in Diyarbakir

Sezgin Tanrikulu, chairman of the Diyarbakir branch of the Turkish Bar Association

Henri Barkey, professor of international relations at Lehigh University

Robert Pearson, former US ambassador to Turkey

Additional Broadcasts

0220ec00f4fd306a86fcc738d4fb1530
Bomb Scare: Confronting the Nuclear Threat
Radio
Ca82c80541e29f5ee542ed3a99a8bb03
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Stability of the Middle East
Radio

Browse All Programs

What People are Saying



* denotes required field

tout-Support
tout-GetPodcast
Heard on this Broadcast

“The first Gulf War, the way it ended with Saddam still in power, a half finished job, so to speak. Its impact on Turkey was devastating in terms of economic and social consequences. We lost overnight our second largest trading partner. It’s like for the U.S. to lose Canada or Mexico as a trading partner.”
- Faruk Logoglu, Turkish Ambassador to the U.S.