Allies at a Crossroad: Turkey and the United States
The strong alliance between the United States and Turkey dates back to the early years of the Cold War. But today, new challenges threaten this longstanding partnership. Turks are frustrated by America’s failure to halt attacks by the Kurdish terrorist organization, the PKK, which has been launching attacks on Turkey from bases in Northern Iraq. The Turkish parliament just voted, against American wishes, to allow its military to cross the border into Iraq if the attacks continue.
And on Capitol Hill, attempts to pass a resolution labeling the Ottoman Empire’s mass killings of Armenians during the First World War a genocide have incited popular outrage in Turkey.
On the next America Abroad, we’ll travel to Turkey to explore the country’s changing political landscape and the implications for the US-Turkish alliance. We’ll examine some of the major events in the history of the US-Turkish relationship. And we’ll look at how Turkey’s refusal to allow US troops to cross through the country during the lead up to the War in Iraq has cast this once close alliance into doubt.
This edition of America Abroad is anchored by Ray Suarez along with special co-anchor Mithat Bereket from CNN Turk in Istanbul.
Program Overview
Mithat Bereket explores the debate over religion in public life in Turkey today. Featuring 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, and others.
Ray Suarez narrates an archival audio tour of the history of US-Turkish relations, from the Truman Doctrine to the second Gulf War. Featuring Bruce Kuniholm, professor of Turkish history at Duke University.
Ray Suarez looks back at the dispute over the transport of US troops through Turkey in the lead-up to the 2003 Iraq War. With 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; and General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Mithat Bereket examines the Kurdish issue and the PKK in Turkey, and how they impact the US-Turkish relationship. Featuring 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; and Robert Pearson, former US ambassador to Turkey.
More Resources on Turkish-American Relations
Turkey in the News: Read the Latest Headlines
Program Transcripts
Ambassador Marc Grossman
General Richard Myers
John Taylor
Bruce Kuniholm
Ambassador Robert Pearson
Henri Barkey
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