Turkey: Between Paranoia and Prosperity

The broader question surrounding both Turkey’s ongoing democratization and its new foreign policy is whether these changes will succeed in overcoming Turkish fears or simply redirect them. If Turkey continues to improve relations with former adversaries like Syria and finally succeeds in accommodating the political demands of its Kurdish minority, it will not only be more powerful, but also more secure. In part, Turkey’s ability to achieve this success hinges on the fate of a remarkable effort to recreate Turkish identity by rewriting Turkish history. There is always a risk that as Turkey’s relations with its Western allies deteriorate, Turkish paranoia will simply be redirected against a new set of foes. If this happens, politicians and voters will look at history and conclude that tolerance is a virtue seldom repaid by Turkey’s enemies, against whom Turkey must remain vigilant. The more optimistic alternative, however, is that Turkey will use its history to become a more prosperous, powerful country, in turn making this more tolerant, multicultural, but still, one hopes, accurate version of history all the more appealing. Rather than pine for a time when Turkey allied itself with America against Russia or Israel against Syria, Turkey’s allies should work to build more stable relationships with a more secure Turkey.