This volume examines contemporary political relations between Turkey and the Middle East. In the light of the Arab Uprisings of 2011, the Syria Crisis, the escalation of regional terrorism and the military coup attempt in Turkey, it illustrates the dramatic fluctuations in Turkish foreign policy towards key Middle Eastern countries, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The contributors analyze Turkey’s deepening involvement in Middle Eastern regional affairs, also addressing issues such as terrorism, social and political movements and minority rights struggles. While these problems have traditionally been regarded as domestic matters, this book highlights their increasingly regional dimension and the implications for the foreign affairs of Turkey and countries in the Middle East.

Turkey is on the front line of the war which is consuming Syria and the Middle East. Its role is complicated by the long-running conflict with the Kurds on the Syrian border - a war that has killed as many as 80,000 people over the last three decades. In 2011 President Erdogan promised to make a deal with the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), but the talks marked a descent into assassinations, suicide bombings and the killing of civilians on both sides. The Kurdish peace process finally collapsed in 2014 with the spillover of the Syrian civil war. With ISIS moving through northern Iraq, Turkey has declared war on Western allies such as the Kurdish YPG (People's Protection Unit) - the military who rescued the Yezidis and fought with US backing in Kobane. Frontline Turkey shows how the Kurds' relationship with Turkey is at the very heart of the Middle Eastern crisis, and documents, through front-line reporting, how Erdogan's failure to bring peace is the key to understanding current events in Middle East.

Bog om Tyrkiet i relation til Mellemøsten. Småt trykt. Litteraturhenv. s. 118.

This book explores the complexity of the Syrian question and its effects on the foreign policies of Russia, Iran, and Turkey. The Syrian crisis has had a major effect on the regional order in the Middle East. Syria has become a territory where the rivalry between Russia and Western powers is being played out, and with the West’s gradual withdrawal, the conflict will without a doubt have lasting effects locally and on the international order. This collection focuses on the effects of the Syrian crisis on the new governance of the Middle East region by three political regimes: Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Many articles and a number of books have been written on this conflict, which has lasted over ten years, but no publication has examined simultaneously and comparatively how these three states are participating in the shared management of the Syrian conflict.

The American-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 has affected Turkey's foreign policy in unpredictable ways. On the one hand stood Turkey's vital alliance with the US, stretching back to the early days of the cold war; on the other, the strong opposition of the Turkish people to the invasion of Iraq. One of Iraq's most important neighbours and America's only formal ally in the region, Turkey gave vital support to the US during the first Gulf war. In the second Gulf war, America sought to project itself as the champion of democracy in the Middle East. Turkey, as the only Muslim country in the region with an acceptably democratic form of government, refused to support the US strategy. The challenge faced by the Turkish government has been to sustain good relations with the superpower, while remaining answerable to its own people. To explain Turkey's changing foreign policy, William Hale examines the relationship between Turkey, the US and Iraq since the 1920s, when the Iraqi state was first established. He also analyses Turkey's policies towards Iraqi Kurds and its 'Europeanisation' as the country aligns itself with the EU. Among the first books to assess the ups and downs in relations between Turkey and the U.S. ... Provides the reader a broader perspective from which to understand those relations, especially in the context of Iraq.' Kiliç Bugra Kanat 'This is an excellent and timely book.' B. A. Yesilada, Portland State University

Turkey holds a unique position between East and West, and with the end of the Cold War it has a potential for influence it has not seen since the end of the Ottoman Empire. Freedom from the Russian threat frees it to examine its links with the West, and political change and shifting power in the region afford an opportunity for new relationships with its neighbors in the Near and Middle East.These thoughtful essays offer a detailed look at Turkey s prospects in the region developing economic opportunities, water resource issues, the changing relationship with emerging Central Asian countries, and the Kurdish problem all in the context of the repercussions of the Gulf War and the ongoing Middle East peace process.The essays in this volume fill an important gap in the literature on Turkey and the Middle East, bringing together the points of view of scholars, journalists, and other observers from the United States, Europe, Turkey, and the Middle East for an unprecedented dialogue on issues of growing importance."

Gradually since 2003, Turkey's autocratic leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to make Turkey a great power -- in the tradition of past Turkish leaders from the late Ottoman sultans to Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Here the leading authority Soner Cagaptay, author of The New Sultan -- the first biography of President Erdogan -- provides a masterful overview of the power politics in the Middle East and Turkey's place in it. Erdogan has picked an unorthodox model in the context of recent Turkish history, attempting to cast his country as a stand-alone Middle Eastern power. In doing so Turkey has broken ranks with its traditional Western allies, including the United States and has embraced an imperial-style foreign policy which has aimed to restore Turkey's Ottoman-era reach into the Arabian Middle East and the Balkans. Today, in addition to a domestic crackdown on dissent and journalistic freedoms, driven by Erdogan's style of governance, Turkey faces a hostile world. Ankara has nearly no friends left in the Middle East, and it faces a threat from resurgent historic adversaries: Russia and Iran. Furthermore, Turkey cannot rely on the unconditional support of its traditional Western allies. Can Erdogan deliver Turkey back to safety? What are the risks that lie ahead for him, and his country? How can Turkey truly become a great power, fulfilling a dream shared by many Turks, the sultans, Ataturk, and Erdogan himself?