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Burak Bekdil

Burak Bekdil

Burak Bekdil is an Ankara-based columnist. He regularly writes for the Gatestone Institute and Defense News, and is a fellow at the Middle East Forum. He is also a founder of, and associate editor at, the Ankara-based think tank Sigma.

The Turkish president needed a military success story, and the rescue of 13 hostages held by the PKK in northern Iraq would have fit the bill. Unfortunately, the operation was a tragic failure.
Beware of Erdoğans bearing democratic gifts.
Turks are capable of spectacular achievements—provided they conduct their academic careers in the free world.
Studies have shown that only 2.4 percent of Turks believe their country’s biggest problem is its democratic deficit. In other words, democracy does not sell in the Turkish market.
Kicked out of the U.S.-led F-35 program and facing U.S. military sanctions, what can Ankara do to sustain its fighter fleet?
U.S. sanctions on Turkey’s defense industry are now official. The costs to Turkey of its S-400 deal with Russia have been enormous and will continue to rise exponentially, pushing it further into the Russian orbit.
Ankara has made scores of national boycott attempts since 1998, but they invariably lose steam quickly. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s most recent boycott threat against France will be no exception.
To ignore the antics of neo-Ottoman bully Recep Tayyip Erdoğan would discredit and weaken the E.U., but sanctions, if miscalculated, could create new problems. Surgical precision will be needed.
Gloomy facts and figures about a country are one thing, but recent research has found that 38 percent of Turks do not feel that they belong in their own country.
The recent escalation of tensions in the Aegean may strengthen the political bond between Greece and its Western allies, as well as force the E.U. to actually impose sanctions on Turkey.
President-elect Joe Biden’s history with Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdoğan gives mixed indicators of how he might deal with Ankara’s increasingly authoritarian leader.
Turkey’s military posturing has been met with a Moody’s downgrade of the country’s credit rating to B2, putting the country on a level with Egypt, Jamaica and Rwanda.