There was a time back in the 1980s when the only American think tank that really paid attention to Turkey was The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). Turkish prime ministers considered that particular institute the most important one in town and never failed to speak there when they visited Washington. Many joked that WINEP was a sort of Mecca for Turkish dignitaries. There was also a parochial belief that WINEP was crucial for Turkey and American foreign policy because of its pro-Israel tilt. This belief was parochial and slightly conspiratorial because of the perception of the pro-Israel lobby as omnipotent in calling all the shots in the United States. In time, however, Turkish foreign policy grew more sophisticated in its analysis of the world and Washington. Turkish leaders learned to look at the world from a wider angle and discovered that there is a broader audience for Turkey in Washington. The fact that larger and more independent think tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Brookings now have active Turkey programs (in addition to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Council on Foreign Relations, which also have scholars and programs focusing on Turkey) illustrates the growing importance of Turkey in Washington.
One major problem remains the same, however. Most of the events on Turkey are attended by an overwhelming majority of Turks. If I was to guess the percentage of Turks at such events, I would probably say it was at least 70 percent. One may quip that the demographics of Turkey events reflect the outdated motto of Turkey's major newspaper Hurriyet, "Turkey belongs to the Turks." I'm not sure if this is the same for other countries. But I have a suspicion that when Brookings has an event on Italy, France or Germany, there are always more Americans in the audience. So why are the events on Turkey mostly attended by Turks? A major part of the problem has to do with the sui generis characteristics of Turkey. Turkey can claim that it is part of Europe, the Middle East, the Balkans, the Caucasus, the Islamic world, the West and the East. When a country is part of so many regions, it also ends up not being part of them. It ends up as a case of its own. Because Turkey belongs to so many different regions, it ends up not being truly part of any of them. As a result, Turkey creates its own category.
For instance, you can cover Italy, France, Britain and Poland with an event focusing on Europe. Or you can cover Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Israel as countries in the Middle East, but you cannot cover Turkey with these categories. Such countries are clearly either in Europe or in the Middle East, but Turkey is not. You therefore need to cover Turkey separately. Turkey's problems also reflect its peculiarity. Turkey's understanding of secularism is unique in the Islamic world. There is no other Muslim country where citizens face the same kind of "identity" dilemma. It is, thus, almost impossible to analyze Turkey's main problems, such as the headscarf issue, as "regional" problems. This situation may help us understand why Turkey indeed "belongs only to the Turks."
What about last Friday, then? Last Friday was the same in terms of attendance. Yet the prime minister's speech went far beyond Turkish borders. It covered a wide array of regions and issues and, in fact, showed why Turkey is becoming such a pivotal state. The occasion of the prime minister's visit also clearly illustrated Turkey's new status. With an economy ranked as the 17th largest in the world, Turkey clearly deserves to be in the G-20. It is also good news that despite low expectations, the G-20 Summit appears to have set up "a college of supervisors" to examine the books of major financial institutions that operate across national borders, so that regulators can begin to have a more complete picture of banks' operations. Despite all its problems, Turkey is on the right economic path. And, who knows, if Turkey continues to develop as a capitalist democracy for the next five years, we may one day even see more Americans than Turks attending events on Turkey.
