From Alternatives, Hans Agne (Stockholm): European Union Conditionality: Coercion or Voluntary Adaptation? There is one thing that could revive the EU, give it much enhanced global respectability, and make it an “interesting” place: Turkey’s admission as a full member. From The Economist, a Mediterranean maelstrom: Turkey’s fading hopes of joining the European Union would be hugely boosted by a Cyprus settlement; and history helps to explain why the Cyprus problem is so hard to solve. How the West lost Turkey: Is the West's increasingly loveless marriage with Turkey finally headed toward acrimonious divorce? Triumph of the Turks: Turkey is the surprising beneficiary of US misadventures in the Middle East (and more and more). When Islamist foreign policies hurt Muslims: Turkey's government and leader bash the West for transgressions while absolving anti-Western regimes of their sins. There's a term that has frequently been attached to Ankara's newfound diplomatic activism, one that Turkish policymakers are not fond of: "neo-Ottomanism". A little respect, please: There's a new Turkey, and Israel, the U.S. and Europe should get used to it. From The Tablet, Israel and Turkey are drifting apart, thanks to internal pressures on Ankara that are unlikely to change. What would happen if Israel and Turkey broke diplomatic relations altogether? A review of The Donme: Jewish Converts, Muslim Revolutionaries, and Secular Turks by Marc David Baer. A review of Rebel Land: Among Turkey's Forgotten Peoples by Christopher de Bellaigue. Turkey and its generals: The latest episodes in various alleged conspiracies against the government. Despite frenzied stories of coup plots, the Turkish army is becoming less likely to intervene in politics.
