Turkey and the West: Who’s calling the shots?

Turkey has been in a process of democratization since the early 1950s. The launch of this process coincided with the country's accession to NATO, which was obviously driven by the exigencies of the Cold War period and the need to contain the Soviet threat. Turkey's democratization is still a work in progress; in fact, under Recep Tayyip Erdogan - and contrary to the original expectations - the country has experienced serious democratic backsliding. According to all international reports, the principle of the division of power is not adhered to. The judicial power is being abused (as was the case when the country was controlled by secular Kemalists), the news media are being controlled by the government, and freedom of expression is on the wane - all signs of growing authoritarianism.

Meanwhile, in the realm of foreign policy, Turkey's dissociation from the West is neither...