TÜRKİYE ORTA ASYA HABER KKUORDİNATÖRÜ

CENTER FOR THE NATIONAL INTERST/USA Türkiye and the Problem of an ‘America First’ Foreign Policy In this report, we question the assumptions of the America First foreign policy agenda by looking at the case study of Türkiye. This is a country that is at a crossroads, with incredible changes taking place, both in terms of the domestic political scene and the regional environment. Türkiye is now a pivotal player in the Middle East and President Erdogan has three more years until the next elections to solidify his legacy. This should be an opportunity for Washington to think strategically on how to build a stronger and deeper relationship. Türkiye is trying to help the Trump Administration with back-channel talks in multiple conflicts, but it cannot offer the kinds of investment opportunities or high-tech partnerships that might grab headlines in Washington today. This is the same situation that a lot of countries today find themselves in, looking at Washington from the outside and wondering what it will take to get the administration’s attention. —Joshua Yaphe is a senior fellow at the Center for the National Interest and was a senior analyst for the Arabian Peninsula at the US State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He has a PhD in History from American University in Washington, DC, and is the author of Saudi Arabia and Iraq as Friends and Enemies: Borders, Tribes and a History Shared. In 2020, he was a visiting fellow at the National Council on US-Arab Relations, and from 2022 to 2024 he served as a visiting faculty member at the National Intelligence University. His latest book, Time and Narrative in Intelligence Analysis: A New Framework for the Production of Meaning, is available for free in an Open Access online edition.