Michael J. Totten has a very interesting interview with the lovely and talented Claire Berlinski, a journalist based in Istanbul, about what is going on with the Turkish government.
The biggest item I take from Berlinski is that the Turkish government lives in a fantasyland with respect to Iran, not understanding that Iran has changed since the days of the Ottoman Empire and that the interests and objectives of the Iranian government are not aligned with those of Turkey in the slightest. The AKP is maybe not as Islamist as most people, including myself, fear, but is instead stoking Islamism for domestic political gain. A dangerous game, to be sure.
I also noted a hint that the Turkish government is turning against Syria. Relations had been warming in recent years, in spite of the chronic Alexandretta/Hatay issue.
Read the whole thing.
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