"Informative." - Foreign Affairs Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey for nearly two decades. Here, Soner Cagaptay, a leading authority on the country, offers insights on the next phase of Erdogan's rule. His dwindling support base at home, coupled with rising opposition, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Turkey's weak economy, would appear to threaten his grip on power. How will he react? In this astute analysis, Cagaptay casts Erdogan as an inventor of nativist populist politics in the twenty-first century. The Turkish president knows how to polarize the electorate to boost his base, and how to wield oppressive tactics when polarization alone cannot win elections. Cagaptay contends that Erdogan will cling to power-with severe costs for Turkey's citizens, institutions, and allies. The associated dynamics, which carry implications far beyond Turkey's borders-and what they portend for the United States-make A Sultan in Autumn a must-read for all those interested in Turkey and the geopolitics of the next decade.

In a world of rising tensions between Russia and the United States, the Middle East and Europe, Sunnis and Shiites, Islamism and liberalism, Turkey is at the epicentre. And at the heart of Turkey is its right-wing populist president, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an. Since 2002, Erdo?an has consolidated his hold on domestic politics while using military and diplomatic means to solidify Turkey as a regional power. His crackdown has been brutal and consistent - scores of journalists arrested, academics officially banned from leaving the country, university deans fired and many of the highest-ranking military officers arrested. In some senses, the nefarious and failed 2016 coup has given Erdo?an the licence to make good on his repeated promise to bring order and stability under a 'strongman'. Here, leading Turkish expert Soner Cagaptay will look at Erdo?an's roots in Turkish history, what he believes in and how he has cemented his rule, as well as what this means for the world. The book will also unpick the 'threats' Erdogan has worked to combat - from the liberal Turks to the Gulen movement, from coup plotters to Kurdish nationalists - all of which have culminated in the crisis of modern Turkey.

Turkey is positioned to become the twenty-first centuryÆs first Muslim power. Based on a dynamic economy and energetic foreign policy, TurkeyÆs growing engagement with other countries has made it a key player in the newly emerging multidirectional world order. TurkeyÆs trade patterns and societal interaction with other nations have broadened and deepened dramatically in the past decade, transforming Turkey from a Cold War outpost into a significant player internationally. TurkeyÆs ascendance and the changes that have taken place under the leadership of TurkeyÆs Muslim conservative government have prompted its policymakers to craft a new vision of their role in twenty-first-century society. This developing worldview animates TurkeyÆs desire to sometimes take the lead with its co-religionists and occasionally challenge its partners in the West, while showing no inclination to become an irresponsible rising power. If it can consolidate liberal democracy at home, Turkey could also assume the role of serving as an example for the newly emerging governments brought about by the Arab Spring. The cornerstone of TurkeyÆs rise has been the governmentÆs ability to foster stable political conditions for economic growth, alongside a foreign policy that balances TurkeyÆs Muslim identity with its Western overlay, including its strong ties to the United States. Accordingly, policies that could tarnish TurkeyÆs reputation as a bastion of stability risk undermining its position between Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. This realization has been the catalyst for Ankara's careful management of Eastern and Western desires and expectations. The result is a new Turkey: a twenty-first-century Muslim power that promotes stability without the confines of a regional, European rubric.

Gradually since 2003, Turkey's autocratic leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to make Turkey a great power -- in the tradition of past Turkish leaders from the late Ottoman sultans to Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Here the leading authority Soner Cagaptay, author of The New Sultan -- the first biography of President Erdogan -- provides a masterful overview of the power politics in the Middle East and Turkey's place in it. Erdogan has picked an unorthodox model in the context of recent Turkish history, attempting to cast his country as a stand-alone Middle Eastern power. In doing so Turkey has broken ranks with its traditional Western allies, including the United States and has embraced an imperial-style foreign policy which has aimed to restore Turkey's Ottoman-era reach into the Arabian Middle East and the Balkans. Today, in addition to a domestic crackdown on dissent and journalistic freedoms, driven by Erdogan's style of governance, Turkey faces a hostile world. Ankara has nearly no friends left in the Middle East, and it faces a threat from resurgent historic adversaries: Russia and Iran. Furthermore, Turkey cannot rely on the unconditional support of its traditional Western allies. Can Erdogan deliver Turkey back to safety? What are the risks that lie ahead for him, and his country? How can Turkey truly become a great power, fulfilling a dream shared by many Turks, the sultans, Ataturk, and Erdogan himself?

Drawing on a diverse array of published and archival sources, Nicholas L. Danforth synthesizes the political, cultural, diplomatic and intellectual history of mid-century Turkey to explore how Turkey first became a democracy and Western ally in the 1950s and why this is changing today.

"Recep Tayyip Erdogan has ruled Turkey for nearly two decades. Here, Soner Cagaptay, a leading authority on the country, offers insights on the next phase of Erdogan's rule. His dwindling support base at home, coupled with rising opposition, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and Turkey's weak economy, would appear to threaten his grip on power. Moreover, Erdogan's relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin is fragile, as is his rapport with U.S. president Joe Biden. How will he react? In this exceptional analysis, Cagaptay casts Erdogan as an inventor of nativist populist politics in the twenty-first century. The Turkish president knows how to polarize the electorate to boost his base, and how to wield oppressive tactics when polarization alone cannot win elections. Cagaptay contends that Erdogan will cling to power, by hook or by crook-with unfortunate costs for Turkey's citizens, institutions, and allies. Turkey is the oldest democracy and the largest economy between Germany and India, and as a result, Erdogan's moves will have ramifications beyond Turkey's borders. The associated dynamics-and what they portend for the United States-make A Sultan in Autumn a must read for all those interested in Turkey and the geopolitics of the next decade"--

This book examines Turkish and Balkan nationalism, arguing that the legacy of the Ottomon millet system which divided the Ottoman population into religious compartments called millets, shaped Turkey’s understanding of nationalism during the interwar period.