Mavi Boncuk | Syria tops the agenda as Erdogan heads to Washington
Birol Baskan[1], Non-resident Scholar
That should be President Erdogan's ultimate aim during his visit to Washington: to chart a strategic course for the U.S. in Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, in Washington on Wednesday. While there are doubtless other items for discussion on the agenda, at the top of the list is, at least on Turkey's side, Syria - or more specifically, what U.S. policy is and should be in Syria. Since 2015 Turkey's policy toward Syria has been either to totally eradicate or to pacify the growing threat from the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) on its southern border. That threat remains, but it is greatly diminished. Ankara's policy toward Syria has evolved and aims to help build a Turkey-friendly Arab statelet in the territories now under its military control. Despite Turkey's rhetoric to the contrary, it has literally been state building in the territories it captured first from ISIS and then the YPG. These territories would serve not only as "safe zones" for Turkey, but also as potential areas to settle its Syrian refugees, of which it is home to more than 3.6 million.
Yet, to realize its objectives Turkey needs the U.S. at the very least to balance Russia and Iran in Syria. The problem is, the U.S. seems not to be interested in doing that. As Ankara sees it, the Congress, think-tank community, and the U.S. media care only about the YPG's safety, nothing else, and President Trump is eager to pull out totally from Syria and leave it completely to Russia. Ankara, for its part, definitely wants the U.S. to stay in Syria, but on its side. Given the anti-Turkey and anti-Erdogan sentiment in Washington, Ankara can achieve that only if the U.S. pursues a strategic objective in Syria. That should be President Erdogan's ultimate aim during his visit to Washington: to chart a strategic course for the U.S. in Syria. What Ankara should realize, however, that such an undertaking will require more than just persuading President Trump, who has his own battles to fight at home.
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[1] Birol Baskan received his PhD in political science from Northwestern University in 2006 and taught at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar from 2010-2018, Qatar University from 2007-2010, and the State University of New York-Fredonia in 2006-2007. His research looks at the roles religion and religious actors play in creating, maintaining, undermining, and destroying political order in the Middle East and in the international politics of the Persian/Arabian Gulf and Turkish foreign policy. Baskan is the author of Turkey and Qatar in the Tangled Geopolitics of the Middle East (Palgrave, 2016) and From Religious Empires to Secular States (Routledge, 2014), and co-editor of State-Society Relations in the Arab Gulf States (Gerlach, 2014).
Baskan is currently working on his third manuscript, tentatively titled Between Jurists and Preachers: State-Religion Relations in the Gulf. He also published a number of academic articles in journals such as Akademik Ortadogu; Arab Studies Quarterly; Comparative Political Studies, HAWWA: the Journal of Women in the Middle East and the Islamic World; Insight Turkey; Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations; The Muslim World, Politics and Religion; Turkish Studies; and Turkish Yearbook of International Politics.
Education
B.A. at Koc University; M.A. at Northwestern University; Ph.D. at Northwestern University
Languages
Turkish
Countries of Expertise
Turkey, the GCC countries
Issues of Expertise
Contemporary religious movements and ideologies, state-religion relations in Turkey and the broader Middle East, state-building in Turkey and the Gulf, international politics of the Gulf, Turkish foreign policy
Contact Information: bbaskan@mei.edu
Birol Baskan[1], Non-resident Scholar
That should be President Erdogan's ultimate aim during his visit to Washington: to chart a strategic course for the U.S. in Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, in Washington on Wednesday. While there are doubtless other items for discussion on the agenda, at the top of the list is, at least on Turkey's side, Syria - or more specifically, what U.S. policy is and should be in Syria. Since 2015 Turkey's policy toward Syria has been either to totally eradicate or to pacify the growing threat from the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) on its southern border. That threat remains, but it is greatly diminished. Ankara's policy toward Syria has evolved and aims to help build a Turkey-friendly Arab statelet in the territories now under its military control. Despite Turkey's rhetoric to the contrary, it has literally been state building in the territories it captured first from ISIS and then the YPG. These territories would serve not only as "safe zones" for Turkey, but also as potential areas to settle its Syrian refugees, of which it is home to more than 3.6 million.
Yet, to realize its objectives Turkey needs the U.S. at the very least to balance Russia and Iran in Syria. The problem is, the U.S. seems not to be interested in doing that. As Ankara sees it, the Congress, think-tank community, and the U.S. media care only about the YPG's safety, nothing else, and President Trump is eager to pull out totally from Syria and leave it completely to Russia. Ankara, for its part, definitely wants the U.S. to stay in Syria, but on its side. Given the anti-Turkey and anti-Erdogan sentiment in Washington, Ankara can achieve that only if the U.S. pursues a strategic objective in Syria. That should be President Erdogan's ultimate aim during his visit to Washington: to chart a strategic course for the U.S. in Syria. What Ankara should realize, however, that such an undertaking will require more than just persuading President Trump, who has his own battles to fight at home.
[1] Birol Baskan received his PhD in political science from Northwestern University in 2006 and taught at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Qatar from 2010-2018, Qatar University from 2007-2010, and the State University of New York-Fredonia in 2006-2007. His research looks at the roles religion and religious actors play in creating, maintaining, undermining, and destroying political order in the Middle East and in the international politics of the Persian/Arabian Gulf and Turkish foreign policy. Baskan is the author of Turkey and Qatar in the Tangled Geopolitics of the Middle East (Palgrave, 2016) and From Religious Empires to Secular States (Routledge, 2014), and co-editor of State-Society Relations in the Arab Gulf States (Gerlach, 2014).Baskan is currently working on his third manuscript, tentatively titled Between Jurists and Preachers: State-Religion Relations in the Gulf. He also published a number of academic articles in journals such as Akademik Ortadogu; Arab Studies Quarterly; Comparative Political Studies, HAWWA: the Journal of Women in the Middle East and the Islamic World; Insight Turkey; Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations; The Muslim World, Politics and Religion; Turkish Studies; and Turkish Yearbook of International Politics.
Education
B.A. at Koc University; M.A. at Northwestern University; Ph.D. at Northwestern University
Languages
Turkish
Countries of Expertise
Turkey, the GCC countries
Issues of Expertise
Contemporary religious movements and ideologies, state-religion relations in Turkey and the broader Middle East, state-building in Turkey and the Gulf, international politics of the Gulf, Turkish foreign policy
Contact Information: bbaskan@mei.edu