A Changing Turkey: Challenges to Europe and the United States, by Heinz Kramer
For most of the time I’ve been involved with Turkey, it was the West’s bulwark against the Soviet Union. When Russia threatened to grab parts of eastern Turkey after World War II, President Truman sent battleships to the Bosphorus in a show of force. Russia backed down.
In the half century of the Cold War, Turkey had the largest standing army in NATO and the longest border with the West’s principal adversary. Its important position vis-à-vis the USA and Europe was clear. It was a secular, democratic, free-enterprise nation. Turkey was one of “us.”
After the collapse of Soviet power, the resurgence of Islam, and the election of Islamist-led governments in Turkey, where do we stand?
Heinz Kramer’s detailed knowledge of the dominant cultural, historical, and political forces affecting Turkey in its relations with the European Union, the USA and its neighbors in theMiddle East comeds through in his book. It’s perfect for learning the political and historic context in which modern Turkey is evolving.
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