Ankara Alone

Too Islamist-friendly for NATO, too pro-European for Russia, too pro-Sunni for Iran, and too pro-democracy for Saudi Arabia, Turkey can’t seem to manage lasting alliances. It’s an issue that figures to play a role in the Turkish parliamentary elections on June 7.

In August 2013, then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief adviser described Turkey’s isolation – to the ire of Turkish pundits – as “precious loneliness.” To this day, Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) continues to ascribe its foreign policy failure to international resentment for Turkey’s successes.