49 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Western</strong> <strong>Condition</strong>: Turkey, the US and the EU in the New Middle East
Faces <strong>of</strong> the West: Can Europeanisation, Americanisation and Autonomisation be reconciled? III. Faces <strong>of</strong> the West: Can Europeanisation, Americanisation and Autonomisation be reconciled? What then can we infer from contemporary politics in the Middle East regarding what we called at the outset <strong>of</strong> this paper ‘the <strong>Western</strong> condition’? In particular, what shapes perceptions and drives “western” decision makers on both sides <strong>of</strong> the Atlantic in their dealings with Turkey? While we cannot presume to generalise against such a fluid backdrop, something can be said already about change and continuity. For one, that it is still the case, and perhaps more than ever, that different geopolitical priorities, historical vantage points and experiences <strong>of</strong> socio-economic and cultural interaction with this country mean that the story <strong>of</strong> Turkey’s ties to the West is interpreted differently in Washington, Brussels or individual European capitals. Second, that with the exception <strong>of</strong> the few years between the late 1990s and mid-2000s, when Turkey’s EU membership ambitions dominated its political agenda, the United <strong>St</strong>ates has been at the centre <strong>of</strong> Turkey’s engagement with the West, defining its main conceptual framework and dominant narrative. And third, that while Turkey’s attempt to define an autonomous foreign policy free <strong>of</strong> western entanglements might seem to have failed, it might yet take on a new shape in the post- Arab spring configuration. In short, the challenge for Turkish policy today as we see it is now to reconcile the three variations which have characterised its foreign policy over the last decade, namely Europeanisation, Americanisation and the search for autonomy. <strong>The</strong> United <strong>St</strong>ates and the logic <strong>of</strong> strategy However contentious within the American body politic, sustaining US global influence continues to define American foreign policy, and has been the underlying theme <strong>of</strong> all its bilateral relations, including with Turkey since the beginning <strong>of</strong> the Cold War. 135 During that period, and rather unsurprisingly, prevailing narratives <strong>of</strong> freedom, democracy and liberty <strong>of</strong>ten gave way to geostrategic considerations in the conduct <strong>of</strong> policy. Turkey was no exception. Indeed, it could be argued that its status <strong>of</strong> “America’s closest ally” in the region along with Israel all but reinforced the authoritarian and patriarchal tendencies <strong>of</strong> the Turkish state in the last half century. During the Cold War, the terms <strong>of</strong> Ankara’s engagement with the US and Europe, as well as the dominant narrative <strong>of</strong> Turkey’s identity as a ‘western’ country, was determined by its membership in the US-led western security alliance and its key geostrategic role as a frontier state 135 See Joshua W. Walker ‘<strong>The</strong> Forming <strong>of</strong> the US-Turkish Special Relationship’, in Nur Bilge Criss, Selçuk Esenbel, Tony Greenwood and Louis Mazzari, American Turkish Encounters: Politics and Culture, 1830 – 1989 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2011); and F. <strong>St</strong>ephen Larrabee, Troubled Partnership: U.S. – Turkish Relations in an Era <strong>of</strong> Global Geopolitical Change (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2010). 50
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