Turkey has a surprisingly diverse and sophisticated economy, a large population, and a sense of dynamism and self. Compared to a western European country, they don’t amount to too much, but compared to anyone in the neighborhood, they are dynamic. (They also are relatively less corrupt than their neighbors). They have opened many Turkic cultural centers throughout central Asia.

Their appeal to their Turkic cousins may be partially based upon a distortion of history, but to so discount them would be a mistake.

Sucks, sure. But, scale aside, the 3 weeks ago vs. 80 years ago question is a legit one (unless you are talking about Kurds….)

I think that this situation goes to show that if China continues to give a universal FU on its minority problems, that there will be backlash (and from people who can be a whole lot less polite than the French).

Pot. Kettle. Black.

well…the turks may say “pushed away”, instead of “drawn to”….

regardless, IMHO the xinjiang position is likely an issue perpendicular to the geographic gravitation issues. as others have said, this is more or less purely ethnic, which is also echoed by aceface’s observation in mongolia.

Brzezinski’s words, not mine.

Sure, Ankara will continue to reach out to all sides, but as the course of human events progresses, I think that Turkey will get drawn more towards one region over the others. Until recently, most people would have said Europe, what with the planned EU membership/integration. Now I’m not so sure.

The AKP has traditionally never been able to win over nationalistic voters. In part, this is because the AKP has a different conception on the split between citizenship and identity, similar to debates in France. Turkish nationalists are generally represented in the two opposition parties: the Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). These two parties continually reference nationalism in their platforms and in their symbolism. However, all Turks are still nationalists at the end of the day and can become very nationalistic very quickly. CHP and MHP tend to attract the more militant nationalists.

The CHP and MHP would both gladly use a lack of a strong reaction from ErdoÄ�an paint the AKP as a party that doesn’t care about fellow Turkic people; the Uighurs have close historical, linguistic, and religio-cultural ties with Turkish people. At a time when the AKP is in a very precarious political position, mounting pressure from the CHP and MHP and the public forced ErdoÄ�an to take a strong stand in this case.

Now, as far as your overall question about the direction of Turkish foreign policy, I would say that yes, this represents a change from Ankara. This isn’t a sudden change though, it’s been happening for the last 7-8 years since the AKP came to party. Turkish foreign policy in the 1990’s was the same as it had been since the founding of the Turkish Republic; non-interventionist, the preeminence of hard power, and a generally passive foreign policy. This has changed since the election of the AKP. The AKP has made Turkish foreign policy more proactive, multidimensional, and placed more emphasis on soft power.

I do not agree with your idea that Turkey must ‘pick’ a region to go forward with. Turkey has always been tightly couple with both Europe and America. The AKP came to power, in part, on a platform to greater increase Turkish ties with the European Union, implementing major reforms that lead to the opening of Turkish ascension talks to the European Union. Since then, there has been a recognized cooling of relations between the EU and Turkey. As a result, Turkey’s foreign policy orientation has shifted away from Europe, as you mentioned, towards the Caucasus’s, Central Asia, and the Middle East.

I do not, however, see this as a sign of Turkey picking to move away from Europe. Turkey is strenghtening its relationships with these other regions in order to make its perceived value within the eyes of the EU increase. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davuto�lu encapsulates this view perfectly when he says that �If Turkey does not have a solid stance in Asia, it would have very limited chances with the EU.�

I remember back during the hijack of the American boat near Somalia there was quite a lot of admiration among people in China for the way US sent in the SEAL’s to rescue the crew. One of my Mainland friends who had worked in Pakistan told me that the Chinese government rarely, if ever, looks out for the interests of individual Chinese who are abroad.