Washington’s Choices: Status Quo, Break With Israel, or Double Down on A Peace Deal

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(Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) In yesterday’s New York Times, White House Correspondent Helene Cooper addresses one of the difficult questions that the recent Flotilla row between Israel and Turkey poses to American officials: what to do about the fact that Israeli policies seem to be having increasingly negative consequences for…

Are the U.S. and Turkey Still Allies?

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(Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Steven Cook, writing in Foreign Policy, suggests that the Flotilla incident is the latest evidence that dreams of a “model partnership” between the United States and Turkey are mere fantasy.

Davutoglu Lays Out Turkey’s Foreign Policy Principles

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(Photo Credit: U.S. Embassy London photo by SJ Mayhew) In an article published in Foreign Policy last week, Turkey Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, widely considered the architect of Turkey’s foreign policy under the Justice and Development (AK) Party government, lays out the principles of Ankara’s “zero-problems” foreign policy.

LIVE STREAM TODAY AT 9AM: THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN — PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

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Live TV by Ustream The Washington Note is live streaming a half day event this morning, May 17th, focusing on the war in Afghanistan in the wake of President Karzai’s visit to DC. The schedule follows below but some of the headliners include James K.

Is Deniz Baykal Really Going Away?

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(Photo Credit: Jon Connel’s Photostream) The huge news here in Istanbul this week is the resignation of Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Deniz Baykal. Baykal leads the main opposition party that represents a secular, nationalist, pro-military alternative to the conservative, religiously-oriented ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Europe Will Back Turkey’s Constitutional Reform

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(Photo Credit: Argenberg’s Photostream) While here in Istanbul for a series of meetings with foreign policy practitioners and analysts, I have been struck by the nearly complete absence of Turkey’s European Union negotiations from my discussions. As one prominent Turkish political commentator explained to me, Turkey’s relations with Europe are in a coma.