An Uncertain Ally: Turkey Under Erdogan’s Dictatorship

Please join the Harriman Institute and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights for a talk with David L. Phillips celebrating the launch of his new book, An Uncertain Ally: Turkey under Erdogan’s Dictatorship (Transaction Publishers, February 2017).

Under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey has become Islamist, anti-American, and undemocratic. More journalists are jailed in Turkey than any other country. Turkey slaughters Kurds under the pretense of fighting terrorism. Erdogan seized on the failed coup attempt of July 2016 to justify a witch hunt, arresting tens of thousands and ordering the wholesale dismissal of alleged coup sympathizers.

An Uncertain Ally is a straightforward indictment of Erdogan. Drawing on inside sources in his Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the police, the book reveals corruption and money laundering schemes that benefited Erdogan, his cronies, and family members.

An Uncertain Ally exposes Turkey’s ties to jihadists in Syria and the Islamic State, raising doubts about Turkey’s suitability as a NATO member. While Turkey has historically been important geopolitically, it has become an outlier in Europe and an uncertain ally of the United States. Under Erdogan, Turkey faces a dark future.

From the Harriman Institute.