Soner Cagaptay is the Beyer Family Senior Fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute.
Articles & Testimony
This paper argues that Turkey only partly fits the mold that describes the rising BRICS countries, and so it is useful to designate Turkey as a special case in the rising powers literature. On the one hand, Turkey has gained from the post-Cold War international structure by expanding its outreach to a broader international audience. However, contrary to many common characterizations of other rising powers such as the BRICS, this new position has not recast Turkey as a revisionist actor bent on distancing itself from the West and challenging the Western order, or as a standalone actor in regional politics. Indeed, it would be incorrect to conflate Turkey's increasing international prominence with growing strategic independence from the West. In fact, Turkey's economic and political ascent remains deeply contingent upon preserving its bonds with the Western world...
