*** Media Advisory ****

- For Immediate Release & Distribution -

Capitol Hill Luncheon on

“A NEW TURKEY: What does it mean for the Region and US?”

WHERE

UNITED STATES CONGRESS
The Cannon House Office Building

345 Caucus Room

 WHEN
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
11:30 AM- 3:00 PM

 INVITATION Only! RSVP to panel@turquoisecouncil.org

(773) 396 8669

http://turquoisecouncil.org/capitolhillevents/

Lunch at 11:30 am to 12:15 pm
Debate at 12:15 to 3:00 pm

 WHO

CHAIR & MODERATOR

• Graham Fuller, Historian at Simon Fraser University, Former Vice-Chairman of the National Intelligence Council at CIA

PANELISTS

• Orhan Kemal Cengiz, President of the Human Right Agenda Association in Turkey
• Joshua W. Walker, Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy
• Ian Lesser, Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States
• Joost Legendijk, Senior Advisor at the Istanbul Policy Center, Sabanci University, and Former Member of the European Parliament (EP)
• -Alexander Jackson, Senior Editor at the Caucasian Review of International Affairs
• Ömer Taşpınar, Fellow at the Brookings Institution; and Professor at National War College

 LUNCHEON SCHEDULE

11:30 am – 12:15 pm---Welcome and Lunch (Open Buffet)

12:15 pm – GRAHAM FULLER --- Introduction

THE DOMESTIC ISSUES

12:30 pm- OMER TASPINAR---Domestic Issues

-What is the significance of the debate over Constitutional Issues?

-Is there progress on the Kurdish Issue?

-What is the significance of the Alevi issue?

-Is the AKP losing strength—and who might replace it?

12:45 pm- ORHAN KEMAL CENGIZ---Ergenekon and the “Deep State”

-What is this all about?

-What is the framework of the debate?

-Options for resolution? –What are the implications for the future?

1:00 pm- JOSHUA W. WALKER---Domestic Political Tensions

-How has the nature of the Turkish political order changed in the last decade?

-What are the main sources of opposition to the AKP government in the political order?

1:15 pm – DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS

TURKEY AND THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER

 1:45 pm- GRAHAM FULLER---Foreign Policy and the Davutoğlu Vision

-What is the place of the Muslim world in AKP thinking?

-Has Turkey broken with Israel?

 2:00 pm –IAN LESSER---Turkey and the West

-How have Turkish policies changed towards the US and the West, and NATO?

-Is Turkey abandoning the West and the Turkey’s Western identity?  Is the US a loser?

 2:15 pm- JAN JOOST LAGENDIJK --- Turkey and the EU

-What are the issues complicating Turkish accession to the EU?

-What must Turkey do?  What must the EU do?

-Long-term outlook?

 2:30 pm- ALEXANDER JACKSON---Turkey and the East

-Armenia: What are the implications of the rapprochement? What problems remain?

-How have Turkey’s relations with Russia changed? Where is Russia in Turkey’s future vision? What tensions remain?

-Where is Central Asia and China in Turkey’s future foreign policy outlook?

2:45 pm – DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS

3:00 pm- GRAHAM FULLER---Wrap up

 WHAT

LUNCHEON DEBATE

Turkey has recently become the focus of intense attention in Washington and the West due to significant new developments in its domestic and foreign policies.  Domestically, Turkey for nearly a decade now has been led by a moderate conservative government with roots in the Islamist movement; it has moved toward reform of the political order and resolution of the Kurdish problem, but has also encountered growing tensions with the military and staunch secularist circles. Abroad Turkey has developed a new and strikingly independent foreign policy that has hugely expanded the realm of Turkish foreign policy interests into the Middle East and Eurasia, accompanied by an intensified call for membership in the EU.  In all these areas Turkey demonstrates a new self-confidence and independence of outlook that is less automatically obliging toward US interests in the region.  A serious debate has emerged in the US about whether these developments in Turkey are positive or negative—and for whom.

What is the true nature of these developments?  Does the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) represent an effort to Islamize Turkey? Or simply to acknowledge and empower newly emergent social forces that include greater representation of Anatolian interests, greater freedom of expression of religion, and a respect for Turkey’s Ottoman and Islamic past?  Relations with Israel have significantly cooled.  Is the opposition justified in viewing these events as a reversal of Turkey’s long standing secular traditions? Is this truly a struggle over the maintenance of “secular” values? Or are other more complicated factors at play? Is Turkey becoming “lost to the West,” or is it simply demonstrating a broader vision of its role in the region as a key geopolitical player in the Middle East and Eurasia-- that may ultimately benefit Western interests as well?

The struggle has grown more intense and emotional with the new revelations about the existence of an extra-legal “Ergenekon” network with links to radical elements within the military and the Turkish underworld that has sought to spark political, religious and social violence across the country—all seemingly designed to create crisis and pave the way for military takeover by a small group of extreme “secular” zealots.  In response, supporters of the government argue that Turkey is engaged in deepening its democratic roots and institutions, the rule of law, and fulfilling its responsibility to the Turkish electorate. The implications of all these developments remain controversial.