The New Dark Age

 12 October 2012 — Asia Times

It seems that media consensus has been conclusively reached: Turkey has been forced into a Middle Eastern mess not of its own making; the “zero problems with neighbors” notion, once the foreign policy centerpiece of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been condemned to a romantic notion of no use in realpolitik. 

Turkey‘s “policy’s goal – to build strong economic, political, and social ties with the country’s immediate neighbors while decreasing its dependency on the United States – seemed to be within sight,” wrote Sinan Ulgen nearly a year ago. “But the Arab Spring exposed the policy’s vulnerabilities, and Turkey must now seek a new guiding principle for regional engagement.” – Read the rest here…