Turkey is changing. The secularist Kemalist model is eroding; political Islam, the Kurdish problem, and a bleak human-rights record are facts of life. ƒtatisme is confronting a private sector flexing its muscles and general pressures for a more participatory society. And with more than three million Turks living in Europe, Turkey remains awkwardly in but not of Europe. Turkey might be dubbed the quintessential "guided democracy," subject to military interventions that either eject elected governments or limit what those governments can do. Deftly balancing these diverse themes, Kramer also addresses the many different Turkish foreign-policy issues -- Central Asia and the Caspian Basin, the Middle East (the Arab states, Iran, and those intriguing ties with Israel), the Balkans, Greece and the Cyprus problem, Europe, and overall Western security scenarios. The result is a clear picture of Turkish foreign policy and Turkey's political culture. Among Kramer's findings: a major Turkish role in post-Soviet Central Asia is no longer deemed likely; most Turks, including the Islamists, favor Turkey's entry into the European Union; and the existing division of Cyprus is less threatening to Turkey than most other options.
