Recent POMED Commentary on Turkey

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Recent POMED Commentary on Turkey

The past few weeks have seen a lot of activity in Washington around U.S.-Turkey relations, including a controversial White House visit by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on November 13.

As part of POMED's expanded work on Turkey, POMED experts have weighed in with commentary and analysis on why Turkey’s authoritarian slide matters for the United States.

In a November 13 Newsweek op-ed, Turkey Program Coordinator Merve Tahiroğlu and Executive Director Stephen McInerney argued that "If Trump Won't Step Up to Turkey's Tyrannical Leader, Congress Must."

"Lawmakers are right to oppose Erdoğan's offensive in Syria and his turn toward Russia," they wrote. "But they should also speak out about Turkey's democratic backsliding." Read the full piece here.

On November 14, POMED Turkey Program Coordinator Merve Tahiroğlu appeared on ABC News's "The Debrief" with Kimberly Brooks to talk about President Erdoğan's visit and the crisis in the U.S.-Turkey bilateral relationship.
Watch here.

On November 15, POMED Turkey Program Coordinator Merve Tahiroğlu was a guest on KCRW's Left, Right & Center to discuss Erdoğan's visit with Trump: What explains their cozy relationship, even as the United States and Turkey drift apart?

POMED experts were also featured in:

Ahval – Trump Oval Office meeting heads off Senate Armenian genocide bill (11/14)
The Intercept – As Trump and Erdogan Meet, The US Hopes To Resume F-35 Arms Sales to Turkey (11/13)
Washington Post – An embattled Trump welcomes an embittered Erdogan (11/13)
DW – Tough love and showmanship: US-Turkey tensions soar ahead of Erdogan-Trump meeting (11/12)
HuffPost – Erdogan Will Have Fewer Friends Than Ever When He Visits The U.S. This Week (11/12)
Washington Times – Erdogan's White House visit presents challenges for Trump amid rising anti-Turkey sentiments (11/11)

On October 31, Merve Tahiroğlu testified on the precipitous decline of the rule of law in Turkey at the U.S. Congress Helsinki Commission hearing, "At What Cost? The Human Toll of Turkey’s Policy at Home and Abroad." Watch here. Read Merve's testimony here.

The Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to examining how genuine democracies can develop in the Middle East and how the United States can best support that process. Through research, advocacy, and civil society partnerships we work to strengthen the constituency for U.S. policies that peacefully support democratic reform in the Middle East.