Turkey

The Jihad Brothers

The Muslim Brotherhood has been around for close to a century but most people – certainly most Americans and Europeans – know very little about it.
Is it reformist and non-violent as its spokesmen and defenders claim?
Or is it – as Cynthia Farahat argues in a new book – the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization?
The book is titled: The Secret Apparatus: The Muslim Brotherhood’s Industry of Death.
Cynthia Farahat is an Egyptian-American writer, counterterrorism expert, and fellow at the Middle East Forum, whose president, Daniel Pipes, a distinguished scholar, wrote the forward to her book.
She joins host Cliff May as well as FDD’s Reuel Marc Gerecht, formerly a Middle Eastern specialist at the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, to discuss.

Ukraine, Turkey, and NATO: U.S. Interests in Europe

The United States has vital economic and national security interests in deterring aggression and maintaining peace and security in Europe. But almost six months ago on February 24, a clearly undeterred Vladimir Putin launched the largest invasion on the European continent since WWII.
As the Ukrainian people continue the fight to defend their country, the war grinds on with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, Putin's disregard for the sovereignty of Russia's neighbors prompted Finland and Sweden to seek admission into NATO — even as NATO member Turkey fluctuates between cooperation and competition with Russia.
How are Russian and Ukrainian forces currently performing on the battlefield? What role has Turkey played in the conflict, and will this impact the future of U.S.-Turkey relations? Are recent changes to NATO's military posture sufficient? How should we view the likely addition of Finland and Sweden to the NATO alliance?
Bradley Bowman — senior director of FDD's Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP), filling in for host Cliff May — poses these and related questions to two experts.
LTG (Ret.) Ben Hodges previously served as the Commanding General of the U.S. Army in Europe and is now the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis.
Amb. Eric S. Edelman previously served as U.S. Ambassador to both Turkey and Finland and at the Pentagon as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. He's now a senior advisor at FDD where he also serves on the Board of Advisors for FDD's CMPP.

Turkey and America: Can This Marriage Be Saved?

Not so long ago, Turkey was widely regarded as the bridge between the Occident and the Orient, between Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East. Turkey separated mosque and state. Turkey was a NATO member. Turkey was economically dynamic despite not having oil. Turkey seemed to be democratizing.
That’s not how many of us see Turkey today under the increasingly authoritarian President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Michael Doran is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and director of its Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East. He’s served as a senior director on the National Security Council, a senior advisor in the State Department, and a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Pentagon. He has a doctorate from Princeton, and he’s the author of “Ike’s Gamble,” a thoughtful re-examination of the Suez Crisis of 1956.
FDD Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former Middle Eastern specialist at the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, was, for some years, based in Turkey.
Reuel and Foreign Podicy host Cliff May agree with Dr. Doran on most issues — but not on Erdogan. They discuss the root of their disagreement in this episode.

An Israel Briefing

Russia ravages Ukraine. China eyes Taiwan. North Korea prepares a nuclear test. And negotiations for a new — and worse — iteration of President Obama’s deeply-flawed Iran nuclear deal remain on life-support.  
The rules-based, American-led order is hanging in the balance — and although they weren’t granted a seat at the negotiating table, Israel currently faces a unique threat with a build-up of Iranian weapons at almost each of its borders.
Unlike with the Americans at the negotiating table, the theocratic regime in Tehran doesn’t want Israelis to submit — they want Israelis to perish. And also unlike the U.S., Israel takes this existential threat both literally and seriously.  
Inside its borders, meanwhile, there’s been new wave of terrorist attacks in recent weeks as tensions in Jerusalem again approach boiling.
All this as we reach the one-year mark since the Gaza conflict of 2021.
Filling in for host Cliff May, FDD Senior Vice President for Research Jonathan Schanzer (who literally wrote the book on last year’s conflict) is joined by Brigadier General Jacob Nagel — a Senior Fellow at FDD and former acting Israeli National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu (and who also contributed to the Hebrew edition of Jon’s book) — to discuss these and related issues.

The Rise and Incomplete Fall of the Islamic State

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi — five years ago proclaimed the caliph of the Islamic State — has been eliminated by American Special Operators in Syria, underscoring both the importance of having boots on Syrian ground and the benefits of partnering with Kurdish-led forces.
In this episode of Foreign Podicy, FDD founder and president Clifford D. May offers thoughts on this development. Then, in a conversation recorded prior to the death of ‘Big Baghdadi’, Cliff discusses the Islamic State in a broader context with Seth Frantzman, author of After ISIS: America, Iran and the Struggle for the Middle East, based on four years of on-the-ground reporting from ten countries in the region,  and John Hannah, senior counselor at FDD and former national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Whose Side is Turkey On?

Turkey is a NATO ally that claims also to be on the same side as the United States in the international fight against terrorism.
Nevertheless, has Turkey — under President Erdogan — become what is known as “a permissive jurisdiction for illicit and terror finance?”
A lawsuit leading to that conclusion has now been filed against a bank, partly owned by the Turkish government, on behalf of an American victim of terrorism and members of his family.
Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by Jonathan Missner, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, in his first interview about this case. Jon is managing partner of Stein Mitchell Beato & Missner LLP and chair of the firm’s Global Practices and Corporate Strategy Groups. He’s also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Akyan Erdemir, a former member of the Turkish parliament, now a senior fellow at FDD, and Jonathan Schanzer, FDD’s senior vice president for research, also join the discussion — focusing on where Turkey is going, and the implications for the United States and Middle East.

Turkey’s Election, Erdogan’s Counterrevolution

Not so long ago, Turkey appeared to be the model: a Muslim-majority nation that was becoming free, democratic and prosperous; a NATO ally; a friend of America and Europe.
Today, all of that is very much in doubt. To discuss Turkey’s trajectory in the aftermath of elections that have strengthened the hand of the President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, FDD president and Foreign Podicy host Clifford D. May is joined by former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman, FDD senior fellow Aykan Erdemir and FDD research analyst Merve Tahiroglu.
Episode resources:Erdogan's Re-election Win Gives Him Vastly Expanded Powers in Turkey – Carlotta Gall; The New York Times
Turkish Elections: A Win That Cannot Be Stolen – Aykan Erdemir; FDD Policy Brief
Erdogan’s Hostage Diplomacy: Why We Need a Transatlantic Response – Aykan Erdemir and Eric S. Edelman; The Globalist
Erdogan’s Hostage Diplomacy: Western Nationals in Turkish Prisons – Aykan Erdemir and Eric S. Edelman; FDD Research

Busted! Iran, Turkey and the Largest Sanctions-Evasion Scheme in Modern History

It was likely the largest sanctions-evasion scheme in modern history, involving top state officials from both Ankara and Tehran. While the U.S. was attempting to use economic pressure in response to revelations regarding Tehran’s illicit nuclear weapons program, Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab and banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla facilitated an illicit oil-for-gold scheme that enriched Iran to the tune of over $100 billion.
Foreign Podicy host Cliff May is joined by Jonathan Schanzer, Aykan Erdemir and Merve Tahiroglu, who were involved in FDD’s extensive role in the case, to unravel the story and discuss its many implications.
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