Forum Roundtable: "An Ascendant Turkey in a Reordered Middle East"

Description

Turkey’s trajectory under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is raising new questions about NATO cohesion, Israel’s security environment, and the future balance of power in the Middle East.

In this month’s Forum Roundtable, Lauri Regan is joined by Sinan Ciddi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak of Tel Aviv University to examine Turkey’s increasingly confrontational posture toward Israel and the West. The discussion explores Erdoğan’s ideological shift, his support for Hamas, and how Ankara is positioning itself to capitalize on a weakened Iran while expanding its regional influence.

The panel breaks down Turkey’s evolving military strategy, including its growing ballistic missile program and debates around nuclear capability, as well as its role in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad. They also assess tensions with NATO, the stalled F-35 program, and the implications of Ankara’s ties to Islamist networks across the region.

Finally, the conversation examines Turkey’s domestic political trajectory, succession risks after Erdoğan, and how anti-Israel rhetoric and policy could shape the next phase of regional instability, from Gaza to the Eastern Mediterranean.

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