Trouble in Turkey

The following editorial appeared recently in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Turkey, a NATO member, is currently in the eye of a storm in Middle East politics and not in topnotch shape itself in internal political terms.

The latest tragedy occurred Monday in Suruc, just across the border from the much-fought-over city of Kobani in Syria. A suspected Islamic State suicide bombing killed at least 30 people and injured nearly 100 in an area where considerable fighting has taken place among anti-Syrian government rebels, Kurdish militias and forces of the Islamic State, which Turkish government forces find difficult to control.

Turkey has borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Iran, Iraq and Syria, the latter two home to hot wars. Turkey is estimated to be 72 percent Sunni Muslim. Its politics since the fall of the Ottoman Empire have been a contest between secularists and Islamists, with the current largest political party, the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, considered more Islamic in its orientation.

Turkey’s equilibrium is also being tested by the rise in the strength of the Kurds, who are estimated to make up between 20 and 25 percent of Turkey’s population of 78 million.

Turkey’s internal political situation is not especially healthy. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party failed in the June 7 elections to gain the majority it sought. Six weeks have passed without its yet having formed a governing coalition. There is some thought that Erdogan would like to try the Turkish electorate again with snap elections rather than create a coalition.

In the meantime, Turkey drifts in violent, turbulent regional seas that wash into a country not well organized to address its external or internal problems. As a friend and NATO ally, the United States should beware.