During the two decades of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s rule, Turkey’s trajectory has been up and down. In the early years of AKP rule, the country was on the path of democratization, economic development, and EU membership. However, it ended up with an authoritarian regime, a collapsed economy, and a muddled foreign policy. How did the model country of the early 2000s end up like this? This question preoccupies everyone interested in Turkey and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Like many others, Birol Baskan and Ömer Taşpınar point to the Arab Spring as a turning point in Turkish politics. Therefore, they attempt to understand the AKP’s foreign policy choices during the Arab Spring.
The book poses a straightforward question and provides a clear response. It delves into the question of why AKP appeared to wholeheartedly embrace the Arab Spring despite...